Paul Lewis, Piano

Since his U.S. debut in Middlebury in 2003, pianist Paul Lewis has become not only a Middlebury favorite, but internationally regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. In Middlebury, Lewis will perform a program from his Mozart+ series, juxtaposing Mozart’s lesser-known piano repertoire with works by composers such as Mendelssohn and Copland, illuminating Mozart’s influences over subsequent generations. Don’t miss this world-class finale to our 2026-2027 season.

This concert is made possible thanks to the generosity of alumni, campus colleagues, and community members who’ve contributed to the Performing Arts Series Fund in honor of Paul Nelson.

Tickets: $30 general public | $20 Middlebury ID holders/PASS Members | $10 youth (under 21) | $5 Middlebury students. Reserved Seating. Tickets on sale in September: http://go.middlebury.edu/tickets

Approximate running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes, including 1 intermission

Learn more about this concert’s music in a free pre-concert lecture by Professor Emeritus of Music Larry Hamberlin, at 6:15 PM in MAC room 125.

About the Artist:
Paul Lewis is internationally regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. His cycles of core piano works by Beethoven and Schubert have received unanimous critical and public acclaim worldwide and consolidated his reputation as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the central European classical repertoire. His numerous awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year, two Edison awards, three Gramophone awards, the Diapason D’or de l’Annee, the Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, and the South Bank Show Classical Music award. He holds honorary degrees from Liverpool, Edge Hill, and Southampton Universities, and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

In addition to regularly appearing as soloist with the world’s great orchestras, Paul Lewis’s recital career takes him to venues such as London’s Royal Festival Hall, Alice Tully and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus. He is also a frequent guest at the some of the world’s most prestigious festivals, including Tanglewood, Ravinia, Schubertiade, Edinburgh, Salzburg, Lucerne, and the BBC Proms where in 2010 he became the first person to play a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle in a single season.

His multi-award winning discography for Harmonia Mundi includes the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, concertos, and the Diabelli Variations; Liszt’s B minor sonata and other late works; all of Schubert’s major piano works from the last six years of his life including the three song cycles with tenor Mark Padmore; solo works by Schumann and Mussorgsky, and the Brahms D minor piano concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding. Future recording plans include a multi-CD series of Haydn sonatas, Beethoven’s bagatelles, and works by Bach.

Paul Lewis studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. He was jury chair for the prestigious 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and is co-Artistic Director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK.
Learn more about Paul Lewis: https://www.paullewispiano.co.uk/

Program:
Paul Lewis, Piano
Mozart+

MOZART Sonata No.6 in D Major, K.284/205b
Allegro
Rondeau en polonaise
Tema con variazione

MENDELSSOHN Variations Sérieuse, Op. 54
Theme—17 variations—Coda

Intermission

COPLAND Piano Variations
Theme—20 variations—Coda

MOZART Sonata No.11 in A Major, K.331/300i
Tema con variazione
Menuetto & trio
Alla Turca

Sponsored by the Performing Arts Series Fund in honor of Paul Nelson, the Performing Arts Series, the Paul Nelson Performance Endowment, and the Rothrock Family Residency Fund.

Learn more about the artists:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paullewispiano/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paullewispiano/?hl=en
Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLC7WV8JoWFn5uOZgZHprafInvZ6-I4pS&si…
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2DFmMQLUb5iaVQuQTsUtTE
Watch a video:  https://youtu.be/n_6-jGRRs6M?si=MvyBst0p_-crlfTg

Performance subject to change.