Grimaud sprang to worldwide attention when winning the prestigious Cannes Classical Award in 1987, bringing with it a string of high profile European engagements. Signing an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon in 2002, a series of top selling discs was followed by concerts with most of America's leading orchestras and conductors, making her one of the most sought-after concert artists in the States.

For her Leeds debut, she plays Beethoven's Fourth Piano concerto.

The evening also forms part of three Gala Concerts taking place in London and Leeds to celebrate the arrival of the Finnish-born conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen, as the new Principal Conductor of London's Philharmonia, and follows his debut in the role earlier in the week at the Royal Festival Hall.

Born in Helsinki in 1958, he was just twenty-one when he made his conducting debut with the Finnish Radio Orchestra, though at that time he considered himself primarily a composer.

He first came to London in 1983 as a short notice replacement with the daunting task of directing Mahler's epic Third Symphony. Since then he has taken the prestigious position of music director
of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and has been in demand throughout the world. In this concert he also conducts Beethoven's Second Leonora Overture and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.

Philharmonia, Leeds Town Hall, Sept 27, 7.30pm.
0113 2478336.