Garrick Olaf Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist.
In 1970 Ohlsson became the first, and remains the only, competitor from the United States to win the gold medal awarded by the
International Chopin Piano Competition
The International Chopin Piano Competition (), often called the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition in Warsaw, Poland, held first in 1927 and every five years since 1955. The competition is one of the founding members of the World Federa ...
, at the
VIII competition.
He also won first prize at the
Busoni Competition in Bolzano, Italy
and the Montreal Piano Competition in Canada. He was awarded the
Avery Fisher Prize in 1994
and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ohlsson has also been nominated for three
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
s, winning one in 2008.
In 2018, in Warsaw, Ohlsson received the
Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture, conferred by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Early life
Born in
Bronxville, New York
Bronxville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the Adminis ...
as the only child of a Swedish father, Alvar Ohlsson, who emigrated from Sweden after World War II, and Sicilian-American mother, Paulyne (Rosta), born in New York City, Ohlsson grew up in
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...
. He began formal piano lessons at the Westchester Conservatory of Music with Tom Lishman at age eight. At the age of 13 he began studying with
Sascha Gorodnitzki at the
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
, and later with
Rosina Lhévinne. His musical development has been influenced in completely different ways by a succession of distinguished teachers, most notably
Claudio Arrau
Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean and American pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque music, baroque to 20th-century classical music, 20th-century composers, especially B ...
, Olga Barabini and Irma Wolpe.
Although Ohlsson is especially noted for his performances of the works of
Chopin,
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
,
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
,
Liszt
Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most pro ...
and
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...
, his range of repertoire is broad, extending from
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
and
Busoni to
Copland,
Griffes,
Debussy
Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
,
Scriabin,
Gershwin,
Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of ...
, and contemporary composers who have written new works for him, such as Justin Dello Joio. Writing in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', music critic
Allan Kozinn has characterized Ohlsson's repertory as "huge."
His repertoire includes no fewer than 80 concertos. He is also known for his exceptional keyboard stretch (a 12th in the left hand and an 11th in the right).
Career
Ohlsson has performed in North America with symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Houston, Detroit, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Washington, D.C., and Berkeley, among others, at the National Arts Center, with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and with the
London Philharmonic at
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5  ...
in New York. He has also accompanied violinist
Hilary Hahn
Hilary Hahn (born November 27, 1979) is an American violinist. A three-time Grammy Award winner, she has performed throughout the world as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors, and as a recitalist. She is an avid supporter of contemp ...
and contralto
Ewa Podles.
Ohlsson is an avid
chamber musician, having collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Takács and Tokyo string quartets, in addition to other ensembles. In 2005–2006, he toured with the
Takács Quartet. He is also a founding member of
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
's
FOG Trio, together with violinist
Jorja Fleezanis
Jorja Kay Fleezanis (March 19, 1952 – September 9, 2022) was an American violinist and the Henry A. Upper Chair at Indiana University.
Fleezanis grew up in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Greek immigrants. A graduate of Cass Technical High S ...
and cellist Michael Grebanier.
In 2006–2007, he played the opening concert at the
Mostly Mozart Festival in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
. He has also performed at the
BBC Proms
The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...
with the
Budapest Festival Orchestra
The Budapest Festival Orchestra ( Hungarian: ''Budapesti Fesztiválzenekar'') was formed in 1983 by Iván Fischer and Zoltán Kocsis, with musicians "drawn from the cream of Hungary's younger players", as described by ''The Times''. Its aim was t ...
.
Among his many recordings, Ohlsson performed
Chopin's entire musical output on
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is a British classical music record label. It was independent until February 2023, when it was acquired by the Universal Music Group. Under Universal, Hyperion is one of the three main classical record labels, alongside Decca a ...
–including the complete solo piano music, chamber music, works for piano and orchestra, and
songs
A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usuall ...
. In 1989, he recorded
Busoni's five-movement
Piano Concerto
A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advance ...
in C major, Op. 39 with the
Cleveland Orchestra under
Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi (; born 8 September 1929) is a German conducting, conductor.
Biography
Youth and World War II
Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to Hans von Dohnanyi, a German jurist of Hungarian ancestry, and Christine von Dohnan ...
.
He has also recorded all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas for
Bridge Records.
Shortly after his Chopin competition victory in 1970, he appeared as performing guest on
ABC's ''
The Dick Cavett Show
''The Dick Cavett Show'' is the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:
* ABC daytime, (March 4, 1968 – January 24, 1969) originally titled ''This Morning''
* ABC prime time, Tuesday ...
'' on 25 February 1971. The show also featured actor/singer
Sammy Davis Jr., and young ''
Family Affair
''Family Affair'' is an American sitcom starring Brian Keith and Sebastian Cabot that aired on CBS from September 12, 1966, to March 4, 1971. The series explored the trials of well-to-do engineer and bachelor Bill Davis (Keith) as he attempt ...
'' actress
Anissa Jones
Mary Anissa Jones (March 11, 1958 – August 28, 1976) was an American child actress known for her role as Buffy Davis on the CBS sitcom '' Family Affair'', which ran from 1966 to 1971. She died from a drug overdose five years after the sho ...
.
Personal life

Since 1996 Garrick Ohlsson has lived in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
with his husband, historic preservationist Robert Guter. He is a member of the faculty of the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Additionally, Ohlsson hosts The Chopin Podcast with
YouTuber
A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...
Ben Laude, covering the life and work of composer
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...
.
Prizes
* First Prize, 1966
Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition,
Bolzano
Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The ...
* First Prize, 1968
Montreal Piano Competition
* First Prize, 1970
VIII International Chopin Piano Competition,
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
* Avery Fisher Prize, 1994
* Grammy Award, 2008
* Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance, 2014,
Northwestern University
Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
*
Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture, 2018
*
Gramophone Award (with Takács Quartet), 2021
Discography
Ohlsson has recorded with the following labels:
*
Arabesque Recordings
*
RCA Red Seal Records
*
Angel Records
Angel Records was a record label founded by EMI in 1953. It specialised in European classical music, classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score. and one Peter Sellers comedy disc. The famous Recording Angel trademark ...
*
Bridge Records
*
BMG
*
Decca
Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label
* Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...
*
Delos International
*
Hänssler Classic
*
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is a British classical music record label. It was independent until February 2023, when it was acquired by the Universal Music Group. Under Universal, Hyperion is one of the three main classical record labels, alongside Decca a ...
– complete works of Chopin
*
Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Nonesuch ...
*
Telarc
Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long assoc ...
*
EMI Classics
EMI Classics was a record label founded by Thorn EMI in 1990 to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogues for internationally distributed classical music releases. After Thorn EMI demerged in 1996, its recorded mus ...
*
Connoisseur Society
References
External links
Garrick Ohlsson's official websiteGarrick Ohlssonat Opus3 Artists
*, WNCN-FM, September 20, 1981
*
August 15, 1988
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohlsson, Garrick
1948 births
American male classical pianists
Arabesque Records artists
International Chopin Piano Competition winners
Grammy Award winners
Living people
Prize-winners of the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition
Musicians from New York City
20th-century American classical pianists
21st-century American classical pianists
21st-century American pianists
American LGBTQ musicians
LGBTQ classical musicians
LGBTQ people from New York (state)
Classical musicians from New York (state)
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians