Andrew von Oeyen

Pianist Andrew von Oeyen emerged from a vigorous recital career into stardom with recordings on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Classics%22">Warner Classics</a> label in the middle and late 2010s. He has specialized in virtuoso repertory of <a href="spotify:artist:1385hLNbrnbCJGokfH2ac2">Liszt</a> and of Russian composers, and also in French music. In 2024, he released the recital album Angels & Demons.

Of German and Dutch background, von Oeyen was born in the U.S. on November 12, 1979. He has also maintained a strong cultural identification with France, divides his time between Paris and Los Angeles, and has dubbed himself a Parisian American. Beginning piano lessons at age five, von Oeyen was already performing with orchestras at ten, and he made his debut with the <a href="spotify:artist:6yeL5iw4hXNZtd8T7FOoFU">Los Angeles Philharmonic</a> under <a href="spotify:artist:3ilNZUdmNZ2nUcuAOIpsQl">Esa-Pekka Salonen</a> at 16. He studied at the Juilliard School and Columbia University in New York, winning several prestigious prizes including, in 1999, the Gilmore Young Artists Award. On the strength of those he made appearances with many leading American orchestras, including the <a href="spotify:artist:6tdexW8bZTG8NgOFUCYQn1">Philadelphia Orchestra</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:1qHStDLIc8uV7hvTG6FGRJ">San Francisco Symphony</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:1TuMl6QKOFwgQZzzhzuds4">Detroit Symphony</a>, and his hometown <a href="spotify:artist:6yeL5iw4hXNZtd8T7FOoFU">Los Angeles Philharmonic</a>. In the early 2010s, von Oeyen made a pair of albums for the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Delos%22">Delos</a> label; the first, from 2011, featured Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor.

He has appeared at Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center in New York. Von Oeyen's foreign credits include recitals at Wigmore Hall and the Barbican in London, as well as appearances with the <a href="spotify:artist:2rRUfv2w535SEUV1YO5SP6">Mariinsky Orchestra</a> in Russia, the <a href="spotify:artist:32sSC58wBNlSthfdC2t8Av">Singapore Symphony</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:5pF76lplGIvEFGb8lI48hA">Berlin Symphony</a>, and the <a href="spotify:artist:39FuQKH2MKSPyAsRqdHj0N">Prague Philharmonia</a>, among other groups. His 2018-2019 appearances included debut appearances with the <a href="spotify:artist:7rSP8ABSnCNjcW6J6bjhqK">Louisville Orchestra</a> and the Bilbao Symphony. In most years, von Oeyen has appeared at major American festivals such as those in Aspen, Chicago's Grant Park, Ravinia (with the <a href="spotify:artist:6TD08jYeuN128P2MZTbc8E">Chicago Symphony Orchestra</a>), and Charleston, South Carolina (the Spoleto Festival USA). After his recordings for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Delos%22">Delos</a>, von Oeyen was signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Classics%22">Warner Classics</a>. He issued an album of piano concertos by <a href="spotify:artist:17hR0sYHpx7VYTMRfFUOmY">Ravel</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:436sYg6CZhNefQJogaXeK0">Saint-Saëns</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1YuknfkSYTTbolRpwZBOv4">Gershwin</a> in 2016, followed by an appearance on an album of music by <a href="spotify:artist:17hR0sYHpx7VYTMRfFUOmY">Ravel</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1Uff91EOsvd99rtAupatMP">Debussy</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2D7RkvtKKb6E5UmbjQM1Jd">Bizet</a> with the <a href="spotify:artist:39FuQKH2MKSPyAsRqdHj0N">Prague Philharmonia</a> in 2018. After pandemic lockdowns were lifted, von Oeyen promptly recorded the album Bach, Beethoven in September of 2020, pointing out that "<a href="spotify:artist:5aIqB5nVVvmFsvSdExz408">Bach</a>'s music was ideal for a concert-less world, since much of it was neither written for nor dependent upon an audience." That album was released on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Classics%22">Warner Classics</a> in 2021, and von Oeyen returned in late 2024 with the album Angels & Demons. ~ James Manheim, Rovi