Dejan Lazić

Dejan Lazić

Dejan Lazić (born in Zagreb, 1977) is a Croatian pianist and composer, and a naturalised Austrian citizen.

He is quickly establishing a reputation worldwide as “a brilliant pianist and a gifted musician full of ideas and able to project them persuasively” (Gramophone). The New York Times hailed his performance as “... full of poetic, shapely phrasing and vivid dynamic effects that made this music sound fresh, spontaneous and impassioned”. After a highly successful Edinburgh Festival recital, The Scotsman wrote recently[when?]: "Dejan Lazić shines like a new star!"

Dejan Lazić’s fresh interpretations of the piano repertoire have established him as one of the most sought-after and unusual soloists of his generation. He has appeared with such international orchestras as the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Bamberger Symphoniker, Swedish Radio, Danish National, Helsinki Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestra, working with such conductors as Iván Fischer, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Giovanni Antonini, Kirill Petrenko, Robert Spano and John Storgårds.

Recent tours have included his orchestral debut at New York’s Lincoln Center with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer and in Spain with Bamberger Symphoniker under Jonathan Nott. He regularly appears on tour with Basel Chamber Orchestra, performing at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Munich Herkulessaal, Cologne Philharmonie, and Brussels Palais des Beaux Arts. He also recently[when?] toured Australia with the Australian Chamber Orchestra led by Richard Tognetti, including concerts at Sydney Opera House. In 2010/11 season he will perform in Europe, South America, and Asia, with Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer.

Lazić enjoys a significant following in the Far East where recent engagements have included a tour with NHK Symphony Orchestra, appearances with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (including concerts at Tokyo's Suntory Hall & Metropolitan Art Space), Sapporo Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, as well as a series of recitals throughout Japan and at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, China. In summer 2008 he performed Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto at the Beijing Great Hall of People in a televised pre-olympic gala concert for an audience of 7,000.

Alongside his solo career, Dejan Lazic is also a passionate chamber musician. He has been Artist in Residence with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra since the 2008/2009 season. He has given his recital debuts at Amsterdam Concertgebouw, London Queen Elizabeth Hall, Munich Prinzregententheater, Washington Kennedy Center, plus in Montreal, Tokyo, Beijing and Istanbul.

He records exclusively for Channel Classics Records and has released a dozen critically acclaimed recordings so far, including a disc of works by Scarlatti/Bartók, Schumann/Brahms and C.P.E. Bach/Britten; all as part of his Liaisons series. His live recording of Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 with London Philharmonic Orchestra/Kirill Petrenko received the prestigious German Echo Klassik Award 2009. His latest release is a disc featuring Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto, recorded live with the Australian Chamber Orchestra led by Richard Tognetti.

Dejan Lazić is also active as a composer. His works include various piano compositions, chamber music and orchestral works, as well as cadenzas for Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven Piano Concertos. His recent arrangement of Brahms’s Violin Concerto for piano and orchestra received its world premiere with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Robert Spano in the 2009/2010 season and many further performances are planned. A live recording of the concerto was released in January 2010 to great critical acclaim.

Born into a musical family in Zagreb, Croatia, Lazić grew up in Salzburg, Austria, where he studied at the Mozarteum. He now lives in Amsterdam.


Selected performance venues - L'Auditori, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Palais du Luxembourg, Wigmore Hall.


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