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LondonClassicalConcerts

Maria João Pires - Piano

Unfortunately, her concert scheduled for the 28th of January 2024 at the Wigmore Hall was cancelled due to health reasons.

Unfortunately, her concert scheduled for the 29th of September 2022 at the Wigmore Hall was cancelled due to injury.

St Luke's, 5-Jul-2022 / 19:00

Maria João Pires retired temporarily from major concert projects in January 2018 and the soloist of a few concerts had to be changed as a result.

Piotr Anderszewski replaced her on the 15th of March 2018 at the Barbican Hall.

Anna Vinnitskaya replaced Maria João Pires for a concert scheduled on the 23rd of February 2017 at the Wigmore Hall.

Barbican Hall, 30-Jun-2022 / 19:30

  • Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 3

Royal Festival Hall, 26-May-2022 / 19:30

  • Mozart: Piano Concerto No.23 in A K488
  • Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert Blomstedt - Conductor

Schubert: Impromptu in F minor D.935 No.1

Barbican Hall, 16-Dec-2015 / 19:30

  • Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 3
  • Bruckner: Symphony No 9 (1894 Ed Nowak 1951 + Finale (unfinished, Version performed by Samale-Phillips-Cohrs-Mazzuca)

Barbican Hall, 6-Dec-2015 / 19:00

  • Mozart: Piano Concerto No 9 in E flat Major

Fabulous switch after concerto confusion

Barbican Hall, 20-Oct-2015

  • Mozart: Piano Concerto No 21 in C
  • Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Riccardo Chailly

Royal Albert Hall, 28-Aug-2015 / 19:30

  • Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major
  • Schubert: Symphony No. 9

Chopin: All Nocturnes

Royal Festival Hall, 20-May-2015 / 19:30

Mozart: Piano Concerto No.9 in E flat, K.271

  • Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer - Conductor

Wigmore Hall, 20-Feb-2015 / 19:30

Recital with pianist Pavel Kolesnikov

  • Schubert:
    • Allegro in A minor D947 (Lebensstürme)
    • Fantasie in F minor D940
  • Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor Op. 111
  • Schumann: Fantasie in C major Op. 17

She received Doctorate Honorary Degree by the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona in 2019

Maria João Pires won the Pessoa Prize in 1989.

She was given the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint James of the Sword in 1998, was made Commander of the Order of Prince Henry in 1989 and Dame of the Order of Saint James of the Sword, all three Portuegese orders of chivalry, in 1983.

Cadogan Hall, 15-Jan-2015 / 19:30

  • Mozart: Concert Rondo, K. 386
  • Beethoven:
    • Piano Concerto No. 4
    • Symphony No. 7

Wigmore Hall, 27th and 28th of October 2014

Recital with violinist Augustin Dumay and Cellist Antonio Meneses

  • Beethoven:
    • Allegretto for Piano Trio in B flat major Woo39
    • Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major Op. 69
    • Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Op. 24 (Spring)
    • Piano Trio in D Op. 70 No. 1 (Ghost)

Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1

Royal Festival Hall, 24-Oct-2014 / 19:30

Beethoven: Triple Concerto

  • London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste - Conductor, Maria João Pires, Augustin Dumay - Violin, Antonio Meneses - Cello

Barbican Hall, 21-Jan-2014 / 19:30

  • Mendelssohn: Overture, Hebrides (Fingal's Cave)
  • Schumann: Piano Concerto

Beethoven: Last Piano Sonata, No. 32 Op. 111

Wigmore Hall, 3-Feb-2012 / 19:30

Recital with cellist Antonio Meneses

  • Schubert: Sonata in A minor D821 (Arpeggione)
  • Brahms:
    • Three Intermezzos Op. 117
    • Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor Op. 38
  • Mendelssohn: Song Without Words for cello & piano in D major Op. 109

Nepil: "Brahms’s three Intermezzi, Op117, proved a fitting vehicle for Maria João Pires’s softly spoken pianism ..."

Maria Pires won a Grammy Award in the concerto category in 2015 for a recording of Beethoven's Piano Concertos Nos 3 and 4 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding.

She was nominated for a Grammy Award as 'Best Classical Instrumental Solo' performer in 2014.

She gave masterclasses as the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel's Piano Master in Residence between 2012 and 2016 in Waterloo, Belgium

She founded the Belgais Centre for the Study of the Arts in Portugal in 1999.

Maria João Pires performed,

  • > Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.2 at the Royal Festival Hall on the 1st of October 2013 with Bernard Haitink wielding the baton.
  • > Mozart's Piano Concerto No 27 in B flat major with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under the baton of David Zinman on the 27th of August 2011 during the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
  • > a solo piano recital including Chopin's Nocturnes in B flat minor Op 9.1, E flat major Op 9.2, B major Op 9.3, F major Op 15.1, F sharp major Op 15.2, G minor Op 15.3, C sharp minor Op 27.1, D flat major Op 27 No 2, B major Op 62.1, E major, Op 62.2 and G minor Op 37.1 and G minor Op 37.1 and Lento con espressione in C sharp minor KK IVa/16 on the 21st of July 2010 at the BBC Proms.

Maria João Alexandre Barbosa Pires was born in Lisbon in July 1944, and as early as 1951 won Portugal's top prize for young musicians.

She studied in the Lisbon Conservatory, before entering the Musikakademie of Munich and subsequently Hanover.

She won the Beethoven Bicentennial Competition in Brussels in 1970, the composer's 200th birthday.

She played Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor with The Berliner Philharmoniker on the 28th of August 1998, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 3 in C minor with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester under the baton of Claudio Abbado on the 15th of August 1995 at the BBC Proms and made her BBC Proms debut on the 2nd of September 1992 with a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 with Riccardo Chailly conducting The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

She also played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 in G major on the 22nd of August 1999 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Myung-Whun Chung at the BBC Proms.

Royal Albert Hall, 15-Aug-1995

  • Beethoven