Leif Ove Andsnes

Leif Ove Andsnes (Karmøy, 7 April 1970) is a Norwegian pianist.

Andsnes studied with Jiří Hlinka at the Grieg Muziekacademie in Bergen. He is a very renowned performer of the works of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Andsnes is a respected performing soloist worldwide. He has won many awards including the Hindemithprijs in 1987, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 1997, the Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2000 and the Gramophone Award Instrumental in 2002, the latter for his performance of Grieg's Lyrische stukken. In 2002 he performed Grieg's piano concerto during the Last Night of the Proms. Andsnes has made many recordings for Virgin and EMI.
In June 2012 he was music director of the 2012 Ojai Music Festival. He is also founder and director of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival in Norway and was involved with the Risør Festival of Chamber Music.
Between 2011 and 2015 he undertook The Beethoven Journey. With the Mahler Chamber Orchestra he performed Beethoven's works for piano and orchestra in 108 cities in 27 different countries, during more than 230 performances. A documentary was made about it: Concerto - A Beethoven Journey and Sony Classical released The Beethoven Journey trilogy on cd. Part one received the Belgian Caecilia Prijs in 2013.
After that he worked again with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, for the Mozart Momentum 1785/86 project.