"Finding myself amidst the lush sonorities of an orchestra is a thrilling experience. The role of orchestral pianist requires different skills from those of solo or chamber music playing and helps me maintain razor-sharp listening and flexible reaction abilities. Certainly, counting endless measures before launching into an exposed, critical, and virtuosic passage is a special challenge."

Lambert Orkis

"His music making simply took flight and never stopped".

Washington Post (Strauss' Burleske with NSO)

In 1982, at the invitation of then Music Director Mstislav Rostropovich, Lambert Orkis joined Washington's Kennedy Center-based National Symphony Orchestra in the capacity of Principal Keyboard in which role he continues, playing piano, celesta, harpsichord, and synthesizer under current Music Director Leonard Slatkin. During these years, Orkis has performed a wealth of repertoire including many premieres and music of the 20th century in the orchestra's subscription series, and has toured North and South America, Europe, and Asia with the ensemble.

He has appeared as soloist playing Beethoven's Choral Fantasy under conductors Günther Herbig and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos; Beethoven's Triple Concerto, Barry Jekowsky, conducting; Scriabin's Prometheus, John Mauceri, conducting; and Strauss' Burleske with Frühbeck once more on the podium.

At the urging of Mstislav Rostropovich, The Hechinger Foundation commissioned Richard Wernick's Piano Concerto written for Orkis and the National Symphony which was premiered at the Kennedy Center and at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1991. This work was subsequently given a Friedheim Award.

During the Reagan administration, First Lady Nancy Reagan was invited to narrate Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals in memory of Princess Grace of Monaco. For this nationally televised performance, Orkis was featured in a solo role with Mstislav Rostropovich conducting. On other occasions, Orkis has performed the work under Fabio Mechetti, Randall Craig Fleischer, and Barry Jekowsky.

The playing of chamber music is an important component of symphonic life. Orkis was a member of the ad hoc committee that formulated the guidelines for performance under which the orchestra's chamber music concerts are governed. With colleagues from the orchestra, Orkis has played a wide variety of repertoire not only in the Washington area and in the US through the orchestra's Residency and Outreach programs, but also during orchestra tours in Europe, Asia, South America, and its residencies at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. In 1990, at the request of Mstislav Rostropovich, he represented the National Symphony with Principal Clarinetist Loren Kitt and Associate Concertmaster Elisabeth Adkins in a chamber music tour of Italy and France.

Orkis is a much sought-after lecturer for pre-concert presentations having spoken on topics as diverse as modern music, the works of Liszt, Brahms, Dvorák, Janácek, Tchaikovsky, and the music of Germany and Austria.

In his role of Principal Keyboard, Orkis can be heard on the following National Symphony Orchestra recordings.

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