Lortie, Louis
Lortie, Louis
Lortie, Louis, Canadian pianist; b. Montreal, April 27, 1959. He began piano lessons at age 7 in Montreal at the École de musique Wilfred-Pelletier, and later studied at the École normal de musique. In 1975 he won the CBC Talent Festival and International Stepping Stones of the Canadian Music Competition, and subsequently appeared as a recitalist and performed on the CBC. He also completed his training with Deiter Weber in Vienna (1975–76), Menahem Pressler at the Ind. Univ. School of Music in Bloomington, and Marc Durand. In 1978 he won distinction as one of the soloists to accompany Andrew Davis and the Toronto Sym. on their tour of Japan and China. After taking first prize in the Busoni Competition in Bolzano and fourth prize in the Leeds Competition in 1984, he made regular tours of Europe and North America. His commanding repertoire ranges from Mozart to the contemporary era.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire