Nicolas Horvath

Nicolas Horvath, a pianist devoted to modern repertoire, concentrates especially on expansive compositions and extended series by Philip Glass together with Erik Satie. Through repeated requests for fresh scores, he has helped bring roughly two hundred new pieces into being.

Born in Monaco on August 11, 1977, Horvath entered a program for musically talented youngsters established by Princess Grace when he reached age ten. During that period he secured the Academie de Musique Prince Rainier III Prize by unanimous jury decision. Conductor Lawrence Foster observed him at the event and secured three summers at the Aspen Music Festival, where Gabriel Chodos served as his teacher. In 1998 Horvath enrolled at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris; two years later he joined the classes of Bruno Leonardo Gelber and Germaine Deveze, who directed him to avoid public appearances and contests while training. He departed the institution in 2004 and turned to composition lessons first with Gino Favotti and afterward with Christine Groult. Returning to the competitive arena in 2008, Horvath captured first prizes at the Luigi Nono and Alexander Scriabin Competitions plus multiple Japanese events. He completed his training with Oxana Yabloskaya and Leslie Howard.

Horvath has performed as concerto soloist with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, the Palm Beach Symphony Orchestra, the Kiev Virtuoso Soloists, and additional groups. He has requested pieces from prominent figures such as Valentin Silvestrov, Terry Riley, and Alvin Lucier, resulting in more than one hundred dedications. Although he continues to produce his own electroacoustic works, he remains best recognized for demanding solo piano programs that present complete large-scale scores. On December 12, 2012, beginning at noon in Paris at the Palais de Tokyo Museum, he delivered Satie’s thirty-five-hour Vexations without interruption. In 2014 he assembled a Philip Glass tribute concert in Paris that drew composers from 120 countries. He introduced Glass’s 20 Etudes at Carnegie Hall the next year, then in 2016 presented an eleven-hour survey of Glass’s music that prompted a one-hour ovation and nine encores. Horvath also promotes the output of Jaan Rääts and regularly plays earlier neglected composers such as Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, and Friedrich Kalkbrenner, as well as the homeless avant-garde figure Moondog.

Most of his recordings have appeared on the Grand Piano label and feature extensive cycles by Glass and Satie. In 2020 he released The Unknown Debussy: Rare Piano Music, followed a year later by Alvin Lucier: Music for Piano XL.