Artist Biography

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Eugene Asti

Accompanist

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Artist Manager: Sioned Jones sioned.jones@harlequin-agency.co.uk

Website: https://eugeneasti.com/


Eugene has devised many recital series for St John’s Smith Square, London and St George’s Bristol to mark anniversaries of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Strauss and Schumann, which included many of today’s leading artists. His recordings include three volumes of songs and duets by Felix Mendelssohn, the complete works of Clara Schumann, the complete Mozart Songs with Sophie Karthäuser and Stephan Loges and a disc of Schumann Lieder entitled 'Songs of Love and Loss' with Sarah Connolly.

Eugene Asti is one of the most successful and sought-after collaborative pianists of his generation. In a distinguished career, he has partnered some of the world’s greatest singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Nancy Argenta, Katherine Broderick, Alison Buchanan, Dame Sarah Connolly, Sophie Daneman, Neil Davies, Richard Edgar-Wilson, Rebecca Evans, Alessandro Fisher, Anna Grevelius, Susan Gritton, Sophie Karthäuser, Angelika Kirchschlager, Mhairi Lawson, Stephan Loges, Dame Felicity Lott, Hannah Morrison, James Newby, Mark Padmore, Dame Margaret Price, James Rutherford, Sir Bryn Terfel, Sir Willard White, Roderick Williams, Helene Wold and Catherine Wyn-Rogers. He has formed particularly close musical partnerships with Sophie Karthäuser, Stephan Loges and James Rutherford both on the recital platform and in the recording studio.

He has performed at venues such as the Wigmore Hall and the Barbican, London; the Musikverein in Vienna; Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Kölner Philharmonie; the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels; Symphony Hall in Birmingham; the Usher Hall in Edinburgh and Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York. Eugene appears regularly at the Oxford Lieder Festival and has devised and curated numerous recital series for King’s Place, the Wigmore Hall and St. John’s Smith Square in London.

He has recorded extensively for many record labels including Hyperion, Harmonia Mundi, Chandos, BIS, Signum and Lawo [see discography] and has performed many live broadcasts for the BBC, Radio France and RTBF (Belgium).

In 2009, to honour the bicentenary of Felix Mendelssohn’s birth, Eugene devised and curated a recital series for the inaugural season at King’s Place in London. In the same year he completed an edition of previously rare and unknown songs by Mendelssohn for the publisher Bärenreiter. 

Engagements in recent seasons included recitals with Dame Sarah Connolly and Tenebrae Choir at the Wigmore Hall, and at the Oxford Lieder Festival; recitals with Sophie Karthäuser at the Kölner Philharmonie and in Zürich, the Pierre Boulez-Saal in Berlin and Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels at the L'Amphitheatre Vauban in Namur, The Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, the Aula Collegium Novum Hall in Krakow and at the concert hall in Blaibach; and concerts with Sophie Karthäuser, Mhairi Lawson, Stephan Loges, Alessandro Fisher and James Newby as well a masterclass at the Clara Schumann Festival at St John’s, Smith Square in London. He also shared the platform with pianist Graham Johnson and seventeen of the finest young singers of today for a concert at the Wigmore Hall.   Eugene is a Steinway Artist. 


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Concerts & Recitals

Recital with Sarah Connolly at the Wigmore Hall, September 2010
The Times
. . . accompanied with perceptive insight by Eugene Asti. Asti’s stylish rippling piano accompaniment and Ms Connolly’s soaring phrases really impressed in Speak to me, my love!, building up in intensity on the phrase ‘’The day will dawn’’ and then continuing to the climactic ‘’and go on our different paths’’…. The most greatly anticipated
Concert at the Jaqueline du Pré Music Building accompanying Sophie Daneman, October 2006
Oxford
Asti's accompaniments upon the keys meanwhile, brought out its own displays of perfect timing - not least one thought within his own intriguing work Three e.e cummings songs. He had especially a lovely lucid touch, which if only life were fair would launch forth with a full appreciation of its own.
Recital at the Lincoln Center, New York accompanying Susan Gritton, April 2003
The New York Times
…matching the full-bodied playing of Ms. Gritton’s solid accompanist, Eugene Asti.
Recital with Sir Bryn Terfel in Dresden, June 2017
Freitag
The evening would not have been a success without the genius Eugene Asti at the helm. He breathed with the singer, with every twist, turn and change of style. Perfection was reached when the Schubert was added.

Recordings

Poulenc Melodies recording with Sophie Karthäuser for Harmonia Mundi, July 2014
Limelight Magazine, Australia
Eugene Asti’s piano is assured, well balanced, and the perfect complement to Karthäuser’s beautiful soprano. The pair’s rendition of Poulenc’s hit chanson sentimentale, Les Chemins de l’amour, is simply to die for. Très jolie!
Mozart Songs cyp1650 [GF], March 2008
MusicWeb-International
Eugene Asti is a pliable accompanist and the recording is first class
The Exquisite Hour Album with Sarah Connolly, February 2006
The Guardian
Eugene Asti is her sensitive, technically assured accompanist
Recording of Mendelssohn Songs & Duets with Sophe Daneman & Nathan Berg for Hyperion, November 1999
Classical Review
Mendelssohn’s writing is so masterfully handled - especially in pianist Eugene Asti’s hands – that it’s the skill and virtuosity of the composer we experience……..tossed off with breathtaking agility.
Recording of Mendelssohn Songs & Duets with Sophe Daneman & Nathan Berg for Hyperion, November 1999
Gramophone
….accompanied with delightful vitality by Eugene Asti….
Recording of Mendelssohn Songs & Duets III with Sophie Daneman for Hyperion, November 1999
Fanfare, USA
There is much to recommend in this collection. First of all, the songs themselves, some deeper than others, are sweet and forthright, and shown to their best advantage by the equally sweet and forthright playing of Eugene Asti. Displaying a remarkable ease at the keyboard and a deep sense of these pieces, he seems to be the inspiring and unifying force behind the entire enterprise
Recording of Fanny Mendelssohn Lieder with Susan Gritton for Hyperion, March 1999
International Record Review
Asti provides the beautifully limpid, balanced accompaniment you imagine Fanny herself might have played.
Recording of Fanny Mendelssohn Lieder with Susan Gritton for Hyperion, March 1999
Gramophone Magazine
In less sensitive hands than Eugene Asti’s this could sound muddy, and much else might sound merely complacent; but his clarity and feeling for rhythm and harmony obviate that.

DEBUSSY Harmonie du soir - Mélodies, with Sophie Karthäuser (soprano), Stéphane Degout (baritone) and Alain Planès (piano)

Gramophone Magazine
Asti is no less wonderful, a winning light touch to his guitar-strumming in ‘Mandoline’, while his phrasing in ‘La flûte de Pan’ is especially limpid. Two blissful hours from four winning advocates for Debussy.
Hugo Wolf: 'Kennst du das Land'. Sophie Karthäuser (Soprano) Eugene Asti (Piano)
Gramophone
Throughout, Eugene Asti, recorded with proper prominence, is a model partner, commentator and animator (‘accompanist’ is an insult in Wolf): subtly fluid in rhythm, hyper-sensitive to the flux of Wolf’s liquescent harmonies and conjuring textures of gossamer delicacy in songs such as ‘Frühling über’s Jahr’, with its diaphonous bell chimes, and the two elfin sketches.
Hugo Wolf: 'Kennst du das Land'. Sophie Karthäuser (Soprano) Eugene Asti (Piano)
Opernwelt
Belgian soprano Sophie Karthäuser is perfectly matched with pianist Eugene Asti. The two set an incomparable spontaneity. On this CD, Karthäuser and Asti present a whole new interpretation of Hugo Wolf - timelessly modern without stilted naivety. We look forward to following the two through their exploration of the song repertoire.
Hugo Wolf: 'Kennst du das Land'. Sophie Karthäuser (Soprano) Eugene Asti (Piano)
Basler Zeitung
Goethe’s words are placed at the heart of this recording with the musical line taking the back seat. Sophie Karthäuser has precise diction and the wordless pianist, Eugene Asti is absolutely great.
Hugo Wolf: 'Kennst du das Land'. Sophie Karthäuser (Soprano) Eugene Asti (Piano)
Der Neue Merker
The most perfect creation of music and poetry. Renowned pianist, Eugene Asti has a lot of experience with gifted song singers - Felicity Lott and Margaret Price to name a couple. Alone, the piano part exceeds almost all historical comparisons. Asti’s prolonged and ornamented interpretation deepens the lyrical content of the highly ornate seals. One of the special things about this album is the equal importance given to the text and the music. The lovely team, Karthäuser and Asti, have created a delicate CD of art song that is most welcome.
Hugo Wolf: 'Kennst du das Land'. Sophie Karthäuser (Soprano) Eugene Asti (Piano)
Rondo Magazin
Soprano Sophie Karthäuser and pianist Eugene Asti give us a true musical blessing, an album of Goethe and Mörike poems placed to Hugo Wolf’s Lieder. You cannot escape the wonderful, narrative atmosphere. Eugene Asti accompanies Sophie Karthäuser like a gentleman. He allows Karthäuser to bathe in Hugo Wolf’s idiosyncratic harmonies whilst keeping the upper hand over the rough syncopations.
Hugo Wolf: 'Kennst du das Land'. Sophie Karthäuser (Soprano) Eugene Asti (Piano)
Crescendo
Belgian soprano Sophie Karthäuser recorded this CD with pianist Eugene Asti. This setting of Goethe and Mörike poems and Hugo Wolf’s Lieder is emotionally intense and glazed with sensitivity.
Hugo Wolf: 'Kennst du das Land'. Sophie Karthäuser (Soprano) Eugene Asti (Piano)
Kurier
The Belgian soprano performs the rarely played composer Hugo Wolf. Karthäuser and Asti stylishly awaken the songs to texts by Goethe, Eichendorff and Mmorike. This is Lieder singing at its finest, excellently accompanied by Eugene Asti.
Franz Schubert's 'Schwanengesang' with James Rutherford, April 2016
American Record Guide
This is one of the best recordings of these songs I’ve heard. Both artists employ excellent pacing and expression, and both apply just the right amount of discreet rubato and dynamic variety. Asti is just as gifted in conveying the nuances of the songs. This is quite simply an outstanding lieder program.
Franz Schubert's 'Schwanengesang' with James Rutherford, April 2016
Ihr Opernratgeber by Sven Godenrath
Der Pianist Eugene Asti versteht es ausgesprochen kunstvoll, einen singenden Klavierton zu erzeugen, auf welchem die Stimme des Sängers wundervoll zum Tragen kommt. Dieser “Schwanengesang” stellt einen Höhepunkt in der Diskographie dieses Liederzyklusses dar. (The pianist Eugene Asti understands very artfully, how to produce a singing piano tone, with which the singers wonderful voice comes to fruition. This "Swan Song" represents a high point in the discography of this song-cycle.)

This Artist Biography was last updated on 15 September 2022. It is our policy to update biographies every six months. If this information is to be used after 15 March 2023 please contact us and we shall be delighted to supply you with the latest version by return.