First Prize winner in the universally acknowledged Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 2000, Alessio Bax has established himself as an accomplished performer throughout the world. Prior to Leeds, he won various competitions including, at the age of 19, the First Prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan. Praised by the international press, his performances have been described as "real music-making that makes its own world on stage and invites the audience in as guests" (The Independent), and "successfully combining authority and poetry" (Daily Telegraph).
Bax's extensive concerto repertoire has led to appearances with over 70 orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, Tenerife Symphony, Spanish Radio Television, Rome Symphony, Hungarian Symphony, NHK Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, and Yomiuri Symphony. He has worked with a number of esteemed conductors such as Marin Alsop, Petr Altrichter, Sergiu Commissiona, Alexander Dimitriev, Jonathan Nott, Vernon Handley, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Owain Arwel Hughes, Ken-ichiro Kobayashi, Dimitry Sitkovetsky and Sir Simon Rattle.
Bax's festival appearances include London's International Piano Series (Queen Elizabeth Hall), the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, England's Aldeburgh and Bath festivals, the Ruhr Klavierfestival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, BeethovenFest, and Musikfestspiele Saar in Germany. He has performed in recital at music halls in Rome, Milan, Madrid, Paris, London, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, New York, Washington DC, and Mexico City. Also an active chamber musician, he has collaborated with Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis and Nobuko Imai, among others.
His 2004 recording for Warner Classics, Baroque Reflections, received rave reviews and was selected as "Editor's Choice" by Gramophone magazine and "Best Buy" by Classical FM magazine. In 2003, Bax recorded with his wife, Lucille Chung, the complete works for two pianos and piano-for-four-hands of György Ligeti on Dynamic Records. In 2005, they recorded Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals with conductor Miguel Hart-Bedoya and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded the complete works for piano and organ of Marcel Dupré on Naxos, and Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, live with the New Japan Philharmonic, for Fontec. Also on Fontec, Bax released a live recording of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Hamamatsu Symphony Orchestra.
In January 2005, Alessio Bax was selected to play the Fugue of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Sonata for Maestro Daniel Barenboim in Barenboim on Beethoven. The documentary was produced by Channel 13/PBS, in conjunction with Bel Air Media, BBC, and NHK Japan. It was broadcast worldwide and released as a DVD box set in 2006 on the EMI label. His performances are often broadcast live on the BBC, CBC (Canada), RAI (Italy), RTVE (Spain), NHK (Japan), WDR, NDR and Bayerische Rundfunk (Germany), Hungarian Radio Television, Serbian RTE, among others.
Bax graduated with top honors at the record age of 14 from the conservatory of his home town, Bari, Italy, under Angela Montemurro. He studied in France with François-Joël Thiollier, and attended the Chigiana Academy in Siena under JoaquÃn Achúcarro. In 1994, he moved to Dallas to further his studies with Mr. Achúcarro at the Meadows School of the Arts, where he is now on the teaching faculty.
Mr. Bax makes his home in New York City with his wife.
