THE PIANIST World Premiere Recording Will Be Released Ahead of London Run
Thom Southerland directs the stage adaptation, with Malcolm Forbes-Peckham starring as The Pianist and Simon Lee arranging the score.
The World Premiere recording will be released for The Pianist, based on the new musical stage adaptation of Wladyslaw Szpilman's memoir, the basis of Roman Polanski's Academy Award-winning film. The recording will be released in digital and streaming formats on Friday, September 4. A CD edition will be released later this fall.
This new show written and directed by Thom Southerland (Titanic the Musical) brings Szpilman's story and music together for the first time, featuring Szpilman's own compositions with new musical arrangements by Simon Lee, Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-time musical director. Lee also serves as album producer. Malcolm Forbes-Peckham is the album's associate producer, serves as music director, and is featured as The Pianist. To pre-add or pre-save the album, visit orcd.co/thepianist.
An expanded deluxe edition of the digital album, featuring dialogue from the musical as well as two additional tracks, will also be available on Friday, September 4.
About The Pianist
The Pianist will debut at London's Park Theatre from October 15 to November 28, 2026. Before its London opening, the production will play a limited run at Southampton's Mayflower Studios, from September 9 to 12, 2026.
In The Pianist, a cast of virtuoso actor-musicians conjures the golden age of Jewish Warsaw in all its warmth and wit: the packed concert halls, the candlelit cafés, the irrepressible spirit of a city that loved music above all else. Original compositions from the so-called “Polish Gershwin” score his story: popular songs that had Warsaw humming, compositions that made him a star.
At its heart, this is a love letter to culture, to the artists and dreamers who carried it, and to the extraordinary power of creativity to outlast even the most turbulent chapters of history. Szpilman's music doesn't merely accompany this story; it breathes life into it, binding past to present and reminding us that some things, once made, can never truly be silenced.
The Pianist features new lyrics by an international group of writers and musicians, bringing fresh voice to Szpilman's original compositions. The lyricists and songwriters include two-time Grammy Award nominee Carol Connors, acclaimed songwriter David Batteau, jazz singer Wendy Lands and collaborator Jim Gillard, Grammy nominee Michael Ruff, Drama Desk nominee Marcy Heisler, and Szpilman's son Andreas Szpilman. Together, their work allows Szpilman's music to sit at the heart of the production, not simply as accompaniment, but as another voice in the telling of his story.
The Pianist is produced by Wolk Transfer Company and Willette Klausner, presented by special production arrangement with Andreas Szpilman, son of the pianist. The creative team is led by adaptor and director Thom Southerland, with new arrangements, musical supervision, and orchestrations by Simon Lee, choreography and movement direction by Karen Bruce, set and video design by Andrzej Goulding, costume design by Jonathan Lipman, lighting design by Robbie Butler, sound design by Gareth Tucker for Autograph Sound, musical direction by Malcolm Forbes-Peckham, assistant direction by Josh Whatsize, casting by Ginny Schiller CDG & Ben Armstrong with executive producing and general management by DEM Productions.
Best known worldwide through his memoir and the Academy Award-winning film it is based on, Wladyslaw Szpilman was not only a Holocaust survivor, but one of Poland's most celebrated composers and pianists.
