Jill Lawson

Born in Mexico in 1974, American-Portuguese pianist Jill Lawson began her music studies at the age of eight with Heidi Hendrickx at the Music Academy in Antwerp, Belgium. At the age of fourteen, she entered the class of Levente Kende at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp where, in 1995, she was graduated with the highest distinctions for individual and chamber performance. During the same period (in 1992), Ms. Lawson was accepted into the prestigious Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth school in Brussels where she also graduated in 1995 with highest honors. She then studied with Jan Wijn at the Sweelink Conservatory in Amsterdam, Holland and came to America in 1998 to study at Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory with Leon Fleisher. After graduating in 2000, she concertized for two years in Europe before returning to pursue graduate studies at Peabody with Ellen Mack. Ms. Lawson has won a number of awards at national and international competitions. She was awarded fourth place at the International Schubert Competition in Dortmund (2001), second prize at the Vianna da Motta International Competition in Macao (1997), Laureate at the Tenuto Competition in Brussels (1995) and third prize at the Tromp Competition in Eindhoven, Holland (1996). She was also a finalist in the Classical Fellowship Awards of the American Pianists Association in Indianapolis (2003). Among her past orchestral, recital and chamber performances are appearances in Belgium, Holland, France, Andorra, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Italy, Romania and the United States. She has been recorded by Dutch television and also produced a CD of Schumann symphonic etudes for the Vianna da Motta International Foundation. Also among her favored activities is participation in masterclasses. She has done so with pianists Maria Joao Pires, Maria Tipo, Vladimir Viardo, Sequeira Costa and Dmitri Bashkirov. Ms. Lawson also performs extensively with her brother Eliot who is a violinist. Jill Lawson Critics’ Views…… Marc Fichafet, La Semain d’Anvers….. “…to go back to the most beautiful, was the Concerto in G Major of Maurice Ravel by the extraordinary Jill Lawson. We have here an artist who, secure in herself, develops a sensitive touch, expressive and intelligent. Particularly in the middle movement, ‘adagio assai’, she produced he melodic line with an infinite poetry and charm. A splendid performance.”

Shirley Fleming, American Record Guide….. “Second prize went to Jill Lawson, revealing great promise…in an explosive Bartok ‘Im Freien” and in an especially sparkling finale of the Saint-Saens Second Piano Concerto.”

Cornelie Hoendervanger, Eindhovens Dagblad….. “enjoyable, agile, sinewy and stirring.”

Il Tirreno, Cronaca de Monsumma….. “The artist presented an exceptional and refined Mozart, interpreted with warmth and a Mediterranean vigor.”

Also from the pages of La Semain d’Anvers….. “Since she was a child we have been able to follow with joy the exceptional talent of this young pianist, always a strong musician and who today evolves into a virtuoso of great promise. The playing is more and more assured and brilliant, the velocity dazzling, the musical structure intelligent and balanced, and if she already possessed a power in the discourse and the attack, she knows also to save her strength and not to stray into a playing that is too percussive.”

And again six years later….. “Each season, our Concerts de Midi rediscover this young pianist, whose evolution we have been able to follow with complete satisfaction, as each recital has confirmed her authentic musical nature. Little by little, her virtuosity has transformed itself into a sensitive musician, intelligent and industrious. So much so that her career is more and more attractive, and one hopes that concert organizations will interest themselves in her beautiful talent. The Sonata in C KV 330 by Mozart with which she began her recital was eloquent and evidence of her musical taste, her colorful touch, her artful phrasing and her inherent sense of the style of expression of the master of Salzburg. It sparkled, it sang, but it likewise became deeper in adroitly contrasted nuance which brought the work to life.”

“With the exacting Etudes Symphoniques, Op. 13 of Schumann, Jill Lawson attacked the large virtuoso repertoire. She technically dominated the most arduous passages, knew how to construct each variation with magnificent élan and marked contrasts, gave the complete work its romantic launching all the while maintaining an exemplary endurance in the most complex sequences. Moreover, this interpretation, profound and brilliantly uplifting, earned her a spontaneous response from the audience, transported in admiration of the progress of a talent maturing in significant fashion.”

Additional Resources

Millennium Stage Home Page

Watch Past Performances

5/26/04: Conservatory Project - The Peabody Conservatory

Conservatory Project - The Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University presents a duo program with percussionist Svetoslav Stoyanov and pianist Jill Lawson.

Conservatory Project - The Peabody Conservatory

Conservatory Project - The Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University presents a duo program with percussionist Svetoslav Stoyanov and pianist Jill Lawson.

Comment, rate, and more...

Performances

Search by Date

Annual Events

Search by Category

Visit these areas of our website:

Tickets

Buy a Ticket

Subscribe

Customer Help

Box Office

Contribute

Give Now

Support Us

Get Involved

Visit

The Kennedy Center

Area Information

The Venues

Area Map

Explore the Arts

Videos

Live Broadcasts

Interactives

Artists

Blogs

Education

Performances & Events

Arts & Schools

Career Development

VSA and Accessibility

Arts Management

About

A Living Memorial

Our People

Jill Lawson

Additional Resources

Watch Past Performances

Comments