I love playing and recording on instruments by C. Bechstein. Their tone soars, inspiring me to create colors and nuances in the moment that I didn't know were possible. It's thrilling to discover new possibilities, and at the same time I always feel reassured, because I know that whatever comes out will be touching.
Kunal Lahiry
Indian-American pianist Kunal Lahiry is a current BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the 2021 Carl Bechstein Foundation scholarship. Recent performance highlights include recitals at Wigmore Hall, Kennedy Center, Pierre Boulez Saal, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Room, Musée d’Orsay, Ludwigsburg Festival, Life Victoria de Los Angeles Festival, and at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute. He has been broadcasted on BBC Radio 3, Icelandic National Public Radio RÁS1, Austrian Radio Ö1, and RBB Kultur, and was featured on ARTE’s ‘Hope@Home’ and ‘Europe@Home’ series hosted by violinist Daniel Hope. This season includes appearances at Stoller Hall, Bristol St. George’s, Aldeburgh Festival, Opera Holland Park, Cheltenham Music Festival, Harpa Concert Hall, Schubertíada Comillas, Hugo Wolf Academy, Heidelberg Neulied Festival, Philharmonie de Paris.
Kunal has commissioned and premiered works by Nico Muhly, Errollyn Wallen, Nahre Sol, Héloïse Werner, Pablo Campos, Molly Joyce, Viktor Orri Árnason, Guðmundur Emilsson, Zachary Radler, Zubaida Azezi, and Edo Frenkel. He received grants from the Musikfonds and the Center for Musical Excellence to finance and co-produce an interdisciplinary video project called ‘Homescapes’ with Icelandic soprano and visual artist Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, and created a music video with Boomtown Media Productions exploring queerness in classical music through the support of the Liedzentrum Heidelberg. He frequently collaborates with pop singer Lie Ning in Berlin and they performed together at the 2020 Reeperbahn in Hamburg.
Kunal has been invited to participate in several young artist programmes for pianists specializing in art song. In 2018, he was selected for the inaugural Royaumont-Orsay Academy, culminating in a live album recording released by B Records. He also joined Carnegie Hall’s first Song Studio, mentored by Renée Fleming, was invited by Thomas Hampson to participate in the Heidelberg Lied Academy, and received the Sam Hutchings prize at Malcolm Martineau’s Oxenfoord International Summer School.
Originally from Gainesville, Georgia, Kunal was a Schulich Scholar at McGill University and graduated with distinction in song interpretation from the Hochschule for Musik “Hanns Eisler”. He is an Equilibrium Young Artist, Samling Artist, Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Artist, and Britten Pears Young Artist.
Photo Credits: Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, BechsteinArchiv
