Biography
- Diploma, BM, Curtis Institute of Music
- MM, Temple University
International solo recitals and chamber music concerts performed on both period and modern instruments; television and radio broadcasts worldwide; recital partner with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich for over eleven years; recital partner with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter since 1988; founding member of The Kennedy Center Chamber Players and Castle Trio (period instruments).
Premiered solo works by George Crumb [A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979], Richard Wernick [two Piano Sonatas, and Concerto for Piano which premiered in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., and Carnegie Hall, New York, with the National Symphony Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich conducting], Maurice Wright [Holding Together], and James Primosch [Sonata-Fantasia for piano and synthesizer, 1 player].
Awards: Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for Beethoven sonata-cycle recordings with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Choc de l’année award for Mozart sonatas for piano and violin with Anne-Sophie Mutter, three additional Grammy Award nominations, recipient of Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit, recipient of Temple University’s Faculty Creative Achievement Award. Recordings released on Deutsche Grammophon, Bridge, Dorian, Virgin Classics, innova, and other labels; videos of performances with Anne-Sophie Mutter released on Deutsche Grammophon. Has appeared as soloist under the batons of Christoph Eschenbach, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Slatkin, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Günther Herbig, Leon Fleisher, John Mauceri, Robert Kapilow, Kenneth Slowik, and others; has made duo and/or chamber music appearances with cellists Lynn Harrell, Anner Bylsma, Daniel Müller-Schott, and Han-Na Chang, violinist Julian Rachlin, and violist Steven Dann; has performed with the Vertavo, Emerson, American, Mendelssohn, Curtis, and Manchester string quartets. Clinician; adjudicator; principal keyboard, National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, D.C.
Studied with Eleanor Sokoloff and Marian Filar.
Works and Publications
With violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter (Deutsche Grammophon)
Videos (DVD) and Recordings (CD)
Beethoven: The Violin Sonatas (recipient of Grammy and Critic’s Choice awards)
Mozart: The Violin Sonatas (recipient of choc de l’année award)
Brahms: The Violin Sonatas
Audio Recordings
The Berlin Recital (Grammy nomination) (Franck, Debussy, Mozart, Brahms)
Tango, Song, and Dance (Fauré, Kreisler, Brahms)
Recital 2000 (Prokofiev, Crumb, Webern, Respighi)
Bartók: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2, Sz 76
With cellist Anner Bylsma (Sony Classical Vivarte Recordings)
Works by Brahms and Schumann (Grammy nomination)
Works by Chopin, Franchomme
With cellist David Hardy (Dorian Recordings)
Beethoven: Past & Present
Complete Variations and Sonatas for Piano and Cello
2 Complete Performances on Modern and Period Instruments
Solo Recordings (Bridge Records)
Music of Crumb and Wernick
Lambert Orkis performs two works written for him: George Crumb’s A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979, and Richard Wernick’s Sonata for Piano (Reflections of a Dark Light)
From Hammers to Bytes
This disc contains two works commissioned by and written for Lambert Orkis by Richard Wernick and James Primosch. The works were premiered in Philadelphia at The Curtis Institute of Music in April 2002.
Beethoven: The Appassionata Sonata
This disc contains performances of this work by Lambert Orkis on two different fortepianos and one piano, all of Viennese design.
Gottschalk: Music for Piano
Lambert Orkis performs on an 1865 Chickering Concert grand piano from the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, remastered from Smithsonian Collection of Recordings ND033.
Soloist with Orchestra (Bridge Records)
Richard Wernick: Piano Concerto (with Symphony II, composer conducting)
With The Kennedy Center Chamber Players (Dorian Recordings)
The Beauty of Two
Duos for piano and other instruments by Grieg and Martinů (with cello), Hindemith (viola), Poulenc (flute)
An Emotional Journey
Clarinet works of Johannes Brahms
With Castle Trio (period instruments)
Beethoven Piano Trios (Virgin Veritas Recordings)
Beethoven and Schubert Piano Trios (Virgin Veritas Recordings)
Clara and Robert Schumann Piano Trios (FofM Recordings)
With violist Steven Dann (ATMA Classique Recordings)
Works of Brahms: Two Sonatas for Viola and Piano, Op. 120, and Two Songs for Alto Voice, Viola, and Piano, Op. 91 (with Susan Platts, mezzo-soprano)
With The 20th Century Consort (innova Recordings)
Works for piano 4-hands by George Crumb (with pianist James Primosch); piano and electronic sounds by Maurice Wright; solo harpsichord by William Penn, and piano and computer by Dexter Morrill.
This disc features soprano Lucy Shelton with various ensembles and includes works by Joseph Schwantner, Richard Wernick, and William Doppmann.
Chamber music works by George Rochberg, Allan Schindler, Joseph Schwantner.
With soprano Arleen Augér (EMI Classics, MP3 available)
Schubert: Lieder (period instrument)
With violinist Jaap Schroeder (Virgin Classics Veritas)
Mozart: Violin Sonatas (period instruments)