Biography
Pianist Lori Sims has appeared before audiences across numerous continents, her programs encompassing a wide span from the works of Bach to an expanding emphasis on contemporary compositions during her mature years. In addition to her performing activities she maintains a strong commitment to teaching, both through her position at Western Michigan University and through master classes at summer festivals throughout North America and Europe.
Her birth took place near Denver, Colorado, in the closing years of the 1960s. Both parents were pianists, supplying her earliest instruction; as a teenager she continued her studies at the University of Colorado under Larry Graham. Subsequent training brought her to the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore for work with Leon Fleisher, then to the Yale University School of Music, where she completed a master’s degree studying with Daniel Pollack and Claude Frank. A two-year German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship next took her to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany, for lessons with Arie Vardi, culminating in the award of a Solistendiplom, or Artist Diploma.
Among her competition successes the most conspicuous was the gold medal at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in 1998. The victory produced concerto engagements with the NDR Symphony Orchestra—now known as the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra—the Israel Philharmonic, and the Utah Symphony. Her solo appearances have since carried her across the United States, highlighted by a 2000 debut at Alice Tully Hall, as well as to venues in Europe and China. Chamber-music partnerships have included collaborations with cellist Natalia Khoma and violinist Renata Artman Knific. Since 1997 she has served on the faculty of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan; in 2003 she was appointed the John T. Bernhard Professor of Music, one of only thirteen named chairs at the institution.
Her discography appears on several labels. For MSR Classics she recorded, together with Knific, three of William Bolcom’s sonatas for violin and piano. The TwoPianists imprint released her account of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, in 2015. On Centaur she contributed to the 2020 jazz-classical fusion project Impressions of Debussy.
Her birth took place near Denver, Colorado, in the closing years of the 1960s. Both parents were pianists, supplying her earliest instruction; as a teenager she continued her studies at the University of Colorado under Larry Graham. Subsequent training brought her to the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore for work with Leon Fleisher, then to the Yale University School of Music, where she completed a master’s degree studying with Daniel Pollack and Claude Frank. A two-year German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship next took her to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany, for lessons with Arie Vardi, culminating in the award of a Solistendiplom, or Artist Diploma.
Among her competition successes the most conspicuous was the gold medal at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in 1998. The victory produced concerto engagements with the NDR Symphony Orchestra—now known as the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra—the Israel Philharmonic, and the Utah Symphony. Her solo appearances have since carried her across the United States, highlighted by a 2000 debut at Alice Tully Hall, as well as to venues in Europe and China. Chamber-music partnerships have included collaborations with cellist Natalia Khoma and violinist Renata Artman Knific. Since 1997 she has served on the faculty of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan; in 2003 she was appointed the John T. Bernhard Professor of Music, one of only thirteen named chairs at the institution.
Her discography appears on several labels. For MSR Classics she recorded, together with Knific, three of William Bolcom’s sonatas for violin and piano. The TwoPianists imprint released her account of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, in 2015. On Centaur she contributed to the 2020 jazz-classical fusion project Impressions of Debussy.
Albums
