Charles Richard-Hamelin

Sunday, November 16, 2025 | 3:00pm

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A man in a suit and glasses is playing a piano.
A man in a suit and glasses is playing a piano.
A man in a suit and glasses is playing a piano.

The Poet of the Piano

Pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin, laureate of the Chopin Competition, returns with a programme both poetic and virtuosic that includes Chopin's tuneful Nocturnes and the four wild Scherzi, along with the monumental Schubert C minor sonata that was strongly influenced by Beethoven. Winner of many awards and honors and the prestigious Career Development Award conferred by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto, Charles was awarded the Prix Denise-Pelletier in November 2022, becoming the youngest recipient of the Prix du Québec. Charles has emerged as one of the most important pianists of his generation. 

PROGRAM

Chopin

Nocturne op. 32 no. 2 in A-flat major

  Nocturne op. 48 no. 1 in C minor


Schubert: Sonata in C minor, D. 958



– Intermission –



Chopin

Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20

  Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31

  Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39 

  Scherzo No. 4 in E major, Op. 54


Program subject to change


  • Charles Richard-Hamelin Biography

    Silver medalist and winner of the Krystian Zimerman Prize at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition, pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin has emerged as one of the most important pianists of his generation. Recipient of the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec and of the prestigious Career Development Award conferred by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto, he was awarded the Prix Denise-Pelletier in November 2022, becoming the youngest recipient in the history of the Prix du Québec.



    As a soloist, Charles has performed with the major Canadian symphony orchestras (Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Metropolitan, Quebec City, Edmonton, Calgary, etc.) as well as the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, OFUNAM (Mexico), Les Violons du Roy and I Musici de Montréal. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Andrew Wan, James Ehnes, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Marc-André Hamelin, the Dover Quartet, the New Orford Quartet, the Apollon Musagète Quartet, and the Meccore Quartet, among others.



    Charles Richard-Hamelin has recorded eleven albums, all released on the Analekta label. These include solo works by Chopin, duo works with Montreal Symphony concertmaster Andrew Wan, both Chopin piano concertos with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, conducted by Kent Nagano, and Mozart’s Piano Concertos nos. 22 and 24 with Les Violons du Roy, conducted by Jonathan Cohen. Six Félix awards (ADISQ) and a JUNO in 2022 saluted the quality of these albums, which have received widespread acclaim from critics worldwide.

Richard-Hamelin is a supremely artistic, highly sensitive yet thoroughly masculine young pianist, whose strikingly original ideas remain true to the spirit of Chopin and concluded that ‘this is a young pianist of whom we will hear a great deal more, and very soon.'


– Gramophone