Alice Sara Ott

The German Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott has become a popular face of classical music, renowned for her cultivated artistry and personable approachability. She was born in 1988 in Munich, Germany, and studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Despite some early competition exposure, Ott was not well known before she made her first recording for Deutsche Grammophon (DG). Her early recordings suggest a young pianist in a hurry to make a statement in core repertoire including Liszt, Chopin, and Beethoven. Her debut DG recording of Liszt’s notorious Études d’exécution transcendante, set down when Ott was just 19, showcases a terrific technical foundation. But it was her next album, of Chopin’s complete Waltzes (rec. 2009), that revealed the breadth of her imagination, with scintillating brio matched by an expressive freedom and nuance. Concertos by Liszt and Tchaikovsky, and sonatas by Beethoven, reinforce the impression of a consummate and thoughtful pianist following a well-trodden path. From around 2015, the focus of Alice Sara Ott’s recordings shifted away from repertoire-based albums to more free and inventive programs. Following an all-Grieg album presented with the title Wonderland came Nightfall (rec. 2018), comprising music by Debussy, Satie, and Ravel that traces the merging of light and darkness. More radical is Echoes of Life (rec. 2021), which intersperses Chopin’s Preludes with 20th- and 21st-century works. Alice Sara Ott was presented as the face of the Apple Music Classical app in 2023, and featured on the launch video performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, which became the focus of an elegant all-Beethoven album.