Biography     (Biographie en Français)

Richard Raymond is a music lover's dream. His playing is reminiscent of history's great pianists. Its depth, passion, virtuosity and individuality combine to set him apart from others of his generation.

Richard Raymond has won virtually every award there is to win in Canada. In 1990 he won the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, as well as the "International Stepping Stone" of the Canadian Music Competition. In 1991 he captured all the top prizes in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporations Young Performer's Competition. In 1992 he was finally recognized on the international scene: He became only the second Canadian to win the prestigious Montreal International Competition triumphing over 49 contestants from 18 countries. Soon after, he won the Chamber Music Prize at the Van Cliburn Competition, the first award ever to go to a Canadian artist in this competition. Mr. Raymond received major prizes at the prestigious 1998 William Kapell International Piano Competition (United States) and the 1999 Vianna da Motta Competition (Portugal). He was one out of four winners in the 2003 International Web Concert Hall Competition. He is the 1998 recipient of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize awarded by the Canada Council.

Raymond's performances with the Montreal Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, and essentially every major orchestra in Canada have been met with great excitement. Recitals, festival appearances and chamber music engagements have taken him across Canada, to Italy, Taiwan, France and the United States. Debuts at the Lincoln Center in New York, at the Ruhr Klavier-Festival in Germany, at the national recital hall in Taipei and at the Conservatoire Grand Hall in Tbilisi-Georgia were all memorable events.

Richard Raymond has produced five compact discs for the Analekta and Musica Viva labels. His second CD, dedicated to the works of Franz Liszt, was nominated Best CD of the year at the 1998 East Coast Music Awards. Mr. Raymond was nominated Artist of the year at the 1998 OPUS Awards in Montreal. The Dallas Morning News gave his Chopin “Waltzes” CD a special Grade A rating in May 2003 and hailed it as being “polished, highly poetic”. They go on to say that his performances of the Chopin Waltzes “never fail to be music rather than display pieces”. Richard Raymond’s newest CD featuring the Reubke Piano Sonata in B-flat minor and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.21 (“Waldstein”) was released in late 2003 by Analekta.

Raymond studied with Masters like the Great American Pedagogue Leon Fleisher, Marc Durand, and John Perry. He took first prize in piano and chamber music at the "Conservatoire de Musique du Quebec" in Montreal, and has a Master's degree from the "Universite de Montreal" and an Artist Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto and the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. Raymond is currently Chair of the Piano Area and Associate Professor at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal.

Richard Raymond is one of those rare artists who employs his virtuosity to express the full spectrum of human emotions. His technical brilliance combined with an intense passion for music-making serves as a conduit through which he reaches the hearts and souls of listeners.