Nelson Goerner

Sunday, March 2, 2025 – 3:00 PM

Mairs Concert Hall, Macalester College

“Goerner’s Chopin was special right from the start of his career, but it has matured into something remarkable now."
— BBC Music Magazine, Instrumental Choice

Order Tickets >>>

Program

RAVEL
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Valses nobles et sentimentales

DEBUSSY
Images, Book 1
L’isle joyeuse

Intermission

LISZT
Ballade No. 2
Étude de concert ‘La leggierezza’
Valse oubliée No. 2
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6

Firmly established as a major soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, Nelson Goerner is in high demand for the extraordinary musicality, supreme skill, and beauty of tone he brings to the keyboard. His career takes him throughout Europe, the Americas, and Japan, both in recital and with leading orchestras. In 2024/25, he performs with the Royal Concergebouw Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and tours Spain with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

In chamber music he often works with prominent fellow musicians, such as violinists Vadim Repin and cellist Steven Isserlis, plus the cream of ensembles, such as the Takács Quartet. Regular invitations to major festivals include La Roque d’Anthéron, Edinburgh International Festival, Festival de Verbier, and the BBC Proms, among others. He also performs in two-piano repertoire, and his partners have included Martha Argerich and his wife, Rusudan Alavidze.

Goerner was born in San Pedro, Argentina in 1969. After winning First Prize in the Franz Liszt Competition in Buenos Aires in 1986, he received a scholarship to work with Maria Tipo at the Geneva Conservatoire, and in 1990 took First Prize at the Geneva Competition.

Goerner enjoys longtime relationships with the Mozarteum Argentino in Buenos Aires and the Chopin Institute in Warsaw, where he is a member of the artistic advisory committee. He has released several albums of unusual repertoire on the Institute’s own record label, including works by Godowski and Paderewski. In 2018, he was received Poland’s Gold Medal 'Zasluszony Kulturze Gloria Artis,’ the highest cultural award given by the country, for his contribution to Polish music and culture throughout the world.

Goerner records predominantly for Alpha Classics, with releases of Chopin, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Schumann, Fauré and Franck. He received Diapason d’Or of the Year for his recording of Debussy; BBC Music Magazine’s Recording of the Month for his disc of Schumann; Choc de Classica and Diapason d’Or for his Chopin Preludes album; and resounding critical acclaim for his recording of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata. His Covid era recording in 2021 of Albeniz’s ‘Iberia’ drew the attention of Classics Today’s David Hurwitz, who proclaimed it “absolutely knocks it out of the park!”

Nelson Goerner lives in Geneva, Switzerland with his wife and son. He is a proud and active supporter of the humanitarian organization, Ammala.

Order Tickets >>>

“He remains no less than one of the great performers of today.”

— Le Temps

"A stratospheric pianist and a musician of pure genius, an eminent interpreter of Chopin, he plays with shadows and light…”

— ResMusica

“To say Goerner today is like saying Horowitz, Barenboim or Brendel… He is of that caliber, with, moreover, a sincerity, generosity and a total absence of narcissism…That's the mark of the great."

— L'Echo

“Fresh, sudden, continually riveting, Goerner is the real virtuoso thing.”

— Financial Times

"...Nelson Goerner, who is covered in glory in serving Chopin to perfection... to triumph!"

— Bachtrack

“There are few finer pianists of his generation than Argentinian Nelson Goerner, and this concert gave another example of his unique elegance, insight and pianistic strength.”

— Seen and Heard

“Goerner, the master goldsmith at the piano, presents each piece with its own luminosity."

— Le Monde