Friends
Clemens Leske: Presented by the Friends of The Sydney

ABOUT CLEMENS LESKE

Clemens Leske has performed with all six Australian symphony orchestras and played at venues in Spain, the UK, Singapore, New Zealand, the US, Hungary and China. He has appeared regularly with the Australian String Quartet and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Offspring, the Moscow Virtuosi and at the Bang on a Can and Focus! festivals of new music in New York City. For his London Royal Festival Hall début he performed Rachmaninoff’s First piano concerto with the London Philharmonic.

Appearances in Australia include performances of Mozart’s K467 and K413 piano concerti, Strauss’ Burlesque, and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy, a national tour in partnership with flautist Sir James Galway, and tours as principal pianist with the Omega Ensemble.

Two albums of solo piano works ranging from Chopin and Schumann to the post-minimalist gems of William Duckworth will be released in 2023. Clemens very much enjoys his work in teaching and research at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he has just completed a PhD on the piano miniature. Vladimir Ashkenazy writes: “Mr Clemens Leske is in my opinion an extraordinary musician and pianist.”

Musical inspirations have included Erroll Garner (e.g “Concert by the Sea”), Sviatoslav Richter and his mother Beryl Kimber and father Clemens Leske.