Marc-André Hamelin, pianist

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"Artists and organizations hoping to revitalize classical music should look to Mr. Hamelin"
~ New York Times

"Hamelin's legend will grow - right now there is no one like him"
~ Alex Ross, The New Yorker

"Marc-André Hamelin ranks among the small handful of performers in every generation whose abilities defy the imagination."
~ John Terauds, Toronto Star

"One of the most adventurous and certainly the most courageous pianists of recent times."
~ International Piano Quarterly

Meet Mr. Hamelin (1:09)

“Hamelin, a French-Canadian now based in Boston, is admired for his monstrously brilliant technique and his questing, deep-thinking approach. Hamelin, too, creates a richly singing sound in the Largo of the Third Sonata, but his aria has a darker cast, sorrowing rather than communing. A startling, demonic energy bursts forth in the finale, where Hamelin matches Argerich in headlong force. At moments, his Chopin anticipates Bartók or even Ligeti: the salon dandy becomes a dreamer with a taste for violence.“ - Chopin Album on Hyperion, Alex Ross for The New Yorker, August 9, 2010

“...Hamelin returned to perform Strauss‘s Burleske, a piece he recently recorded with the Berlin Radio Symphony. It‘s an unrelenting, ambitious number for the pianist and Hamelin rose to the occasion, at once fierce and tender, firmly and rhythmically working the keys like a baker kneads bread dough.“ - Shostakovich 1, Strauss Burleske, Edmonton Symphony, The Edmonton Journal, June 13, 2010

“This was extraordinary playing from any perspective, the command of the keyboard transcendental, and the delicacy and poetry of the playing of the highest order. Hamelin is a pianist with a distinctive personality, not only in how he approaches the keyboard, but in how he conceives and expresses musical ideas.“ - Honens International recital, The Calgary Herald, June 10, 2010

“The winner at Thursday morning‘s concert? Anyone who had the pleasure of experiencing pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin‘s inspired execution of a devilishly difficult doubleheader.“ - Ravel Left-Hand Concerto, Strauss Burleske, Minnesota Orchestra, The Pioneer Press, May 20, 2010

“Bringing out a lavish variety of color from the keyboard and something approaching the vigor of North African street life, Hamelin effectively rubbed the glitter off the Saint-Saëns style to show some of the rawness we get glimpses of in the opera “Samson et Dalila.““ - Saint-Saens Africa Fantasy, Liszt 2, Indianapolis Symphony, Indianapolis Star, May 8, 2010

“It was a marvelous performance, Kuerti’s polish and Hamelin’s formidable technique producing ideal quick-fire conversation, repartee, and witticisms.“ - Shostakovich 1, Boston Symphony, The Boston Globe, April 14, 2010

“Hamelin, long esteemed for his bevy of recordings of everything from the Classics to the most demanding Romantic and modern scores, now stands firm as one of the leading keyboard artists of our time.“ - Haydn, Mozart, Liszt, Faure, Alkan, Harriman-Jewell Series, The Kansas City Independent, February 22, 2010

“The difference between a great performance and a merely very good one is the illusion of spontaneity. And from Haydn‘s F minor Variations (Hob. XVII:6) and Mozart‘s A minor Piano Sonata (K. 310) to four Debussy preludes, Hamelin semed to be making up the music on the spot, in the very best sense.“ - Van Cliburn Foundation, Scott Cantrell for The Dallas Morning News, February 3, 2010

“Hamelin’s tremendous musical gifts were evident from the Franck’s opening phrase. He is a pianist’s pianist, who performs his job exceedingly well without the need for showy theatrics.“ - Franck Symphonic Variations, Shostakovich 1, Oklahoma City Phil, The Oklahoman, February 2, 2010

“The Hamelin technique is far more than digital speed. It encompasses voicing chords, playing fortissimos that aren‘t labored and pianissimos that don‘t disappear. Particularly as the sonata wound down, Hamelin found deep wells of expression in single notes, if only because he gives them thoughtful gradations of color at any level of the volume spectrum.“ - Berg, Liszt, Debussy, Hamelin, PCMS, David Patrick Stearns for The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 15, 2010

“A one-of-a-kind concert artist...He just played the notes, but his rhythms were so exacting and his touch so subtle that each note seemed to have a life of its own.“ - Haydn, Mozart, Faure, Alkan, San Francisco Performances, Mark Swed for The Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2009

“Hamelin impresses as an exponent beyond compare.“ - Haydn, Mozart, Faure, Alkan, San Francisco Performances, The Financial Times, December 16, 2009

“Then, however, came his coup de grace, a towering, mighty performance of the cadenza in which all the movement‘s beauties were finally, and definitively, revealed. Transforming from the toweringly powerful to the sweetly magical, with the smoothest imaginable trills at the very end, it was entrancing. It‘s this kind of structural thinking that makes Hamelin one of the great pianists of the present day.“ - Australian tour, Beethoven Cto. 3, Adelaide Symphony, Arvo Volmer, The Australian, September 14, 2009

“The latest installment of Marc-André Hamelin’s survey in progress, including 11 works, benefits from crisp, focused playing and the kind of linear transparency that gets to the core of Haydn’s resourcefulness and originality“ - CD, Haydn Sonatas Vol. 2 on Hyperion, The New York Times on Haydn‘s Legacy, September 10, 2009

“The seeming ease of Hamelin‘s formidable piano technique is itself riveting; but the combination of passion and insight he brought to the Alkan was exceptional, with moments of purity countered by colossal, though never overbearing, soundscapes.“ - Recital, Aldeburgh Music, The Guardian, August 5, 2009

“In Haydn‘s Variations in F minor (Hob. XVII/6), Hamelin displayed consummate clarity, transparency at all volumes, each line and note sharp-edged.“ - Recital, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, The Boston Globe, June 19, 2009

“The accuracy, speed, and rhythmic precision of Hamelin‘s playing were something to behold. Even in today‘s era of great technical accomplishment, there are few pianists who can equal Hamelin‘s clarity and fireworks. But while that is an important part of his musical arsenal, it is not what makes him so special. What knocked me over about his performances was the beauty of the slow music--played with incredibly subtle dynamic shading, phrasing of remarkable suppleness and imagination, and an ability to draw 2,000 listeners right into the music, each with the feeling that he was playing “just for me.“ “ - Liszt "Totentanz", Seattle Symphony, ARTSJOURNAL on the record...with Henry Fogel, May 22, 2009

“His dazzling speed and power in the first and last movements contrasted perfectly with his whimsy and limpid playing in the middle. The energy − and the interest − never sagged, in a most impressive performance.“ - Saint-Saens 2, St. Louis Symphony, The St. Louis Dispatch, May 1, 2009

“His performance was fascinating, nourishing and provocative.“ - Recital at Strathmore for WPAS, The Washington Post, April 10, 2009

“Hamelin, a poet among virtuosos, brings sensibility and a brilliant technique in equal measure to this oft-recorded music.“ - Chopin Album on Hyperion, The London Sunday Times, January 19, 2009

“a highly unconventional and wonderfully exhilarating recital.“ - Recital opening the Schubert Club‘s International Artist Series, The Pioneer Press, October 21, 2008

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Chopin Album on Hyperion, Alex Ross for The New Yorker (August 9, 2010)