Alice Sara Ott was born in Munich, Germany, in 1988 to a German father and Japanese mother. She began piano lessons at four years of age, and at seven she won the Jugend Musiziert Competition in Germany. Other important competition victories followed and at 12 Ott began studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling.

In 2002, at the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy Competition in Japan, Ott became the youngest finalist (age 13) in the contest's history and received the Most Promising Artist Award. Further competition successes ensued, including first prizes at the 2003 Bach Competition in Köthen, Germany, and the 2004 Pianello Val Tidone Competition in Italy.

Ott's 2005 performance of the Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto with the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra drew rave reviews and bolstered her burgeoning career in Japan. She was making headway in Europe, too, as evidenced by her acclaimed 2006 performance of the Ravel’s G-Major Concerto in Zurich with the Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman.

By 2008 she was a major international presence, and as an artist unafraid to take on challenges: Ott accepted the daunting task of substituting for Murray Perahia in Basle, Switzerland, and her performances in a program of Liszt and Beethoven drew a standing ovation. Ott's 2009 tours of Japan with the Kiev Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa garnered critical acclaim, and her performance of the Tchaikovsky First Concerto with the Munich Philharmonic under Thomas Hengelbrock was recorded live by Deutsche Grammophon for release in 2010.

2010 was also the year her disc of Chopin waltzes was issued to great acclaim. Ott also made notable appearances that year with the major symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, San Francisco, Stockholm, and Tokyo, and gave recitals at major concert venues in Istanbul, Paris, Vienna, and Lucerne. Ott's 2011 CD of Beethoven's Sonata No. 3 and Sonata No. 21 and other Beethoven works, again drew critical plaudits. Her busy 2012 concert schedule began with a tour of Japan in performances of the Beethoven’s Fifth Concerto in Ishikawa, Toyama, Osaka, Sapporo, and other cities, with Michiyoshi Inoue leading the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa.

Unlike many child prodigies whose early laurels augur a world-class career that goes ultimately unrealized, pianist Alice Sara Ott has delivered on her promise with countless acclaimed performances at major concert venues across the globe and with an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Furthermore, she is one of those rare artists whose string of international successes began before she reached her 21st birthday. Her first recording, Liszt's challenging Transcendental Etudes, appeared in 2008, the year she debuted to acclaim in New York at the Yamaha Artist Center in an all-Liszt program. Besides works by Liszt, Ott performs many other standards by J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Ravel, Rachmaninov, and others. Ott also regularly performs chamber music with artists such as cellists Jan Vogler and Gustav Rivinius, violist Tadjana Masurenko, percussionist Peter Sadlo, and other notables. Ott has also appeared at major music festivals, including the Lucerne, Schleswig-Holstein, and Piano Festival Ruhr.


Fot. Janine Guldener