Garrick Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948 in New York) is an American classical pianist. He was the first American to win first prize in the International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in 1970. He also won First Prizes at the Busoni Competition in Italy and Montreal Piano Competition. Ohlsson was awarded the Avery Fischer Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He began his studies at the age of eight with the Westchester Conservatory of Music in White Plains and, at the age of 13, began studying at the Juilliard school. His musical development has been influenced in completely different ways by a succession of distinguished teachers, most notably Claudio Arrau, Olga Barabini, Tom Lishman, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Rosina Lhevinne and Irma Wolpe. As a student of the late Claudio Arrau, Ohlsson is noted for his masterful performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. Ohlsson has performed in North America with symphony orchestras of Cleveland, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Houston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington D.C., and Berkeley; and the National Arts Centre, St. Paul Chamber, and the London Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. Ohlsson is an avid chamber musician and has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Takács and Tokyo string quartets, among other ensembles.
He toured with the Takács Quartet in 2005-2006.
He is a founding member of San Francisco's FOG Trio together with violinist Jorja Fleezanis and cellist Michael Grebanier.
In 2006-2007, he will open the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. He will also perform at the BBC Proms with the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
Ohlsson possesses an unusually vast repertoire that ranges over some eighty concertos. He is also known for his exceptional keyboard stretch (a 13th in the left hand and a 12th in the right).