Pianist Stephen Hough Returns to Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival

This summer at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, pianist Stephen Hough joins Louis Langrée and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra for performances of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, in an all-Mozart program at David Geffen Hall on Friday, August 10, 2018, and Saturday, August 11, 2018, both at 7:30 p.m. The program also includes the composer's Requiem, K. 626, and Meistermusik.

Following the Friday concert, Mr. Hough is joined by Imani Winds (festival debut) at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse for "A Little Night Music," a 10:00 p.m. recital comprising Mozart's Quintet in E-flat major for piano and winds, K. 452, Poulenc's Sextet for piano and winds, and-in a solo performance by Mr. Hough-Debussy's Claire de lune.

Additionally, Mr. Hough gives a reading and discussion of his recently published first novel, The Final Retreat, at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on Monday, August 6, at 6:00 p.m. The book was published this spring by Sylph Editions and is distributed in the U.S. by University of Chicago Press. He also talks about his newest recording, Stephen Hough's Dream Album. Tickets to the event, which takes place in the Bruno Walter Auditorium, are free but in limited supply. Click here to make a reservation.

Tickets for the concerts at David Geffen Hall can be purchased online at MostlyMozartFestival.org, by phone via CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500, or by visiting the David Geffen Hall box office. The late-night performance in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse is sold out.

"Mozart is the only composer I know who is able to explore every human mood and emotion - with all their messiness, ambivalence, roughness, brokenness - and present them to us in a circle of perfection, yet without triviality," said Mr. Hough, who debuted at the Mostly Mozart Festival in 1987. "[Mozart] is able to find words for the unsayable, and then to make them rhyme. In his most joyful music we are aware that unalloyed happiness is rare, perhaps non-existent in human experience; and in his most sad or tragic moments the pity is always deflected from the ego, but remains deeply personal." Mr. Hough last appeared at the festival in 2012 performing Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor.

Mr. Hough has previously recorded all of the music that he performs at this year's festival. The Mozart concerto was featured on a 1985 EMI Classics recording with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Bryden Thomson; the Mozart quintet and Poulenc sextet appear on BIS Records releases with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, in 2000 and 2009 respectively; and Claire de lune was recorded for Stephen Hough's French Album, released in 2012 by Hyperion Records. His two latest recordings, both issued by Hyperion in 2018, are his first all-Debussy album (excerpts), released in January to mark the centennial of the composer's death, and Stephen Hough's Dream Album (excerpts), which appeared in June.

In the spring, Mr. Hough's first novel, The Final Retreat, was published by Sylph Editions. The novel is the diary of a middle-aged Catholic priest on silent retreat while being blackmailed. Through the protagonist's state of desperation and crisis of faith, Mr. Hough explores themes that have been on his mind for many years, including the idea of the "wounded healer"-"those people who set themselves up as being helpers in the community and then fail in themselves."

After his engagements in New York this summer, Mr. Hough performs Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by James Gaffigan, at the Blossom Music Festival. He then looks ahead to his 2018-19 season, which in the U.S. includes the world premiere of his Sonata No. 4 ("Vida Breve") at Atlanta's Spivey Hall. As a concerto soloist, he tours with the Taiwan Philharmonic performing Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 in Costa Mesa, San Diego, and Seattle, and also appears with the Minnesota Orchestra; Colorado, Fort Worth, and Phoenix Symphonies; and Naples and Rochester Philharmonics, among others.

About Stephen Hough

Stephen Hough is regarded as a Renaissance man of his time. Over the course of his career he has distinguished himself as a true polymath, not only securing a reputation as an insightful pianist, but also as a writer and composer. In 2001, he was the first classical performing artist to receive a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and, in 2013, he was named a Commander of the British Empire. He has appeared with most of the major American and European orchestras and plays recitals regularly in major halls and concert series around the world. Many of his over 60 albums for Hyperion have garnered international prizes including the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Diapason d'Or, Monde de la Musique, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Magazine Awards including the 1996 and 2003 "Record of the Year" Awards and the 2008 "Gold Disc" Award.

As a writer, Mr. Hough has contributed to The New York Times, BBC Music Magazine, The Guardian, The Times (UK), and Gramophone, among other publications, and for seven years, his blog for The Telegraph was one of the most popular and influential forums for cultural discussion. As a composer, Mr. Hough has written for orchestra, choir, chamber ensemble, and solo piano, and his compositions are published by Josef Weinberger, Ltd. He is also an avid and exhibited painter.

Mr. Hough resides in London and is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and Juilliard. He holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in Manchester, and he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Liverpool in 2011. To learn more about Stephen Hough, visit stephenhough.com and follow him at @houghhough on Twitter and Facebook.

About Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival

The Mostly Mozart Festival is a presentation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA), which serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community engagement, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA offers a variety of festivals and programs, including American Songbook, Avery Fisher Career Grants and Artist program, David Rubenstein Atrium programming, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Awards, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, LC Kids, Midsummer Night Swing, Mostly Mozart Festival, White Light Festival, the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS, and Lincoln Center Education, which is celebrating more than four decades enriching the lives of students, educators, and lifelong learners. As manager of the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Theater, The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, School of American Ballet, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

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