Lars Vogt, the pianist and conductor, has died of cancer aged 51. His dedication to sharing music-making and to reaching audiences both established and new – including during his recent period of illness – will remain an inspiration to audiences and artists alike, while his impressive catalogue of recordings, including many Editor’s Choice-winning albums, will stand as a superb tribute to a musician as acclaimed as soloist as much as for his work in collaboration with others.

Born in Düren, Germany, Vogt first attracted notice as the second prize winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1990, and initially established himself as a much admired soloist and chamber musician. In June 1998 he founded his own chamber festival in Heimbach near Cologne – known as Spannungen, concerts were held in an art-nouveau hydro-electric power station, with many preserved on record by both the CAvi and EMI labels. In the 2003/4 season he became the Berlin Philharmonic’s first ever ‘Pianist in Residence’.

Then, in a move indicating not so much a change in direction as an additional journey of exploration, in 2015 Vogt became Music Director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia. He held the post until 2020, when he became Principal Artistic Partner of the ensemble and also took up the post of Music Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. That latter appointment had been extended until 2025, a reflection of the rapport they’d already established.

'I have to say that conducting was always a secret passion of mine,' Vogt told Gramophone in an interview in 2017 which took place in the Royal Northern Sinfonia’s home in Gateshead, a city he expressed a great pride to be working in. 'I sometimes did a little and then put it away. Then about five or six years ago I stepped in at the very last minute with Camerata Salzburg in the Beethoven Third Concerto, and we only had time for one run-through before the concert. There was no conductor, just a very good concertmaster, and it was so much fun, so easy. I rang my agent afterwards from the taxi to the airport and said, "I need to know how far I can go with this. It doesn’t matter which orchestra it’s with, I just love it so much".'

The breadth of his music-making was well captured on record, much of which resulted from a close partnership with the Ondine label, and which ranges from solo recordings of works by Janáček and Bach’s Goldberg Variations, to Beethoven and Brahms piano concertos directed from the keyboard with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. To sample Vogt's chamber music-making at its finest, try his recording of the Brahms sonatas with Christian Tetzlaff – their second account on record of the works, and a much praised Recording of the Month in September 2016 – or, from two years earlier (and another Recording of the Month), their recording of the Schumann violin sonatas.

Contemporary music featured widely too, Vogt working with composers including Thomas Larcher, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Kryštof Mařatka and Volker David Kirchner. He was also committed to education, in 2005 establishing Rhapsody in School, a programme to bring his colleagues to schools across Germany and Austria, and in 2013 was appointed Professor of Piano at the Hannover Conservatory of Music.

Vogt died yesterday surrounded by his family, including his wife violinist Anna Reszniak. The expressions of loss shared by so many artists in the hours since are testimony to just how loved as both musician and man he was.

Lars Vogt, pianist and conductor – born September 8, 1970; died September 5, 2022