ALICE SARA OTT: JOHN FIELD · COMPLETE NOCTURNES ACHIEVES MAJOR INTERNATIONAL CHART SUCCESS
RECORDING IS NAMED APPLE MUSIC CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
ALICE SARA OTT: NOCTURNE, DIRECTED BY ANDREW STAPLES, WINS AN OPUS KLASSIK AWARD
JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON: PIANO WORKS WILL BE RELEASED ON 6 MARCH 2026
Photo © Hannes Caspar
“...her pianism is a delight: Field could not have wished for a better advocate.”
BBC Music Magazine
12 DECEMBER 2025 (TORONTO, ON) - 2025 has seen Alice Sara Ott underline in style her status as one of the world’s most influential classical artists. Critical acclaim, chart success and touring triumphs, not to mention nominations and awards, have all come Ott’s way in the last twelve months, adding to her reputation for innovative programming as well as poetic, technically brilliant and emotionally direct playing. Having started the year with her celebrated album Alice Sara Ott: John Field · Complete Nocturnes, she recently launched her new Deutsche Grammophon project, Jóhann Jóhannsson: Piano Works.
Ott’s John Field album was released in February to widespread critical acclaim. Gramophone wrote: “Ott deftly captures [the Nocturnes’] delicate poise … Pellucid textures are beautifully rendered and the individual lyricism of each piece finely wrought.”
It reached the No.1 spot in the classical charts of Japan, the UK and Germany, where it also made the Top 30 in the pop charts. Having spent six weeks at the top of the Apple Music Classical chart, the recording is the streaming platform’s Album of the Year. Not only was it the most popular 2025 release in its Top 100, it was also chosen as the editorial favourite by Apple Music Classical’s expert team.
As a complement to the recording, Alice worked with director and tenor Andrew Staples to create Alice Sara Ott: Nocturne, a 45-minute film shot at Munich’s Hyperbowl virtual production house. With its custom-designed digital landscapes, the film offers a rare glimpse into the artist’s mind during the creative process. Nocturne was named Audiovisual Music Production of the Year at the OPUS KLASSIK Awards in October, and was also shortlisted in the “Documentaries dedicated to music, dance and theatre” category at the Golden Prague Festival.
In November, Ott released the first of two EPs that form part of her current DG project – the world premiere recordings of a new volume of piano transcriptions of works by Jóhann Jóhannsson (1969-2018). These span the composer’s career, from studio albums such as Englabörn and Orphée to the scores he wrote for documentaries or feature films such as Copenhagen Dreams, Personal Effects and The Theory of Everything. Ott’s Piano Works – Film Themes EP will be followed on 12 December by Piano Works – From Englabörn, with a 30-track album out on 6 March 2026.
Ott’s busy live schedule has continued throughout 2025. She has performed her acclaimed Field-Beethoven recital programme in Europe and Asia, with a second tour scheduled in early 2026. As 2025-26 Artist in Residence at the Berlin Konzerthaus, she opened the season in September with Bryce Dessner’s Piano Concerto, following this with Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major (October/November) and an artist portrait evening (November). She brings her Field-Beethoven recital to the Konzerthaus in January and plays Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto there in May. Her final live dates in 2025 are at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (12/13 December), where she and actress Isabelle Huppert will premiere a new work by Dessner: Love, Icebox – Letters from John Cage to Merce Cunningham. (Full touring details here.)