Dejan Lazić

www.dejanlazic.com

 

Biography

“Lazić plays with palpable heart, with genuine spirit that derives entirely from the music itself, with dexterity, subtlety and insight that make this recital thoroughly compelling.”  (The Telegraph)
 
Dejan Lazić’s fresh interpretations of the repertoire have established him as one of the most unique and unusual soloists of his generation. The Spiegel magazine noted of his Liszt recording for Onyx Classics: “Grandiose technique, dedicated and witty, whilst full-bodied and thoughtful: this longitudinal section through Liszt’s oeuvre is a gift, both for beginners and connoisseurs.”
 
For BR Klassik he recorded the CD “Istrian Rhapsody" (2023) with his own piano concerto partnering with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester under the direction of Ivan Repuši. His recording with Mozart´s chamber music, released by Onyx in 2020 was awarded with the “Opus Klassik 2021” in the category “Chamber Music Recording”. In autumn 2017 he performed on tour and recorded Beethoven’s own arrangement of his Violin Concerto as Piano Concerto in D major, Op. 61a, with Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Gordan Nikolić. This CD was released in May 2018 by Onyx Classics. His live recording of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with London Philharmonic Orchestra and Kirill Petrenko received the German “Echo Klassik Award 2009”. A recording of the Beethoven Triple Concerto was released for Sony Music in 2015. Dejan Lazić has previously released many recordings with Channel Classics, including a critically acclaimed Liaisons series; the latest of which couples together C. P. E. Bach and Britten.
 
Dejan Lazić regularly plays with orchestras such as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. Lazić enjoys a significant following in the Far East touring China with Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer, and appearing with NHK Symphony and Yomiuri Nippon, as well as Seoul and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras. He has built close collaborations with conductors including Marc Albrecht, Giovanni Antonini, Iván Fischer, Michael Francis, Andris Nelsons,  Daniel Raiskin, Thomas Søndergård, Robert Spano, John Storgårds, Krzysztof Urbański, Jan Willem de Vriend and Kazuki Yamada
 
Chamber concerts and recitals take him to venues such as Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Lincoln Center (New York), Melbourne Recital Centre, Forbidden City Recital Hall (Peking) and to festivals such as the Gstaad Menuhin Festival with chamber music partners such as Joshua Bell, Sol Gabetta, Andreas Ottensamer and Benjamin Schmid (a.o.).
 
Dejan Lazić’s compositions receive increased recognition, he was signed as a composer by the Sikorski Music Publishing Group in 2015. His arrangement of Brahms’ Violin Concerto as a piano concerto was premiered with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Robert Spano in 2009 and has enjoyed much ongoing success, at BBC Proms, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Hamburg Easter Festival, Chopin Festival Warsaw, in both Americas and in Japan. Lazić has performed his “Piano Concerto in Istrian Style”, Op. 18, many times since its premiere at the Aspen Music Festival in 2014. His first major orchestral work, a tone poem entitled “Mozart and Salieri” (after Alexander Pushkin), Op. 21, was commissioned and premiered by Indianapolis Symphony and Krzysztof Urbański, his Cadenzas for Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 – 4 and Haydn Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 11 were published as well. Lazić’s most recent Mozart adaptation, “Rondo Concertante” for piano and orchestra (after the 3rd movement from Mozart’s Piano Sonata in B-flat major, K. 333) was premiered in June 2018 at the “Mainly Mozart” Festival in San Diego, USA, with the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra conducted by Michael Francis. With four fellow composers Lazić composed the work “Der Forellenteich” (“Trout Pond”), which was premiered and released on CD in October 2018 and subsequently performed in autumn at various festivals in Germany. Lazić is currently working on his “Chinese Fantasy” for violin and orchestra Op. 22. His “S.C.H.E.rzo” for Orchestra, Op. 25, commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra was premiered with conductor Krzysztof Urbański on 17 January 2020.
 
Dejan Lazić was born in Zagreb, Croatia, into a family of musicians. He grew up in Salzburg, where he studied at the Mozarteum (clarinet, piano and composition). The early encounter with Zoltán Kocsis and Imre Rohmann at the Bartók Festival in Hungary was decisive for his artistic career, as well as the significant influence from Peter Eötvös. Dejan Lazić lives in Amsterdam.