Hélène Grimaud, piano (Boston, MA)

French-born pianist Hélène Grimaud enjoys a busy and varied career on the world’s concert stages, as an orchestral soloist, a chamber music partner, and a solo recitalist. Her combination of sheer strength and power, tempered by her interpretive subtlety and technical control, makes her an impressive pianist in any setting. She makes her Boston recital debut with this performance, and previously appeared on the Series in 2006 with Tokyo’s NHK Symphony conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.  

Grimaud’s performance interests are eclectic, ranging from her acclaimed renditions of Bach (both original and transcribed) and Mozart to the present day, and her programmatic approach is thoughtful and fascinating. Notably, she dedicated an album and a performance tour to piano pieces inspired by water and partnered with artist Douglas Gordon, to present an installation / performance “Tears Become… Streams Become…” on a stage flooded with water at New York’s Park Avenue Armory in 2014. She partnered in early 2023 for a concert with Los Angeles-based chamber music collective Wild Up for a program that paired a Mozart piano concerto with works by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, whose works Grimaud has recorded and long championed. 

In addition to her musical activities, Grimaud is the author of a memoir, Wild Harmonies (“Variations Sauvages” in French), that has been translated into several languages, and two semi-autobiographical novels.  

She is an ardent activist for human rights and wildlife conservation and founded the Wolf Conservation Center in Westchester County. The organization educates the public about wolf conservation, and, as part of a federally-accredited program, maintains breeding populations of two critically endangered North American wolf species, the Mexican Gray Wolf and the Red Wolf. 

This performance will also take place in Groton Hill on January 21 at 3:00 PM. 

An Aaron Richmond Recital
Endowed by Nancy Richmond Winsten and the late Dr. Joseph Winsten