on 17 October 2025

We just had an incredible evening at Breinton. Yes, I would like to think that we only have incredible evenings at Breinton, but this was truly an unrepeatable experience. How many people, after all, are privileged enough to experience the full-blooded Diabelli Variations in an intimate setting where the performer is within arm’s reach? And played by none other than the world-renowned Steven Osbourne?

The entire cycle of the thirty-three variations of the theme by Anton Diabelli; this humongous, monumental work is considered as one of the supreme achievements of the piano repertoire. Steven’s rendition was animated, extroverted and full of enthusiasm. He explored, stretched, expressed and shared with us the work’s invention, humour, dynamics, contrasting moods and emotions, as well as the composer’s musical thoughts. Indeed, he compared performing the Variations to “climbing Ben Nevis”. A long, steady uphill journey, which sets plenty of challenges to the performer and full concentration from the audience – a totally fulfilling but exhausting experience for both.

To make an attractive contrast, the first half of the programme was formed from a collection of lovely short pieces by various composers – Schumann, Satie, Boulanger, Lyadov, Rachmaninov and Ravel. Throughout, we were showered by a free flow of unlimited tones, shapes and layers of sounds, ravishingly pouring out of Steven’s fingers. Schumann’s Papillons were bright, rapid and vivid, and we were struck by the change when he proceeded onto Satie’s Gymnopedie – the same piano, but it was as if the music was being played on a different instrument. Utter joy was brought by A Musical Snuff Box by Lyadov; played exactly as you remember a little childhood musical box sounded like; totally charming, dreamy and nostalgic. And with Rachmaninov’s arrangement of Kreisler’s Liebeslied, it was like your heart was being achingly squeezed and we were in love all over again. What amazing romanticism and pianism expressed by Steven’s extraordinary varieties of touches, richness in sounds and a bit of jazzy feel on the tip of his fingers.

Steven told us that he doesn’t normally perform a ‘themed’ programme. However, this particular evening, it was all waltz focused – it made the extraordinary evening even more special.

• Schumann, Robert
  • Papillons, Op 2
• Satie, Erik
  • Gymnopedie no.3
• Boulanger, Lili
  • D'un jardin clair from Trois Morceaux pour piano
• Lyadov, Anatoly
  • A Musical Snuff Box, Op.32
• Kreisler (arr. Rachmaninoff)
  • Liebesleid
• Ravel, Maurice
  • Valses nobles et sentimentales
• Beethoven, Ludwig van
  • 33 Variations in C on a Waltz by Diabelli op.120

Steven Osborne’s musical insight and integrity underpin idiomatic interpretations of varied repertoire that have won him fans around the world. The extent of his range is demonstrated by his 41 recordings for Hyperion, which have earned numerous awards, and he was made OBE for his services to music in the Queen’s New Year Honours in 2022.

A thoughtful and curious musician, he has served as Artist-in-Residence at Wigmore Hall and Bath International Music Festival, and is often invited to curate festivals, including at Antwerp’s DeSingel,and for Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. The Observer described him as ‘a player in absolute service to the composer’.

Osborne is a regular visitor to the BBC Proms, having performed there 15 times. In 2024 he gave two concerts in the same week, the first in Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie with the BBC Philharmonic under Nicholas Collon, with whom he performs it later in the season with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He then performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Sinfonia of London.

He has a lifelong interest in jazz and often improvises in concerts, bringing this spontaneity and freedom to all his interpretations, and performing his own transcriptions as encores. This season he tours the US with a recital programme that includes his own jazz transcriptions and improvisations. Other performances in the 2024–25 season include Ryan Wigglesworth’s Piano Concerto, with the composer conducting Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Britten with Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Grieg with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and a recital at the Aspen Festival. He also tours the US in a duo with violinist Benjamin Beilman.

Osborne has performed in the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Wiener Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonie, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Suntory Hall and Kennedy Center Washington, and is a regular guest at both Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall. 

He has worked with major orchestras around the globe, most recently Czech Philharmonic/Bychkov, Israel Philharmonic/Petrenko, Dresden Philharmonic/Runnicles, Seattle Symphony and Philharmonia/Rouvali, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Oslo Philharmonic, London Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and Seattle Symphony.

He has been a Hyperion recording artist since 1998, with releases spanning Beethoven, Schubert, Ravel, Liszt, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Medtner, Messiaen, Britten, Tippett, Crumb and Feldman, and winning numerous awards around the world. His most recent addition, at the end of 2023, was Debussy’s Études and Pour le piano, given five stars by BBC Music Magazine and described as ‘full of superlatives’. In 2024 he returned to the studio with Paul Lewis to record twopiano repertoire by Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. His January 2023 performance of Tippett’s Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Edward Gardner at the Royal Festival Hall was later released on the LPO’s own label in 2025, receiving widespread critical acclaim.

Osborne was born in Scotland and studied at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh and the Royal Northern College of Music. He is Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Patron of both the Scottish International Piano Competition and the Lammermuir Festival, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2014.