Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has been praised for the fresh perspective and individuality he brings to a deliberately broad spectrum of the keyboard canon. Celebrated for his interpretation of works by Chopin and Beethoven, Mr. Lortie has performed the complete Beethoven sonatas in London's Wigmore Hall, Toronto's Ford Center, Berlin Philharmonie, and the Sala Grande del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. In Berlin, Die Welt called his performances "possibly the most beautiful Beethoven since the times of Wilhelm Kempff." With the Montreal and Quebec Symphonies, he performed and conducted all five Beethoven Piano Concertos. He opened the Bonn Beethoven Festival in 2003 playing Beethoven's Fourth Concerto with Kurt Masur conducting, with whom he has subsequently performed with the New York Philharmonic, and in Paris with the Orchestre National de France. These represent just a fraction of his extensive orchestral, chamber, and solo performance schedule. Mr. Lortie has made over 30 recordings on the Chandos label, among them, a winner of the Edison Award, and a disc of Schumann and Brahms named one of the best CDs of the year by BBC Music Magazine. In 1984, he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was a prize-winner at the Leeds Competition. He studied in Montréal with Yvonne Hubert, in Vienna with the Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and subsequently with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher, among others.