Biography

The musical interests of pianist Lambert Orkis encompass traditional and contemporary music performed on modern and period instruments. His career includes more than eleven years of international touring as a partner with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. For more than thirty years, he has appeared with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter to audiences in the world’s leading performance venues. Their many recordings and DVDs for Deutsche Grammophon include the complete sonatas by Mozart (Choc de l’année Award), Beethoven (Grammy award), Brahms, and, most recently, Penderecki's Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano.

His distinguished career includes appearances with cellists Lynn Harrell, Anner Bylsma, and Daniel Müller-Schott, violinist Julian Rachlin, and violist Steven Dann, and he has performed with the Vertavo, Emerson, American, Mendelssohn, Curtis, and Manchester string quartets. As soloist he has made appearances with conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Günther Herbig, Robert Kapilow, Leon Fleisher, Kenneth Slowik, and others.

Mr. Orkis has premiered and recorded compositions of numerous composers, including solo works by George Crumb, Richard Wernick, and James Primosch for Bridge Records. With cellist David Hardy, he recorded Beethoven’s complete works for piano and cello on the Sono Luminus label.

Mr. Orkis participated as a performing artist and teacher for Australia’s Musica Viva Festival and has twice served as juror of and performed for the Trondheim (Norway) International Chamber Music Competition and Festival. The Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition for Pianists and the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards Competition have engaged him as adjudicator. As an Honored Artist for Taiwan’s New Aspect International Music Festival, he performed and presented master classes in Taipei.

Mr. Orkis has appeared internationally as an orchestral soloist, and he has recorded as a member of the Kennedy Center Chamber Players and the Smithsonian Institution’s period instrument Castle Trio. He holds the positions of Principal Keyboard of the National Symphony Orchestra and Professor of Piano at Temple University in Philadelphia. In acknowledgment of his accomplishments, Mr. Orkis was honored with the Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany. He made his debut under San Francisco Symphony auspices in a 1998 recital with Anne-Sophie Mutter.

(March 2019)