Pianist Lars Vogt dies aged 51

German pianist and conductor, Lars Vogt, has died aged 51 following a cancer diagnosis in February 2021. In a statement released this morning, Vogt’s management, Askonas Holt, wrote: ‘Lars died peacefully last night surrounded by his family after a battle with cancer.’

Born in Düren, Germany in 1970, Vogt’s career gained momentum after he won the second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition. In June 1998, aged just 28, he founded Spannungen, a chamber festival in the village of Heimbach and in 2005 he created the educational programme Rhapsody in Schools bringing musicians into classrooms across Germany and Austria.

As well as acknowledging Vogt’s many achievements, Askonas Holt's statement reads: ‘His legacy as an educator includes the many students who studied with him at Hannover Conservatoire and benefited from his ground-breaking Rhapsody in Schools programme. Most of all, his humanity and humility will be remembered by all those who encountered him.’

Following his five-year tenure as music director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS), Vogt became the RNS’ principal artistic partner in 2020. He was appointed music director of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris in the same year and was so successful in the role that the orchestra unanimously voted to extend their relationship only a year later. 

Vogt also held the role of artist in residence with Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrucken Kaiserslautern and was chosen as the Berliner Philharmoniker’s first ever pianist in residence for the 2003/4 season. Throughout his career he also collaborated with the Zurich Chamber Orchestras, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Sydney, Singapore and New Zealand symphony orchestras.

Speaking about his cancer diagnosis in an interview with VAN Magazine in May 2021, Vogt reflected: ‘I’m 50 years old now, and everything that I’ve been able to experience in my life—it’s been a blast. Even if it would end right now… I don’t know if there is a creator, but if he exists, all I could do is tip my hat to him and say, “Thank you.” It’s crazy, the people I’ve been able to get to know, the profession I’ve been able to practice—truly unbelievable.’