BIOGRAPHY - Jean Louis steuerman


Jean Louis Steuerman was born in Rio de Janeiro into a musical family. He began his studies at the age of four and made his debut with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra when he was just fourteen. He first came to Europe after winning a scholarship to the Naples Conservatory in 1967. He was a prize winner at the 1972 JS Bach Competition in Leipzig and he quickly gained recognition throughout Europe as a soloist and recitalist.

Jean Louis Steuerman's solo appearances with orchestras include concerts with the London Symphony under Claudio Abbado, and the Royal Philharmonic under both Lord Menuhin and Vladimir Ashkenazy (with whom he played the Britten Concerto at the Athens Festival). Jean Louis made his debut at the BBC Promenade Concerts in 1985 to great critical acclaim when he played Bach's Concerto in D minor with the Polish Chamber Orchestra.

Other orchestral engagements have included concerts with the English Chamber, Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He has appeared with the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Kurt Masur, Basel Symphony with Heinz Holliger, Helsinki Philharmonic (Tippett Piano Concerto), Zurich Tonhalle, Berlin Symphony, Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique, and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano. Jean Louis has also performed with many American orchestras including appearances with the Seattle Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He tours extensively throughout Europe, North America and Japan, appearing regularly in major recital series on both sides of the Atlantic. He also collaborates in chamber music with some of the world's finest musicians.

His repertoire stretches across a wide range of periods and genres and he takes particular care to include late twentieth century works in his recitals. He has premiered a number of important new works during recent years.

Jean Louis Steuerman's recordings for Philips Classics include solo piano music of Scriabin, Mendelssohn's complete works for piano and orchestra with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Bach's Piano Concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Bach's six Partitas, for which he was awarded the prestigious Le Diapason d'Or. He has also recorded three piano suites by Girolamo Arrigo, the complete piano works of Othmar Schoeck, which were released at the end of 1999.

In 2003 his recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations was released on Actés Sud, which was followed in 2004 by Bernstein's The Age of Anxiety with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor James Judd on Naxos. His recording of Bachianas Brasileiras No. 3 by Villa-Lobos with the State Symphony Orchestra of Sao Paulo and conductor Roberto Minczuk, was released on the BIS label in 2005, and his latest recordings of solo piano music by Schumann and the solo piano music of Schoenberg were released by Actes Sud in 2006.