credit Sim Canetty-Clarke
One of the most distinctive artists of his generation, Sir Stephen Hough combines a distinguished career as a pianist with those of composer and writer.
Named by The Economist as one of Twenty Living Polymaths, Hough was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (2001). He was awarded Northwestern University’s 2008 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano, won the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award in 2010, and in 2016 was made an Honorary Member of RPS. In 2014 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2022.
Since taking first prize at the 1983 Naumburg Competition in New York, Sir Stephen has appeared with most of the major European, Asian and American orchestras and plays recitals regularly in major halls and concert series around the world from London's Royal Festival Hall to New York’s Carnegie Hall. At Cornell, Sir Stephen performs works by Schubert, Brahms, Schoenberg, Beethoven, and more.
Note on Late Seating: We recommend allowing plenty of time for parking and making your way to Bailey Hall. The opening piece lasts 11 minutes, and latecomers will be seated at the ushers’ discretion—possibly in a seat other than the one purchased—with the opportunity to move to your ticketed seat at intermission. If you arrive after the opening piece has concluded, you will have to wait to enter the hall until intermission.
In addition to the March 20 concert, Sir Stephen will also participate in a master class featuring piano students of Xak Bjerken, which will take place from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM on Saturday, March 21 in Barnes Hall. This event is free and open to the public.
March 20 program:
Schubert: Klavierstück no. 2 D946
Brahms: Klavierstuck op. 118, no. 6
Schoenberg: 6 Kleine Klavierstücke op. 19
Stockhausen: Klavierstück III
Beethoven: Bagatelle op. 119 no. 10
Beethoven: Sonata op. 53 (Waldstein)
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Schumann: Carnaval op. 9
“His playing is supremely communicative and persuasive, and his technical fluency had a candour that is simply breathtaking, with a variety of touch and sonority delivering an inexhaustible palette of colour, shade and substance, all deployed with finesse and judgment.”