Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a French pianist. He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Yvonne Loriod and, from childhood, was closely associated with Olivier Messiaen. He is regarded as one of the leading performers of Messiaen’s music. He later studied with Maria Curcio and György Kurtág, and won first prize at the Olivier Messiaen Competition in 1973.
From 1977, Aimard was a soloist with Ensemble Intercontemporain for 18 years. He has performed with major orchestras and conductors in Europe and the United States. His recording of Beethoven’s concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, received an ECHO Klassik Award; his album of music by Charles Ives received a Grammy Award. He has also worked as a conductor and led several music festivals.
Aimard’s repertoire includes contemporary music by Elliott Carter, György Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Helmut Lachenmann, Steve Reich, Marco Stroppa and George Benjamin. He is also known for his interpretations of Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Debussy, Ravel, Webern and Bartók. In 2009, he received the Victoires de la Musique award for best instrumentalist in France and appeared in the documentary film Pianomania.
He teaches at the Paris Conservatory and the Cologne University of Music. His book The Role and Responsibilities of the Performer Today was published in Paris in 2009. In 2017, he received the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.