Sir Stephen Hough

Named by The Economist as one of Twenty Living Polymaths, Sir Stephen Hough combines a distinguished career of a concert pianist with those of a composer and writer. He became the first classical performer to be given a MacArthur Fellowship, and was awarded a Knighthood for Services to Music in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2022.

In a career spanning over 40 years, Stephen Hough has played regularly with most of the world's leading orchestras, including televised and filmed appearances with the Berlin, London, China, Seoul and New York Philharmonic Orchestras. He has been a regular guest of recital series and festivals including Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, London's Royal Festival Hall, Salzburg, Verbier, Aspen, Tanglewood, and Edinburgh.

Hough's discography of 70 recordings has garnered awards including the Diapason d'Or de l'Année, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Awards including Record of the Year. For Hyperion he has recorded the complete piano concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninov, Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky.

As a composer, Hough's Fanfare Toccata was commissioned for the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. His body of songs, choral and instrumental works have been commissioned by the Musée du Louvre, National Gallery of London, Westminster Abbey, and the Wigmore Hall.

As an author, Hough's memoir Enough: Scenes from Childhood, was published by Faber & Faber in Spring 2023. It follows his 2019 collection of essays Rough Ideas: Reflections on Music and More, which received a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. He has also written for The New York Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian, and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School in New York.