ALEXANDER ULLMAN (PIANO): Brahms & Chopin

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"Ullman captures with startling clarity and musicality the twin instincts of tradition and experimentation."
    ~The Sunday Times

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Praised by The Scotsman for his “powerful musical intellect and effortless technical facility”, British pianist Alexander Ullman enjoys an international career as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. His playing combines interpretative insight with technical refinement and an elegant, expressive touch. He first attracted international attention by winning the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Budapest in 2011, subsequently winning the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Utrecht in 2017.

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Ullman has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Montreal Symphony Orchestra. His conducting collaborators include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Litton, Giancarlo Guerrero, Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Cristian Măcelaru. Other orchestral highlights include performances with the Tonkünstler Orchestra at Vienna’s Musikverein under Hans Graf, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg under Patrick Hahn, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. He has appeared with the SWR Symphonieorchester under Joseph Bastian, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra under Julian Rachlin and the Sofia Philharmonic.

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His recital engagements have taken him to Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus and the Kennedy Center in Washington, alongside appearances across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Festival engagements include Klavierfestival Ruhr, Heidelberger Frühling and the Liszt Festival in Raiding. In January 2026, he appeared in South Africa, giving a programme of Grieg and Liszt for the Cape Town Concert Series at the Baxter Concert Hall. In May 2026, he performed at Hay Festival in a recital recorded for BBC Radio 3, pairing Grieg with Liszt’s transcription of Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture.

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An active chamber musician, Ullman has collaborated with violinist Rosanne Philippens, cellist Julia Hagen and the Dover and Danel quartets. He also performs with the Redon Quartet alongside Pieter van Loenen, Dana Zemtsov and Laura van der Heijden. His chamber appearances include the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, the Montreal Chamber Music Festival and La Jolla SummerFest. He is a regular performer with the Trans-Atlantic Ensemble, whose recent programmes have explored music by Copland, Messiaen, Saariaho, Takemitsu and Helen Grime.

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Ullman’s recordings for Rubicon Classics reflect his interest in both virtuoso repertoire and the piano’s expressive colours. His latest album, Grieg, released in October 2025, brings together Moods, song arrangements and Lyric Pieces, alongside his own transcriptions of Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. His debut recording, released in 2019, featured Russian ballet music by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Stravinsky. A subsequent Liszt album combined the two piano concertos, recorded with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Litton, with the Sonata in B minor. His performances have also been featured on France Musique and MDR Klassik.

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Born in London in 1991, Ullman studied at the Purcell School, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Royal College of Music in London. He completed his Artist Diploma in 2017 as the Benjamin Britten Piano Fellow, supported by the Philip Loubser Foundation. His teachers have included William Fong, Leon Fleisher, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Robert McDonald, Dmitri Alexeev, Ian Jones and Elisso Virsaladze. From 2014 to 2017, he was represented by Young Classical Artists Trust. 

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Programme to include:

Brahms - Sonata No. 1, Op. 1 in C major
Chopin - Polonaise-Fantaisie Op. 61
Chopin - Ballade No. 4, Op. 52

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Artist website: https://www.alexanderullman.com/

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Location

Sutton House, National Trust, E9 6JQ