Bachtrack: No final thoughts: Marc-André Hamelin
July 7, 2026
By Cameron Kelsall (Bachtrack)
Marc-André Hamelin moves fluidly between worlds. You might find him at the piano before a symphony orchestra, performing a classic concerto by Liszt or Rachmaninov – or premiering a new work written especially for him. An ardent solo recitalist and chamber musician too, his upcoming calendar includes Mozart and Chopin alongside Enescu and Medtner, with some Gershwin thrown in for good measure.
And what does the Montreal-born, Boston-based musician do when he’s not onstage? Lately, he fills his free time with an active career as a composer, as well as a faculty appointment at the New England Conservatory. Resting on his laurels is simply not part of his DNA.
When Hamelin returns to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in August, he will once again balance these twin loves of orchestral and chamber music. First, he performs Brahms’ daunting Piano Concerto no. 2 under the baton of Sebastian Weigle. Later, he joins members of the orchestra in a chamber concert that includes the same composer’s Horn Trio in E flat major and Schubert’s beloved Piano Quintet in A major “Trout”.
The Brahms Second Piano Concerto has been in Hamelin’s repertoire since the beginning of his professional career. “I learned it quite early, and I actually just played it a few days ago,” he tells me when we speak in late May, referring to a performance with the Festival Academy Orchestra in Chipping Campden, England. “I hadn’t played it for some time, maybe a couple of years. Because I learned it so early, it came back quickly. You’ve simply had more time with them, and your ideas and perception of the music has had a lot of time to change. So that’s very natural.”
At the same time, Hamelin acknowledges that the thrill of live performance, and of classical music in general, comes from the frisson of new discovery possible with even the most familiar of works. “There are always little things that can happen during performances that will give you ideas of how to firm up certain things musically, to give you more understanding within the form,” he says. “These can be very obvious or very subtle. But anything you can come up with will really enrich the musical discourse. I think it can be really delightful when accidents happen – when you do something that you don’t intend to do, but somehow it makes everything sound better. That’s the really exciting aspect of the evolving perception of a piece.”