OUT NOW: ALICE SARA OTT – JOHN FIELD · COMPLETE NOCTURNES
The pianist’s recording of Field’s nocturne cycle is a new addition to the DG catalogue
and the first ever to be available in Dolby Atmos®
Alice Sara Ott will join the live chat during the YouTube premiere of the music video
for Nocturne No. 2 at 2pm (CET) today, Friday 7 February 2025
Listen to the album here Watch the YouTube premiere here
The 50-minute film NOCTURNE, which was crafted in a cutting-edge LED studio and pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling, will be available to stream on STAGE+ on 15 February 2025
In February/March 2025 Alice Sara Ott undertakes a 17-city European tour
of Field’s nocturnes interspersed with sonatas by Beethoven
“With this album, I hope to take listeners on a journey through a vast musical landscape –
one filled with playful cascades, unexpected turns, and bittersweet melancholia”
Alice Sara Ott
07 FEBRUARY 2025 (TORONTO, ON) — Alice Sara Ott’s latest Deutsche Grammophon is out now, digitally and on CD. Alice Sara Ott: John Field · Complete Nocturnes sees the pianist go back to the origins of the nocturne. While the genre is often associated with Chopin, it was pioneered, if not invented, by the lesser-known John Field. Ott’s recording of his 18 Nocturnes celebrates the music of the man known as the “father of the nocturne”. Not only is this the first full cycle to be issued on DG, it is also the first ever to benefit from the immersive sound of Dolby Atmos®. It comes out on vinyl (2 LPs) on 7 March.
“Engaging with Field’s nocturnes was a deeply rewarding experience,” says Ott about her new project. “Their beauty and grace affected me profoundly, and I hope that this album may perhaps inspire the occasional listener to discover Field’s music for themselves. Here, after all, is the man who bequeathed the nocturne to posterity.”
In addition to making the album, Alice has collaborated with director (and world-renowned tenor) Andrew Staples to create NOCTURNE, a 50-minute film which offers a rare glimpse into the artist’s mind during the creative process. The interplay between historical venues and custom-designed digital landscapes conjures an atmosphere in which the intangible becomes vividly real. Far more than a performance film, NOCTURNE is an exploration of a performer’s journey through the music of a neglected composer. It was shot at Munich’s Hyperbowl LED studio and will be available to stream on STAGE+ on 15 February 2025.
Alice Sara Ott has just begun a 17-city European tour of a Field/Beethoven recital programme. At the end of the season she takes the same repertoire to Japan, where she will also appear with Karina Canellakis and the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra. Before that, she performs Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto with the Minnesota Orchestra and Jonathan Heyward (30/31 May) and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck (6-8 June).
Alice Sara Ott – selected upcoming Field & Beethoven tour dates:
9 Feb – Glocke, Bremen · 19 Feb – Prinzregententheater, Munich
23 Feb – Theater, Münster · 25 Feb – Liederhalle, Stuttgart
1 March – NDR Landesfunkhaus Niedersachsen, Hanover · 2 March – Staatstheater, Brunswick
8 March 2025 – Tonhalle, Düsseldorf · 12 March – Laeiszhalle, Hamburg
Full touring details can be found here.
ABOUT ALICE SARA OTT
“She’s shaking up classical music” – so wrote The New York Times of a pianist renowned not only for the poetry, refinement and emotional honesty of her playing, but for her innovative approach to programming and audience engagement. A visionary musician, Alice Sara Ott continually reimagines the repertoire, creating immersive multimedia experiences through cross-disciplinary collaborations with visual artists, architects and designers.
Exploring and experimenting have long been part of the German-Japanese pianist’s approach to her work. When touring the music from her 2021 Deutsche Grammophon album Echoes Of Life, for example, she collaborated with architect Hakan Demirel, whose digital video installation added a visual narrative to her live performances.
In 2023 she became the face of the Apple Music Classical app when she starred in its multi-platform video launch campaign, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Karina Canellakis.
That Beethoven performance subsequently featured on her next album for DG, with whom she signed as an exclusive artist in 2008. Since then she’s become one of the world’s leading classical performers on DSPs, with a total number of album streams that has now topped half a billion.
Alice is a truly global artist – highlights of past and future seasons include tours of Europe, the US and Asia, and a performance as part of the spectacular 14 July 2022 Concert de Paris, beneath the Eiffel Tower. She is Artist in Residence at the TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht in the 2024/25 season, bringing her versatile artistic projects to the Netherlands. This follows successful residencies at London’s Southbank Centre and Radio France in Paris during 2023/24.
Alice is also the first choice for many leading contemporary composers when it comes to premiering and recording their work. This has led to exciting collaborations with Ólafur Arnalds, Bryce Dessner, Chilly Gonzales, Francesco Tristano and more. In January 2024 she gave the world premiere of Dessner’s Piano Concerto, going on to give further acclaimed country premieres in the UK, US and France, with more to follow.
Another recent highlight was her debut with the New York Philharmonic in April. In an interview she gave The New York Times shortly before this, she underlined the importance of connecting with her listeners: “Music itself can only fully blossom when we unite in it. We have to be vulnerable. That is one of the most beautiful sources of togetherness and strength.”
A talented illustrator and designer, Alice fosters her versatile image by merging classical music with fashion, jewellery and tech. She’s worked closely with such leading international brands as Technics; JOST bags (Germany); French jewellery house Chaumet, part of the LVMH group; and German jeweller Wempe.