Stephen Hough was born in
Cheshire,
England, and attended the Royal Northern College of Music in
Manchester and The Juilliard School in
New York City. Hough was already a well-known talent by the age of 25, but his career was assured when he received
firstprize in the
Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1983. Hough's
virtuosity would allow him to play of the most
complex pieces written for
piano, yet he prefers to stay away from the
standard repertoire. Instead he has tried to uncover and play more unusual and neglected works like those from
Hummel,
Scharwenka and
Bowen.
Hough also enjoys performing the music music of contemporary composers like
Corigliano,
Tsontakis and
Liebermann.
Since winning first prize in the he has appeared with most of the major American orchestras and with a number of
European orchestras under conductors including
Abbado,
Ashkenazy,
Dohnányi,
Dutoit,
Gergiev,
Jarvi,
Levine,
Rattle,
Salonen,
Slatkin,
Tilson Thomas and
Vanska, with whom he has performed at a number of
festivals worldwide.
Stephen Hough has made over thirty
recordings, a number of which are hard to find before he signs on with the more serious record label
Hyperion. Many of them have won international prizes such as the
Diapason d'Or, the
Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, and
Gramophone Awards. In 1996, his recording of concertos by Scharwenka and
Sauer with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and
Lawrence Foster earned him the Gramophone Magazine's 'Concerto Record of the Year' as well as their overall 'Recording of the Year'. In 1997 recordings of
Mendelssohn's complete works for piano and orchestra, Liebermann concertos, and
Mompou's solo piano music was received with much praise and won a Diapason d'Or and Gramophone Award. The "
New York Variations", chosen as Best Classical album of the Year by
Time Magazine, includes the first recordings of
John Corigliano's Etude Fantasy and
George Tsontakis' piece "Ghost Variations." Hough also writes profusely and has provided most of the
liner notes for his recordings.
As a
chamber musician Hough collaborates with musicians such as
Steven Isserlis,
Joshua Bell,
Pamela Frank,
Tabea Zimmermann and
Michael Collins (not the Irish revolutionist). He has also performed with the Cleveland, Emerson and Juilliard Quartets, recording the complete sonatas of
Beethoven and
Brahms with the latter's former first violinist
Robert Mann.
He has been honoured with the
award of one of the
2001 MacArthur Fellowships. The award is given to "original and creative people of all ages and groups across a wide array of human endeavors linked together by their individual commitments to discovering and advancing knowledge and to improving society." No small feat.
Stephen Hough
resides both in the
United States and the
United Kingdom.
Recordings
Saint Saens: Complete Piano Concertos
Brahms: Sonata No. 3, Ballades
Liszt: Sonata, Ballades & Polonaises
Stephen Hough's New Piano Album
Encores, Transcriptions and Miniatures
Schubert: Sonatas in A minor D784, in B flat D960, in C D613
New York Variations
Works by
Copland,
Corigliano,
Tsontakis and
Weber
Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos
Liebermann: Piano Concertos Nos 1 and 2
Mompou: Piano Music
Franck: Piano Music
Bowen: Piano Music
Bird Songs at Eventide: English Songs
Scharwenka/Sauer: Piano Concertos
Hough liner notes
Chopin and the Development of Piano Technique
Notes for
Liszt:
Sonata,
Ballades &
Polonaises
Berceuse for
Bechstein
Notes for
Schubert:
Sonatas
Shura Cherkassky: An
Obituary
Notes for New York Variations
Joseph Villa
Notes for
Liebermann Piano Concertos
Notes for Mompou: Piano Music
Notes for
Franck: Piano Music
Notes for Bowen: Piano Music
Notes for Bird Songs at Eventide
N.B. A number of hardlinks lead to a void; they are an incentive to node.