When looking back at the year 2009 I will remember many joyful, musical moments and inspiring meetings with artists, friends and, last but not least, the audience.

Particularly memorable was the performance in Stockholm of Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto, not least because of the laborous studies preceding this concert. Some of the most fiendishly difficult passages in this music seemed indeed insurmountable at more than one stage during many hours of practising. At the same time the wondrous harmonic & melodic inventions and the natural flow of the music makes all efforts worthwhile.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and maestro Alexander Vedernikov were my splendid counterparts in this fascinating work. The long-term project of playing all Beethoven Sonatas at Kulturhuset in Ytterjärna continued with the second and third concert in the series.

During the summer I played my new recital program, with the title ”Maurice and the Romantic Musketeers”, where Schumann’s great C major Fantasie is juxtaposed with late Liszt, a Chopin group and excerpts from Ravel’s Miroirs. This program was created for the Summer Night Concerts at Nationalmuseum in Stockholm on 1 July but I also performed it in Gävle (”Kulturaftnar på Engeltofta” ), Skebo Herrgård (within the festival ”Sommarnattens Toner”), Visby (Gotland Chamber Music Festival) and in Bodø, Norway, at the Nordland Musikkfestuke.

For my annual concert in the Cathedral of S:ta Maria, Visby, preceding the regular festival program, I wrote arrangements of Nature Boy and Regina Spektor’s ”Samson” which were performed by singer Katarina Henryson, Staffan Scheja (playing the organ!), a little string ensemble and myself.

Both the Ravel Left Hand Concerto, with Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in Norrköping and Linköping in September and Stenhammar’s Second Concerto, with Turku Philharmonic Orchestra in Turku in November, I played for the first time. I always dreamt of playing the Ravel- one of the supreme masterworks of the 20th Century. The Stenhammar D minor Concerto I heard many times . I have known it is a pivotal achievement in Stenhammar’s œuvre and an important work in Swedish music history but it was only when studying the score inside out that I was truly moved by the drama and poetic power of the music.

It was in 2007 at the Verbier Festival that I first met Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin and his wife, the legendary Prima Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. Shchedrin and I then gave the World Premiere of his Romantic Duets. In the same concert I played the piano part in ”My Age, My Wild Beast”, a vocal cycle on texts by Osip Mandelstam. Since then I have had the pleasure to meet the radiantly charming couple Shchedrin & Plisetskaya and play Rodion’s music again : in Paris in February 2008 and last summer at the Rheingau Festival. Kenneth Tarver admirably sang the demanding tenor part in all of these performances of ”My Age..” and in Schloss Johannisberg we were joined by distinguished actress/singer Salome Kammer, who read from the diarys of Akhmatova.

Once again I had the pleasure of working together with Jacek Kaspszyk – a truly great musician. The occasion was the annual Östersjöfestivalen in Stockholm, the orchestra were the brilliant players of Sinfonia Varsovia and the music was Chopin’s F minor Concerto.

In October I met Sinfonia Varsovia again in France but this time I didn’t play. They accompanied the contestants in the 2ème Concours Européen de Piano in Ouistreham and Le Havre and I sat in the jury.

This season I’ve also made the acquaintance of a young talented violinist named Bartosz Cajler who introduced me to the fascinating music of Alexandre Tansman. Before meeting Bartosz I knew very little about Tansman and had scarcely heard a note of his music. One November week in Warsaw we recorded the first volume (of two) of his complete works for violin and piano for Polish label Dux.

For me every year is a Chopin year but surely I can feel the increasing interest in his music because of the current 200th anniversary ; and it already started in October last year when I participated in a film production named ”Chopin at the Opera”. Director Jan Schmidt-Garré and producer Marieke Schroeder investigates the strong influence of the bel canto style in Chopin’s music. Together with mezzo soprano Katerina Hebelkova, Peter Feuchtwanger, Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger and George-Albrecht Eckle a.o. we met in Nohant (where Chopin spent six summers during the 1840’s) to discuss, sing, listen and play Chopin and some of the music that surrounded him.

2009 has been busy, interesting, eventful and almost too hectic. Therefore I have really enjoyed resting during the Christmas holidays which began very traditionally with ”Matteusbarnens Julbön”- A Christmas play at eight in the morning on Christmas Eve in the Matteus Church in Stockholm. The Christmas play in Matteus is a tradition since more than seventy years. I have been singing in the choir for twenty but a couple of years ago I suggested that instead of singing I’d better play something on the piano after tolling of bells. This year I played Corelli/Godowsky Pastorale (Angelus) and Liadov’s Music for a Snuff Box and my daughter Agnès sang in the children’s chorus.

20 january at 19.00	Recital at Stiftelsen Musikkulturens främjande (Nydahl Collection), Riddargatan 35, Stockholm, celebrating their 90th Anniversary. Works by Schumann, Chopin and Rachmaninov.
23 january at 19.00	Forum, Sigtunagatan 14, Stockholm. Rachmaninov: excerpts from Etudes-Tableaux and Bach-Kurtág four-hand transcriptions with pianist Henrik Måwe.
31 january at 19.00	Beethoven: Complete Violin Sonatas (last concert of the series) with Ulf Wallin Sonata No.1 D major Op.12 No.1, Sonata No.9 A major Op.47 (”Kreutzer”), Schumann: Violin Sonata No.3 A minor WoO 2 . Kulturhuset, Ytterjärna.
Danse Serpentine Tour 2010 with Martin Fröst. Music by Debussy, Brahms, Lutoslawski, Françaix & Ravel
5 february at 19.00	Babelsberg, Kramfors
6 february at 15.00	Nolaskolans aula, Örnsköldsvik
7 February at 16.00	Järnboås kyrka, Järnboås
10 February at 19.30	Baerum Kulturhus, Baerum
18-21 February	VINTERFEST I DALARNA
19 February at 19.30	Schumann: Piano Trio F major Op.80 Mora Kyrka
20 February at 14.00	”Och benen blir fulla av spring”- Children’s concert Stravinsky: Cirkus Polka, Rimsky-Korsakov: The Flight of the Bumble-Bee and more... Andreasgården, Mora
20 February at 24.00	Saint-Saëns: Rondo Capriccioso with Viviane Hagner, The Swan with Christian Poltéra Gesunda Wärdshus, Mora
21 February at 14.00	Songs by Alfvén, Stenhammar, Schubert & Schumann with Olle Persson Schumann: Piano Trio D minor Op.63 with Julian Rachlin & Frans Helmerson Bonäs Bygdegård, Mora
21 February at 17.30	Chopin: Piano Concerto F minor Op.21 with Dalasinfoniettan & Bjarte Engeset Mora Kyrka
23 February at 19.30	Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.6 A major Op.30 No.1 with Julian Rachlin. Konserthuset, Stockholm
24 February at 18.00	Recital – Schumann: Romanze Op.28 Nos 1 & 2, Carnaval Op.9, Chopin: Mazurkas Op.41 Nos.4 & 2, Op.24 No.4, Polonaise F sharp minor Op.44, Nocturne Op.27 No.1, Scherzo No.4 E major Op.54 & Barcarolle Op.60/ Berwaldhallen, Stockholm
25 February at 18.00	Recital, Berwaldhallen (see above)
Danse Serpentine Tour 2010 with Martin Fröst. Music by Debussy, Brahms, Lutoslawski, Françaix & Ravel
28 February at 19.00	Varbergs Teater, Varberg
2 March at 19.30	Artisten, Göteborg
3 March at 19.30	Vara Konserthus, Vara
4 March at 19.00	Kulturhuset Fregatten, Stenungsund
5 March at 19.00	Pingstkyrkan, Uddevalla
6 March at 16.00	Domkyrkans Församlingshus, Stora Salen Karlstad
7 March at 19.00	Centrumkyrkan, Säffle
8 March at 19.00	Folkets Hus/Avenyteatern, Uddevalla
10 March at 19.00	Stadsbiblioteket/Hörsalen, Ängelholm
11 March at 19.30	Dunkers Kulturhus, Helsingborg
12 March at 19.00	Alfvénsalen, Uppsala
13 March at 19.00	Recital with Cecilia Zilliacus, violin, Kopparberg
17 March at 18.00	Recital with Torleif Thedéen, Kammaren at Studio Lederman, Stockholm
17 March at 20.00	(as above)
18 March at 18.00	(as above)
18 March at 20.00	(as above)
21 March at 15.00	Recital, Linköping Works by Schumann & Chopin
23 March at 19.30	Recital with Martin Fröst Works by Lutoslawski, Debussy and World Premiere of new piece by Roland Pöntinen Wigmore Hall, London
27 March at 15.00	Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 E minor Op.11 with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Krzysztof Urbanski, Konserthuset, Göteborg
29-30 March	recording with Martin Fröst in Stockholm
6-9 April	recording with Martin Fröst in Stockholm
15 April at 19.30	Recital at Nockeby Hus
19-23 April	Children’s concerts with Love Derwinger in Stockholm area
26 April	Chopin Recital at State College of Music, Stockholm
9 May at 10.00	Master Class within Gothenburg Piano Festival Världskulturmuséet, Trappan www.goteborgspianofestival.com
9 May at 18.00	Recital in Gothenburg Piano Festival. Works by Schumann & Chopin
20 May at 19.00	Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 Op.11 with Oulu Sinfonia and conductor Daniel Raiskin Madetojan Sali, Oulu
22 May at 17.30	Hardanger Musikkfest, Norway Chopin 200 år Recital Hardangerhallen, Hotel Ullensvang
22 May at 22.00	Messiaen: Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps with Martin Fröst, clarinet, Anders Kjellberg Nilsson, violin & Johannes Rostamo, cello Hardangerhallen, Hotel Ullensvang more at www.hardangermusikkfest.no
29 May - 2 June	Recording Schumann Complete Violin Sonatas (BIS) with Ulf Wallin. Siemens Villa, Berlin
16 June	Recital. Värmdö Kyrka
20-26 June	Risør Festival
6 July	Concert with RoMA – Mats Zetterqvist & Anders Loguin. at Järna Festival, Kulturhuset, Ytterjärna
12 & 14 August	Rachmaninov : Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Op.43 with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & conductor Alexander Shelly, Stockholm, Konserthuset