Obituary: Pianist & Conductor Lars Vogt Dies at 51

[Wanderer]

Shocked to have just read this. It was only yesterday that I was listening to his recordings of Mozart and Brahms piano concertos and was wondering when he was going to record more Mozart concerti. May he rest in peace.



Obituary

"German pianist and conductor Lars Vogt has died at the age of 51.

According to his management Askonas Holt, Vogt, who was diagnosed with cancer in February 2021, died on Sept. 5, 2022  peacefully surrounded by family.

Vogt was born in the German town of Düren in 1970 and he first came to public attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition. He went on to become an international pianist performing the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninov as well as 20th Century works by the likes of Lutosławski, among others.

Alongside his work as a pianist, he became a conductor and was named Music Director of Orchestre de Chambre de Paris in July 2020.

He also curated his own series with the orchestra in Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Pierre Boulez Salle during the 2021-22 season and continued his partnership with the Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS) as a Principal Artistic Partner.

Vogt was set to be an Artist in Residence with Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern both as conductor and pianist this season.

Throughout his career he worked with major orchestras including the Zürcher Kammerorchester, Camerata Salzburg, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Niedersächsische Staatsorchester Hannover, Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Berliner Philharmoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Dresden, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and NHK Symphony. He also collaborated with major conductors like Claudio Abbado, Daniel Harding, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Järvi, Andris Nelsons, Sir Simon Rattle, Vladimir Jurowski and Robin Ticciati.

Vogt also formed partnerships with such singers as Thomas Quasthoff, Ian Bostridge, and Julian Pregardian performing in recitals around the world.

Aside from his performing career, he founded his own chamber festival in the village of Heimbach near Cologne in 1998 and was a major promoter of education founding a program Rhapsody in School which brings his colleagues to schools across Germany and Austria. In 2013 he was appointed Professor of Piano at the Hannover Conservatory of Music, succeeding Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, his former teacher and close friend.

He left an immense discography on Ondine and recorded many works by Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, and many more. He also won awards such as the Opus-Klassik and was nominated for the Grammy."

[Jo498]

This is horrrible shocking news, to die so young within half a year; I was not aware of his illness.

[Edit: This doesn't make it much better but I realized that I misread the year and Vogt had ~1.5 years which was probably "pretty good" considering the advanced stage when he got the diagnosis in early 2021.]

Vogt made lots of very good to great recordings, I am especially fond of the live chamber music from his Heimbach festival, not always with piano but he got also the best string and wind players there for other ensemble music.

[Mandryka]

His fight with cancer told here

https://van-magazine.com/mag/lars-vogt/?amp

[vers la flamme]

Very sad. Rest in peace.

I watched a bit of this recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMV5gCmnMlk

[Todd]

Surprising, sad news.  And of course Nicholas Angelich died earlier this year at the same too young age.

[Brian]

This is shocking, and so young. Based on his recordings for Ondine he was at the peak of his career and creativity. He could always be relied on for an original, newly-thought interpretation and did not sound like anyone else.

[San Antone]

Very sad news.   

[Florestan]

Absolutely shocking and very sad news. May God rest him in peace.

[AaronSF]

So very, very sad.

[Daverz]

I was just starting to collect his recordings after being very pleased with his Beethoven concertos.  Terrible loss.

[Brian]

I was just starting to collect his recordings after being very pleased with his Beethoven concertos.  Terrible loss.

The Triple Concerto is one of my all time favorites. As is, honestly, anything he did with the Tetzlaffs.

[vandermolen]

Absolutely shocking and very sad news. May God rest him in peace.

+1

[bhodges]

Adding more sadness for this unexpected news, and sympathy for his friends and family. I also was not aware of his cancer diagnosis. At the moment, feeling very grateful for his many recordings, some of which I'm going to revisit this week.

--Bruce

[Florestan]

One thing I particularly like about his solo recordings is that in many cases instead of some generic, banal liner-notes he offers his own thoughts and insights about the music --- and they reveal a refined and sensitive person who took pleasure not only in music-making but also in the simple joys of his family life. What a heavy loss his untimely death is! And I concur with Todd that Nicholas Angelich's equally untimely death earlier this year is equally regrettable.

[vandermolen]

His fight with cancer told here

https://van-magazine.com/mag/lars-vogt/?amp

It's a very moving and touching article - he sounds like a lovely person.

Thanks for posting it.

[Florestan]

It's a very moving and touching article - he sounds like a lovely person.

Thanks for posting it.

+ 1.

Indeed, he must have been a very humane and likeable guy.

[Lisztianwagner]

Very sad news; I'm deeply sorry for his family, may he rest in peace.

[amw]

I've been following his struggle with cancer since he first went public about it. This isn't much of a surprise, but it is still a tragedy; he was open about how much more he wanted to do that now would never be possible.

I'm glad for his legacy of recordings and writings about music, both of which will continue to sustain music lovers for a long time to come.

[vandermolen]

They broadcast him playing Janacek ('In the Mists') on BBC Radio 3 as a tribute, on my way into school this morning. The presenter said that it seemed surreal that his obituary was in the Daily Telegraph this morning. I stayed in my car to hear the end of the music.

[Roasted Swan]

A fine and somehow rather appropriate BBC Music Mag cover disc featuring Vogt as part of a truly stellar group........