Important notice
Lukas Sternath has unfortunately had to cancel his solo recital due to illness. We are very grateful to the pianist Paul Lewis for stepping in at short notice, and are delighted to be able to offer the audience such a high-calibre replacement. This change in the line-up has also led to a change in the programme: Paul Lewis will perform works by Mozart, Chopin and Schubert.
(30 October 2026)
Performers
Programme
Nocturnes op. 32
In Paul Lewis, the Alte Oper was able to secure a top-class last-minute replacement who also has a special connection to Lukas Sternath: as Lukas Sternath’s teacher and mentor, Paul Lewis has played a decisive role in shaping Sternath’s artistic development at the University of Music, Drama and Media in Hanover over the past few years.
Paul Lewis, too, owes some key turning points in his career to a great pianist: it has been more than 30 years since the British pianist attended a masterclass with Alfred Brendel. “Let’s keep in touch” – with these words, Brendel bid farewell to the young pianist back then. For Lewis, it was a great honour: Brendel, known for taking on only a few pupils, recognised Lewis’s exceptional talent and taught him regularly from then on. In the English-speaking world, Lewis has long been regarded as one of the most influential pianists of our time, but he is also celebrated in the international music world; he has made a name for himself particularly with works by Beethoven and Schubert. Schubert is also one of the composers on the programme when Paul Lewis performs at the Alte Oper. For his long-awaited debut at the Alte Oper, he has chosen the intimate, focused three piano pieces D 946, which are perfectly suited to him: With his warm, soft touch and his unhurried elegance, Lewis strikes exactly the right note in these late Schubert works – he demonstrated this fine sensitivity, amongst other things, three years ago on his highly acclaimed 6-CD recording of Schubert’s major piano works.
