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August 2009 "Mostly Mozart" Festival debut:
”A spirited reading of the Haydn concerto...there
was plenty of dazzle when Mr. Vladar played it in his festival debut. Especially in the Gypsy rondo finale, his fingers
seemed to be flying ahead of the ensemble. His interpretation was notable for its clarity and pristine articulation
in the outer movements and its elegant phrasing in the second movement..." -The New York Times |
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Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 with the New World Symphony:
“It was played with a limpidity of tone, a quicksilver fluency, a richness
of texture and felicity in ornamentation—and such affectionate warmth in the slow movement, it wound up with soloist,
orchestra and audience in a mutual glow.”
The Miami Herald
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Bach Goldberg Variations at Washington’s National Gallery:
“After his exhaustive account of this most exhaustive of keyboard masterpieces,
anything further couldn’t help but be anticlimactic. The Viennese-born musician already has an impressive discography
of works by Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann to his credit. Indeed Vladar’s mastery of such later styles clearly benefits
his interpretation of Bach. Vladar imparted tremendous vitality and presence to each episode through a variety of expressive
gestures…governing Vladar’s often original choices was a rapt concentration that not even the blurring effect
of the acoustics could untether.”
The Washington Post
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Recipient of the 2009 Golden Decoration
of Honor for his services to the Republic of Austria, Viennese Stefan Vladar is widely considered one of
the most versatile and distinctive musical personalities, bringing keen intelligence, passion and artistry to both conducting
and playing the piano. At
nineteen he won the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna, beginning a solo career that quickly brought
him to the major musical capitals of Europe, the United States and Far East. Among the orchestras with
which he has performed are the Vienna Philharmonic, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Chicago and Houston Symphonies, Bavarian
State and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, under such notable conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Seiji Ozawa,
Riccardo Chailly and Christoph von Donhnányi. In Summer 2009 he made a hugely successful debut at New York's
distinguished "Mostly Mozart" Festival, performing a Haydn Concerto under the direction of Louis Langree. Mr. Vladar is acclaimed worldwide for the technical mastery, interpretive elegance and expressive clarity he brings
to a wide range of literature. These same qualities are increasingly in evidence in his conducting. In the
2002-2003 season he was Director of the newly formed Grosses Orchester Graz; in 1988 Artistic Director of the Neuberg Festival; in
1999 the Upper Austrian Monastery Concerts and in 2008 he was named Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Vienna
Chamber Orchestra.
In his orchestral programs Mr. Vladar performs not only the great works of the 20th
century but also to revive neglected compositions of earlier eras. His particular dedication is to Mozart’s
piano concertos and all of Mendelssohn’s symphonies. Often he conducts a Mendelssohn symphony on the same program
as he play/conducts one of the Beethoven piano concertos (all five of which he recorded for Naxos). His discography includes
over twenty titles, including solo works by Chopin, Brahms, Richard Strauss, J.S. Bach and Schumann, as well as the Dvorak
Piano Quintet with the Jerusalem Quartet and a disc of his conducting baritone Bo Skovhus and the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
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