John Lill will be performing in Malta as part of The Three Palaces: Celebrating Music festival.

The Glasgow Herald called him “one of the greatest pianists alive today”, while The Guardian, billed him “as near to perfection as we can hope for”. And now, English pianist John Lill will be playing in Malta.

Lill has not played all of Beethoven’s piano sonatas for 25 years – but he’s just started doing it again: over the next six months he will be playing all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas in London and Manchester, culminating in February, as part of his 70th birthday celebrations.

If you won’t be able to catch any of those, he will also be playing in Malta this week as part of The Three Palaces: Celebrating Music festival, featuring classical, modern and jazz music, which is being organised by the Parliamentary Secretariat for Culture and Local Government, in collaboration with the Office of the President.

This is the first time that this festival will be held and, apart from Lill, the Nash Ensemble – Chamber Ensemble in Residence at Wigmore Hall, are also coming over for the occasion.

Add to this a mix of established and up and coming local performers, all of whom have shown excellence in their field, and this festival becomes a must for any music lover.

Unanimously described as one of the leading pianists of his generation, Lill’s concert career spans over 55 years. He has given concerts in over 50 countries, both as a recitalist and as a soloist with the world’s greatest orchestras.

His rare talent emerged at an early age – he gave his first piano recital at the age of nine. At 18, he performed Rachmaninov’s 3rd Piano Concerto under Sir Adrian Boult, immediately followed by his much-acclaimed London debut, playing Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Piano Concerto at the Royal Festival Hall. His early career flourished and was enhanced by many prestigious international prizes and awards.

He is acclaimed, in particular, as a leading interpreter of Beethoven

In 1970 he won the most coveted of these, the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition, further consolidating his already busy, international concert schedule.

Lill’s extensive repertoire includes more than 80 concertos, and he is acclaimed, in particular, as a leading interpreter of Beethoven, whose complete sonata cycle he has performed on several occasions in the UK, the US and Japan.

In Britain he has given over 25 London Promenade concerts and regularly appears with all the major symphony orchestras.

He has toured overseas with the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham, Hallé, Royal Scottish National and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras.

He regularly performs in all the European capitals, Russia, the Far East, South America, Australasia, and he is a frequent visitor to the US, where he has worked with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic and the Orchestras of Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Rochester, San Diego, Seattle and Washington.

More recently, the pianist has performed with the St Petersburg, Rotterdam, Royal Stockholm, Czech, Oslo, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, National Philharmonic of Russia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and RTVE Orchestra Madrid, together with the Vancouver, Seattle, Bournemouth, Royal Scottish National and Sapporo Symphony Orchestras.

More recently, he recorded the complete Prokofiev sonatas with ASV and his recent recording of the complete Beethoven Bagatelles and Piano Concertos with the CBSO and Weller is available on Chandos.

He recorded Malcolm Arnold’s Fantasy on a Theme of John Field (dedicated to John Lill) with RPO and Handley for Conifer and the complete Rachmaninov Concertos and major solo piano works for Nimbus Records.

His most recent recording projects have been the 60th birthday release of piano works by Schumann on the Classics for Pleasure label and two new releases for Signum records of Schumann, Brahms and Haydn Piano Sonatas.

Lill has been awarded many honorary doctorates and fellowships from British universities, colleges and academies.

He lives in London and was awarded the OBE in 1977 and the CBE for his services to music in the 2005 New Year’s Honours’ List.

John Lill will perform a piano recital on Thursday at 7pm at San Anton Palace, Attard. He will also give a masterclass on Friday at 11am at Verdala Palace. The events are part of The Three Palaces: Celebrating Music festival. Entry to all events is free, but seating allocation is by invitation. Donations to the Malta Community Chest Fund will be appreciated. For enquiries, call 2559 5563/4.