Christian Kluxen, conductor
Christian Kluxen is now in his tenth season as Music Director of the Victoria Symphony in Canada, following a five-year tenure as Chief Conductor of the Arctic Philharmonic in Norway.
Kluxen has been described in the press as “a dynamic, charismatic figure” who “forms the music with an impressive vertical power of emotion and a focus on the grand form”, conducting “with exemplary clarity and a heavenly warmth”. He is recognized for his sincere and transparent leadership, innovative programming, and his bold, imaginative, and energetic interpretations, showcased both in his MD and guest work.
Alongside his many and varied commitments with the Victoria Symphony, recent and forthcoming guest engagements include Turku Philharmonic (where he was Principal Guest Conductor for three seasons) Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Pacific Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Odense Symphony, Aalborg Symphony and Norrköping Symphony. A fruitful and inspiring relationship with the Arctic Philharmonic, whom Kluxen led for five years as Chief Conductor, resulted in numerous exhilarating performances of a wide variety of repertoire, as well as several acclaimed recordings.
Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin, a “performer of near-superhuman technical prowess” (The New York Times), is acclaimed worldwide for his rare combination of profound musicianship and dazzling technique. He is celebrated both for his interpretations of the core repertoire and for his fearless exploration of lesser-known works from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. He regularly performs around the globe with the leading orchestras and conductors of our time, and gives recitals at major concert venues and festivals worldwide.
Hamelin’s 2025–2026 season spans North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, with a dynamic mix of orchestral, recital, and chamber music engagements. He opens the season with a tour of Australia and Asia, featuring concerto and recital appearances with the Sydney Symphony under Sir Donald Runnicles, concerto engagements with the Wuxi, Ningbo, and Shenzhen symphonies, and solo recitals in Adelaide, Xiamen, and Shenzhen.
In North America, Hamelin appears with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the San Diego Symphony with Thomas Guggeis, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, on tour. Recital highlights include Chicago Symphony Presents, San Francisco Symphony, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Keyboard Concerts in Fresno, and Soka Performing Arts Center. In duo with Maria João Pires, he is presented by The Cleveland Orchestra, the Gilmore Piano Festival, and the Fortas Chamber Music Series at the Kennedy Center.
European appearances include Rhapsody in Blue with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and Vladimir Jurowski, the Marx Piano Concerto with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich and Fabien Gabel, and performances with the Bremer Philharmoniker, Wigmore Hall, the Schubertiade, MDR Wartburg, and the Chipping Campden Festival. Additional recitals take place in Italy, the Netherlands, and Berlin, along with an extensive duo tour with Maria João Pires to the Philharmonie de Paris, the Barbican, The Hague, Martigny, Toulouse, and Berlin.
Chamber music highlights include the Chausson Concert with Augustin Hadelich and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Franck Piano Quintet with the Juilliard String Quartet for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. With Canadian pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin, Hamelin tours to Koerner Hall in Toronto, Salle Bourgie in Montréal, Club musical de Québec, and the Isabel Bader Centre in Kingston.
An exclusive recording artist for Hyperion Records, Hamelin has released more than 90 albums to date, with notable recordings of a broad range of solo, orchestral, and chamber repertoire. In October 2025, Hyperion releases Found Objects / Sound Objects, a recording of contemporary works. Recent acclaimed recordings include Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106, and Sonata in C major, Op. 2 No. 3, as well as the Dvořák and Florence Price quintets with the Takács Quartet.
Also a noted composer, Hamelin has written more than 30 works. Many, including his Études and Toccata on “L’homme armé”—commissioned by the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—are published by Edition Peters. He performed the Toccata in 2023 on NPR’s Tiny Desk alongside works by C.P.E. Bach and William Bolcom. His most recent composition, Mazurka, was commissioned by the Library of Congress to celebrate 100 years of concerts and premiered in April 2024. Featuring nine original pieces, Hamelin’s 2024 album New Piano Works is a survey of some of his own recent works, exhibiting his formidable skill as a composer-pianist whose music imaginatively and virtuosically taps into his musical forebears. “His previous offerings of his own music were rich, but his latest self-portrait album is on another level,” wrote The New York Times. It was Hamelin’s first album of all original compositions since Études (2010).
Hamelin is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the German Record Critics’ Association, and over 20 of its quarterly awards. Other honors include eight Juno Awards, 12 Grammy nominations, the 2018 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize from Northwestern University, and the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award from the Ontario Arts Foundation. Hamelin is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada. Born in Montreal, Hamelin lives in the Boston area with his wife, Cathy Fuller, a producer and host at Classical WCRB.
