All About The Students

Jiayin Li & Inesa Sinkevych

Jenny Q Chai & Adam Kosmieja

Concerto performance at Inaugural Concert of the Warsaw Autumn Festival this Friday

Dear friends,

It's been a while since my last newsletter. So, here are some upcoming news of mine. I had a wonderful time developing music with technology with composer Jarek Kapuscinski on his music, with artificial intelligence program Antescofo at Ircam, Paris. The super intelligent but yet a bit moody program is developed by scientist Arshia Cont and composer Marco Stroppa at Ircam. You can look forward to the premiere of this new concert program at Le Poisson Rouge next Jan. in NYC! Here's the preview of this playful yet soulful program "Where is Chopin?"

Fast forward, I am now in Poland preparing this super virtuosic double piano concerto 'Zones de turbulences' by French composer Philippe Manoury with Polish pianist Adam Kosmieja and the National Radio Symphony Orchestra in the inaugural concert of Poland's largest contemporary music festival, Warsaw Autumn, with conductor Alexander Liebreich, at the beautiful WARSAW PHILHARMONIC HALL. The piece is a bit like Prokofiev in the 21st C. to me, or human machines, something you might be curious to hear.

It's this Friday, Sept. 18. We already have quite some important RSVPs (cannot disclose their names here:)). For those of you who cannot fly to Warsaw, no worries, you can hear us broadcast live on radio. We will be on after 9pm European time, which will be 3pm Eastern Time.

In case you don't read Polish, press the first green play button on the page.
Listen to it

Right after Warsaw, I'll be in Venice for a wedding the same weekend, then embarking on my tour to the States again. This time, Georgia and Florida. Check out the dates in case you are around.

After that, for a short period of time, I'll be staying with my school FaceArt Institute of Music in Shanghai. Let me know if you'll be visiting!

See you somewhere in the world!
Jenny

Maxim Anikushin

A Sense of Glasnost at a Carnegie Keyboard

The Pianist Maxim Anikushin at Carnegie Hall

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Published: April 9, 2012

Judging by his enjoyable concert at Carnegie Hall on Thursday evening, the Russian-American pianist Maxim Anikushin has a genuine affinity for the music of Samuel Barber. In 2010 Mr. Anikushin performed a Barber concert in honor of that composer's centennial, and he is working on a disc of his music for Albany Records.

Mr. Anikushin was presented at Carnegie for an almost entirely Russian-speaking audience by the Russian American Cultural Heritage Center. The concert commemorated the first Russian-American history month in New York State, which is being celebrated with various events

Mr. Anikushin concluded his recital with a committed rendition of Barber's Piano Sonata in E-flat minor (Op. 26), a commission from the League of Composers to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 1950. Vladimir Horowitz, who performed the premiere, called it 'the first truly great native work' in the piano sonata form.

The piece meshes 12-tone techniques with Barber's trademark lyricism. Mr. Anikushin played with assurance and flair throughout, illuminating the dramatic rhythms and cinematic sweep of the first movement and imbuing the soulful third movement with a poetic spirit. For the concluding movement Barber filters Bach through a contemporary prism in a jazzy, syncopated fugue, whose four voices were cleanly articulated by Mr. Anikushin's deft touch.

There was more Barber for the encores: characterful renditions of his 'Lullaby' and of 'Let's Sit it Out; I'd Rather Watch: A Walls,' plus the Russian Dance from Stravinsky's 'Petrushka.'

Befitting the occasion, Mr. Anikushin offered a work by a living Russian composer, Yekaterina Merkulyeva: her vivid 'Mirage,' written in 1991, shortly after she immigrated to New York. The piece segues between exuberant Prokofiev-like sections of rhythmic intensity and interludes of nostalgic introspection, reflecting the composer's conflicting emotions as a new immigrant.

There were also plenty of nostalgic moments in several works by Tchaikovsky, including 'Dumka' ('Russian Rustic Scene') and 'January' and 'May' from 'The Seasons,' all beautifully rendered by Mr. Anikushin's warm, fluid playing.

Works by Beethoven made up the first half of the program, starting with expressive renditions of the Polonaise in C and Andante Favori in F. Mr. Anikushin also offered a passionate, confident interpretation of Beethoven's popular 'Waldstein' Sonata.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: April 13, 2012
A music review on Tuesday about a recital by the pianist Maxim Anikushin, at Carnegie Hall, misidentified a work by Samuel Barber that was one of the encores. It is 'Let's Sit It Out; I'd Rather Watch: A Walls,' not the 'Waltz' from 'Souvenirs.'

Rowena Arrieta

With Philippine piano student Rowena Arrieta, 5th prize winner of
Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow

Hayk Arsenyan

New York based pianist-composer Hayk Arsenyan, a native of Armenia, has appeared in numerous recitals in USA, Armenia, Russia, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Canary Islands, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Syria, and Lebanon. His performance venues have included Carnegie Hall (New York), Palais d’UNESCO (Paris), Tchaikovsky Concert Hall (Moscow), “Petranka” House-Museum of Mozart (Prague), Auditorio de Miguel Delibes (Valladolid), Dar-Al-Assad Opera House (Damascus), and appearances at the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, and the Phillips Collection Concert Series in Washington DC. At the age of 17, Mr. Arsenyan made his orchestral debut as a soloist with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, and was awarded a platinum medal by the City of Paris.

Mr. Arsenyan’s performances have been described as “…deeply moving…” “…poetic and colorful…“…technically flawless and powerful…” His concert repertoire is diverse and encompasses works from early Baroque to New Music. An avid chamber musician and collaborator outside of the classical music stage, he constantly strives to explore various experimental projects with Dance, Drama and Visual Arts, such as the “Visual Landscapes” multi-media project of all Alan Hovhaness piano works, which was The New York Times’ pick of the week in May 2011, and was reviewed as “…One of the coolest events in NYC to go to.”

Currently Mr. Arsenyan teaches at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa and a Master’s degree from the Gnessin Music Academy in Moscow. In 2007 he was awarded the full-tuition Yevgeny Kissin Scholarship for the Professional-Studies performance program at Manhattan School of Music in New York. Mr. Arsenyan also studied the piano in Paris at École Normale Supérieure de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot and the Conservatoire National de Region D’Aubervillier La-Courneuve. He is a scholar of Iberian Early Music and has compiled a Performance Guide to Three Keyboard Sonatas of Antonio Soler as part of his Doctoral Dissertation, published by the University of Iowa Press.

In 1993 Mr. Arsenyan became a member of the French Society of Authors and Composers (SACEM) and two collections of his original works were published in Paris. Several of his original works have been choreographed by the dance departments of the University of Iowa and New York University. Mr. Arsenyan is also a member of the Ararat International Academy of Sciences in Paris and serves as the Academy’s representative in New York.

Hayk Arsenyan

Alexandra Beliakovich

Robert Cassidy

Contact Global Artists Classical to book now.
robertcassidypianist.com

Pianist Robert Cassidy is currently booking recitals and masterclasses for the 2015-16 season and beyond. Dr. Cassidy's featured program is comprised of the complete Debussy Pr'ludes, magical miniatures that are a hallmark of 20th century piano repertoire.

"He shapes the first book of Debussy's 'Preludes' with delicate and expressive sensitivity, savoring the magical atmospheres." - Cleveland Plain Dealer

Albany Records released Robert Cassidy's eponymous recording in 2011, including Book I of the Debussy Pr'ludes. Dr. Cassidy has performed the works live on WCLV radio and in recitals in Cleveland and at the 92nd St. Y, the Morgan Library, and the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City. Dr. Cassidy recorded Book II of the Pr'ludes with Grammy Award-winning producer Elaine Martone in 2015, funded through a successful Hatchfund campaign raising more than $16,000 for the project. The recording will be released this fall.

Robert Cassidy
Often appearing in concert as a soloist and chamber musician, Robert Cassidy was recently presented on a solo recital tour in Cleveland, New York, and Vienna in September 2015, and in a chamber performance at the Bop Stop in Cleveland. Dr. Cassidy has been presented on radio stations WFMT in Chicago (Dame Myra Hess Series), WRUW, WCLV and WCPN in Cleveland, WKSU in Kent, Ohio, and WNYC in New York (Around New York). He has premiered solo piano works by the American composers David Noon and Keith Fitch. For six years, Cassidy has been the pianist in the Cleveland-based Almeda Trio (almedatrio.com), an ensemble in residence at The Music Settlement. He has regularly performed chamber music with members of The Cleveland Orchestra, including First Associate Concertmaster Peter Otto, Principal Horn Richard King, cellists Alan Harrell, Bryan Dumm, and Tanya Ell, clarinetist Robert Woolfrey, and violists Joanna Patterson and Lisa Boyko.

An extremely active and highly sought-after teacher and chamber music coach, Dr. Cassidy is in demand for masterclasses, workshops and lectures, private teaching, and adjudication. Joining the faculty of Cleveland State University in 2008, he held the position of Lecturer of Applied Piano and Coordinator of Chamber Music, where he maintained a studio of undergraduate and graduate private students and taught Collaborative Piano and Accompanying from 2011-2014. He currently maintains a private studio on the campus of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California.

Jenny Q. Chai

A Multi-Sensory Concert Featuring Works by Schumann and Jarosław Kapuściński

Watch the Trailer for Kapuściński’s Where’s Chopin?: Click here

Watch an Excerpt of Kapuściński’s Side Effects:here

"dynamic and unconventional" – The New York Times

New York, NY — On Friday, February 22, 2019 at 12:00pm, Tri-I Noon Recitals at The Rockefeller University presents contemporary Chinese-American pianist Jenny Q Chai in a multi-sensory program that features the first two movements of Schumann’s Kreisleriana and two audio-visual works by Polish composer and Stanford University Music Department Chair, Jaroslaw Kapuściński: Side Effects and Where is Chopin?.

Kapuściński’s Where is Chopin? is a performance installation that examines the perceptions and emotions on the faces of people around the world as they listen to Chopin’s Preludes Op. 28. These expressions are shown with re-composed essences of the music. Kapuściński says, “To obtain the images, I travelled to 12 cities around the world to hold listening sessions with volunteers. In each country I collaborated with a local photographer or cinematographer. For me, the piece is almost a social experiment: Are the reactions different by culture, or are they different by gender or generation? How does music touch people from completely different backgrounds, professions and cultures?”

Side Effects started as a photographic documentary by Kacper Kowalski that was shown in exhibitions and was published as a book. It features complex relationships between people and nature as seen from 150 meters above ground. The estranged perspective revealed unexpected metaphoric and structural dimensions that inspired Jarosław Kapuściński to propose an audiovisual collaboration. The two artists collaborated closely on video editing and musical composition to offer a personal guided experience of 10 locations in the north of Poland, with each movement titled by the geographic coordinates of the shown place. Side Effects was commissioned by Spoleto USA Festival in 2017.

Chai is a champion of Kapuściński’s music and has collaborated with him to test early versions of the groundbreaking synchronous score-following software program, Antescofo. Developed at IRCAM by scientist Arshia Cont and composer Marco Stroppa, the software offers a real-time computer response to live performance elements, enabling performers to create multimedia presentations of sophisticated and expressive fluency. Chai explored and helped hone Antescofo in residence at IRCAM alongside Kapuściński, and has since toured internationally with the software, offering multimedia performances in Shanghai, New York, Havana, and elsewhere.

Program Information

Tri-I Noon Recitals at The Rockefeller University Presents Pianist Jenny Q Chai

Friday, February 22, 2019 at 12:00pm

The Rockefeller University | 1230 York Avenue | New York, NY 10065

Program:

Schumann: Kreisleriana, Movements I and II

Jarosław Kapuściński: Side Effects

Jarosław Kapuściński: Where is Chopin?

About Jenny Q Chai

An artist of singular vision, pianist Jenny Q Chai is widely renowned for her ability to illuminate musical connections throughout the centuries. With radical joie de vivre and razor-sharp intention, Chai creates layered multimedia programs and events which explore and unite elements of science, nature, fashion, and art.

Based in both Shanghai and Paris, Chai’s instinctive understanding of new music is complemented by a deep grounding in core repertoire, with special affinity for Schumann, Scarlatti, Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, and Ravel. She is a noted interpreter of 20th-century masters Cage, Messiaen, and Ligeti, and her career is threaded through with strong relationships and close collaborations with a range of notable contemporary composers, including Marco Stroppa, Jarosław Kapuściński, and György Kurtág. With a deft poetic touch, Chai weaves this wide-ranging repertoire into a gorgeous and lucid musical tapestry.

Other notable highlights include her Carnegie Hall debut in 2012; many performances at (le) Poisson Rouge, including a 2016 Antescofo-supported program, Where’s Chopin?; lectures and recitals at the Shanghai Symphony Hall; a featured performance at the Leo Brouwer Festival in Havana, Cuba; Philippe Manoury’s double-piano concerto, Zones de turbulences, at the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music (with duo partner, pianist Adam Kośmieja and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra); and much more.

Her immersive approach to music is also channeled into her work with FaceArt Institute of Music, the Shanghai-based organization she founded and runs, offering music education and an international exchange of music and musicians in China and beyond. Additionally, Chai serves on the Board of Directors of the New York City-based contemporary music organization Ear to Mind, and has published a doctoral dissertation on Marco Stroppa’s Miniature Estrose.

Chai has recorded for labels such as Deutschlandfunk, Naxos, and ArpaViva. In 2010, she released her debut recording, New York Love Songs – featuring interpretations of works by Cage and Ives, among others – and her most recent recording, Life Sketches: Piano Music of Nils Vigeland was released in 2014 by Naxos. She can also be heard on Michael Vincent Waller’s Five Easy Pieces and Cindy Cox’s Hierosgamos.

The recipient of the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust’s 2011 Pianist/Composer Commissioning Project, the DAAD Arts and Performance award in 2010, and first prize winner of the Keys to the Future Contemporary Solo Piano Festival, Jenny Q Chai has studied at the Shanghai Music Conservatory, the Curtis Institute of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and in Cologne University of Music and Dance. Her teachers include Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Seymour Lipkin, Solomon Mikowsky, and Anthony de Mare.

*Photo at the top of release by Lêa Giradin

Free admissions to the concert

Jenny Q. Chai

Dear Music Lovers, Friends and Supporters,

I would like to share the review of my last concert at UC Berkeley CNMAT, where I had a wonderful audience and support of technology.

The program was the New Yorker recommended Sonorous Brushes, where I explore the connection between colours and sounds.

It is my pleasure to share with you the review and the video of the concert, which was live streamed.

Read the Review Watch the Concert

Jenny Q. Chai

Saturday, March 9, 2019, 8:00pm, CNMAT UC Berkeley presents contemporary classical pianist Jenny Q Chai, described as "dynamic and unconventional" by the New York Times in a thrilling program combining AI with music and visuals, recommended by the New Yorker

Jenny Q. Chai

Hello people! I am soooooo excited to tell you that my new album (S)yn(e)th(e)te is coming out!
The official release is on Oct.1.
But you can already preorder it here!
YES! PREORDER IT!
Thank you thank you :)
I also want to let you know that I'll be doing a Facebook Live in two days! That is, this Thursday, 10AM Eastern Time and 4PM Paris Time! (Sorry I suck at time zones...)
If you have me as your facebook friend, you can watch me there :) I'll be playing some awesome music and composers, talk about the new album, especially the synesthesia of sounds and colors!
I hope to see you there! And please, send me lots lots of comments and likes when you come! :)
XOXO
jenny

Jenny Q. Chai

Happy New Year 2017!

Just a quick wrap up of my 2016 and some news looking ahead.

In 2016, I am especially excited to have toured with my NASA climate change program Acqa Alta with NASA scientist Ian Fenty. I had written an article on the amazing music critic Steve Smith's Log Journal about the program.

I played Marco Stroppa's Ninnananna at Carnegie for the memorial concert of my dear Curtis teacher Seymour Lipkin.

I went on a whole California tour with Friction Quartet world premiering Andy Akiho's prepared piano quintet Five Prospects of a Misplaced Year, just written for us, meanwhile learned about the awesome music in other genres such as Stevie Wonders, Jeff Buckley and Avishai Cohen.

I started guest hosting a classical music radio broadcast show in Shanghai Media Group on How to Listen to Modern Music, the first episode reached 1.4 million listeners.

My school and cultural exchange center FaceArt Institute of Music is running steadily, having sent quite some students abroad to the best music schools in the U.S. and our students winning 90+ national and international awards by the 6th year. Especially notably was FA's 5th year anniversary concert at Shanghai Symphony Hall, guest performance by the amazing new music group Loadbang from NY!

Aside from my awesome American management company Ariel, I also joined the roster of European based management company CLB.

In 2017, I'll continue the radio show, introducing 20th C. and new music to a Chinese audience, hopefully fulfilling my duty as an American-Chinese contemporary pianist, release a few albums, continue to meet and collaborate with inspiring musicians and artists in the world.

One last piece of news is that I have won the commission of residency at Cité des Arts in Paris, being offered a studio and facility at the heart of Paris, le Marais, for half year. I'll be going there this month.

I wish you all a wonderful, exciting and happy new year!

I hope to see you sometime, somewhere, in 2017!

Cheers!

jenny

Jenny Chai

Jenny Q Chai

The dynamic Chinese-American pianist Jenny Q Chai has gained attention for unconventional programs that combine piano pieces, live electronics and video imagery, like the one she presented on Sunday afternoon at Le Poisson Rouge, intriguingly titled “Where Is Chopin?”

The program, the second in Ms. Chai’s Piano Steampunk series, began with “Oli’s Dream,” a work for piano and computer projections by the composer Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, though many people in the audience might not have known what was being played. A description of the “Where Is Chopin?” program, with a list of works to be performed, was available in advance on the Poisson Rouge website. But no programs were passed out. And Ms. Chai did not speak to the audience to explain, for example, why “Where Is Chopin?” included no piece by that classic composer.

Mr. Kapuscinski, who was born in Warsaw and teaches composition at Stanford University, writes works in which the playing of instruments influences live multimedia content, as in “Oli’s Dream.” The piano dominated this 15-minute piece, which unfolds in quizzical episodes: stretches of lacy filigree, jittery riffs, oscillating repetitive chords and chorale-like passages that suggest Messiaen. The projected images mostly involved letters and words that kept reforming into fragments, like: “I am a,” “a not her,” “another.”

Ms. Chai then turned to nine selections from Schumann’s popular piano suite “Carnaval.” By not providing a written or spoken introduction, she didn’t make it easy for those who didn’t know the piece to understand why, for example, a dreamy piece called “Eusebius” was followed by the restless “Florestan.” Surely many in the audience were unaware that Eusebius was Schumann’s name for the pensive, poetic side of his personality, while he called his hotheaded half Florestan. Still, Ms. Chai played all the excerpts vividly, especially her bouncy, lilting account of “Reconnaissance.”

After a break, she played Mr. Kapuscinski’s “Where Is Chopin?,” created in 2010 for the composer’s bicentennial. The composer takes fragments, motifs, chords and other details from Chopin’s Preludes (Op. 28) and uses them as elements in a series of his own pieces: fractured, eerie works that come across like contemporary ruminations on the Chopin preludes, heightened with hazy, whooshing electronic sounds. The projected images included collections of peoples’ faces in close-ups, urban scenes from various cities and more. Alas, toward the end, the Poisson Rouge projector went dead, so Ms. Chai skipped the final two pieces and went straight to her concluding work: “Chopin,” Schumann’s tribute to the composer from “Carnaval.”

As an encore, she played a work by the composer Marco Stroppa, introducing it with some perceptive spoken comments. If only she had begun the whole program that way.

Jenny Q Chai

Classical Music & Opera Listings for Jan. 8-14

Jenny Q Chai (Sunday) This thoughtful pianist narrates and performs a multimedia program that explores the relationship between the piano and electronics. She will play pieces by Schumann and Chopin, as well as Jaroslaw Kapuscinski’s “Where is Chopin?” — a work for Disklavier piano, stereo sound and visual projection. At 3:30 p.m., Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, near Thompson Street, Greenwich Village, 212-505-3474, lepoissonrouge.com. (Vivien Schweitzer)

Jenny Q Chai

Piano Steampunk 2: Where is Chopin? - Jenny Q Chai, piano
Sun., January 10, 2016 at 3:30 PM

link

Description:

“I believe we should talk about all classical music — especially the connection between new music and old music — and not keep it caged in an ivory tower anymore.” – Jenny Q Chai

Building on the success of her Piano Steampunk series, pianist Jenny Q Chai presents: Where is Chopin? In this performance, Jenny Q Chai explores the relationship between piano and electronics. The program will create a vivid musical story, making use of storytelling techniques common to novels and films, along with cutting edge music technology, such as the artificial intelligence program Antescofo. Highlighting works by composers Jaroslaw Kapuscinski and Robert Schumann, Chai will take audiences on an aural and visual journey that boldly redefines how we think of classical music today.

Works to be performed during the “Where is Chopin?” program include:

Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, Oli’s Dream

Robert Schumann, selections from Carnaval:
Valse Noble
Eusebius
Florenstan
Coquette
Replique
Chiarina
Reconnaissance
Valse Allemande
Paganini
Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, Where is Chopin?

Robert Schumann, Chopin

Seated: $20 advance, $25 day of show
Standing: $15 advance, $20 day of show

TABLE SEATING POLICY

Table seating for all seated shows is reserved exclusively for ticket holders who purchase “Table Seating” tickets. By purchasing a “Table Seating” ticket you agree to also purchase a minimum of two food and/or beverage items per person. Table seating is first come, first seated. Please arrive early for the best choice of available seats. Seating begins when doors open. Tables are communal so you may be seated with other patrons. We do not take table reservations.

A standing room area is available by the bar for all guests who purchase “Standing Room” tickets. Food and beverage can be purchased at the bar but there is no minimum purchase required in this area.

All tickets sales are final. No refund or credits.

Artists
Jenny Q Chai, piano

musical connections throughout the centuries. With razor-sharp intention, Chai integrates her prodigy’s training with personal fascinations in the latest in live electronics, artificial intelligence, and environmental research, creating layered multimedia programs and events which explore and unite elements of science, nature, and art. “Jenny Q Chai, who has studied with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, is following the more eclectic path…” The New York Times

Based both in Shanghai and New York City, Chai’s instinctive understanding of new music is complemented by a deep grounding in core repertoire, with special affinity for Schumann, Scarlatti, Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, and Ravel. She is also a noted interpreter of 20th-century masters Cage, Messiaen, Kurtág, and Ligeti. And her career is threaded through with strong relationships and close collaborations with a range of notable contemporary composers, including Marco Stroppa, Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, György Kurtág, among others. With a deft poetic touch, Chai weaves these wide-ranging composers and repertoire into a gorgeous and lucid musical tapestry.

Chai has won acclaim for performances in New York City, at Carnegie Hall (Zankel), (le) Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and Symphony Space. She has appeared throughout the US, Germany, Belgium, Spain; and at the Gaudeamus New Music, the Festival Leo Brouwer in Cuba, and the Darmstadt International Festival for New Music. In China, she has appeared regularly at the Shanghai Concert Hall, and is widely known as a leading advocate for contemporary music, having given the Chinese premiere of numerous contemporary masterworks, including works by Messiaen, Cage, and the very first prepared piano concert in the country. Chai is also an active lecturer on topics such as music and technology and music entrepreneurship at venues such as Harvard University, New York University, Manhattan School of Music, Chicago College of Performing Arts and Fudan University in China.

Her immersive approach to music is also channeled into her work with FaceArt Institute of Music, the Shanghai-based organization she founded and runs, offering music education and an international exchange of music and musicians in China and beyond. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the New York City-based contemporary music organization Ear to Mind.

Chai’s talents have been showcased on recordings for labels such as Deutschlandfunk, Naxos and ArpaViva. Her next album on the solo piano music of Marco Stroppa and György Kurtág will soon be released.

The recipient of the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust’s 2011 Pianist/Composer Commissioning Project, the DAAD Arts and Performance award in 2010, and first prize winner of the Keys to the Future Contemporary Solo Piano Festival, Jenny Q Chai studied at the Shanghai Music Conservatory, the Curtis Institute of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and in Cologne University of Music and Dance with Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Her teachers include Aimard, Seymour Lipkin, Solomon Mikowsky, and Anthony de Mare, as well as close consultation with Marilyn Nonken, Chai’s thesis adviser for her doctoral dissertation, Manifesto on Marco Stroppa’s Miniature Estrose.

Looking forward, Chai will appear as the soloist to perform Philippe Manoury’s concerto at the inaugural concert of Warsaw Festival with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Jenny Q Chai

It's time to share...

My dear friends,

It's my pleasure to share with you the recent activities of my last tour, from Europe to U.S. The whole experience has been enriching and marvelous.

The highlight being the performance of the double piano concerto with the dynamic Polish pianist Adam Kosmieja, with NOSPR orchestra conducted by the charismatic conductor Alexander Liebreich, at the inaugural concert of the historically important Warsaw Autumn festival.

After my residency at Ircam in Paris, I had the chance to explore the super charming Polish city Bydgoszcz, then rehearsed at the brand-new world class concert hall in Katowice, followed by the performed at the National Concert Hall in Warsaw, which hosted so many legendary pianists, not to mention being the home of the Chopin Competition, which I'm following right now.

A wonderful surprise was the appearance of the great Chopin Competition winner, Rafa' Blechacz, in the audience. Apparently, he drove for 4 hours each way plus a night at the hotel to listen to our 15 minute concerto by living composer Philippe Manoury. Someone with such grand career playing classical music repertoires would take such interest and efforts to listen to contemporary music is really mind-blowing to me! And maybe it is some strange spin of the universe, now with all the special connections I feel with Poland and Chopin, I am studying Chopin more than ever in my life, and will be offering the premiere of a brand new program in NY next year Jan. at Le Poisson Rouge, called "Where is Chopin?" music by Jaroslaw Kapuscinski and Robert Schumann, with visuals, electronics and artificial intelligence program Antescofo.

Following Warsaw, I went straight to U.S., toured in Georgia and Florida, and met many wonderfully enthusiastic music lovers and lovely people.

I feel very fortunate to be doing what I do and I am so thankful to all my teachers, friends and colleagues who always supported me.

hugs,
jenny

Jenny Q Chai

Jenny Q Chai (pianist) offers:
an IRCAM residency, lecture-performances at Harvard and MSM, Chicago recitals, 15/16 touring programs, and more

An artist of singular vision, pianist Jenny Q Chai is known for both her expressive technique, and for the beauty of her programming, through which she explores connections between history, art, science, and technology.

This week, Chai is in residence at Chicago's Roosevelt University, offering master classes, a lecture-demonstration, and a recital of works by Debussy, Ligeti, Scarlatti, John Cage, and Kurt'g.

While in Chicago, Chai also performs a program of works by Ravel, Liszt, Marco Stroppa, Schumann, and more for the PianoForte Salon Series.

Chai began the year with a residency at IRCAM in Paris (her second of the season), where she worked with the intermedia composer Jarowslaw Kapuscinski on the artificial intelligence program Antescofo. (She has performed his work Juicy around the world.)

From Paris, Chai headed to Boston, where she offered a guest lecture at Harvard University and acted as a judge at Boston Conservatory's Piano Honors Competition. She then traveled to New York, presenting a lecture on Creative Programming for the Manhattan School of Music's Center for Music Entrepreneurship.

Looking forward, Chai offers a recital and lecture at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Poland, and collaborates with composer Cindy Cox in Shanghai. Cox and Chai present a lecture/demonstration of her works for Shanghai Conservatory of Music, a two-piano concert with Piotr Tomasz for the FaceArt Institute of Music, and record selected works.

~ ~ ~

Learn more about Jenny Q Chai's 15/16 program offerings, including:

Piano Steampunk ' Scientific Romances
with works by Debussy, Marco Stroppa, Louis-Claude Daquin, Cole Ingraham, John Cage, Frederic Rzewski, Victoria Jordanova, Cindy Cox, Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, Richard Sussman

Piano Music of Nils Vigeland
with works by Nils Vigeland, Ligeti, Debussy, Schumann, Scarlatti

If on a Winter's Night...
with works by Gy'rgy Kurt'g, Orlando Gibbons, Debussy, Bach, Stockhausen, Marco Stroppa, Schumann

Acqua Alta (High Water)
with works by Scarlatti, Gibbons, Ligeti, Marco Stroppa, Debussy, Ravel, Liszt, Nils Vigeland, Cage

~ ~ ~

To inquire about these programs or to learn about Jenny Q Chai's availability and block booking periods, please email artist representative Mary Beth Alger.

www.jennychai.com

~ ~ ~

Watch Jenny Q Chai perform Jaroslaw Kapuscinski's "Juicy" in the lovely video below.

Jenny Q Chai

Program: Entrepreneurial Soloist: Creative Programming Miller Recital Hall Alum Jenny Q. Chai, international pianist, details how themed and multimedia programming of diverse repertoire can transform an audience's experience.
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Length: Class meets from 1 - 2:50, Jenny expected to talk from 1:50 to 2:50
Time: 1:50 pm - 2:50pm
Venue: Manhattan School of Music Miller Recital Hall

Jenny Q Chai

Manifesto on Marco Stroppa's Miniature Estrose

Paperback ' January 15, 2015

by Jenny Q Chai (Author)

hello my dear friends:

In the new year, it's my pleasure to let you know that my dissertation on composer Marco Stroppa has been published and you can get a copy on amazon.

Wanna take a look? click to see it on amazon

Marco Stroppa of Italy is a pre-eminently active and innovative composer in Europe. In his piano works Traiettoria for piano and computer-synthesized sounds (written from 1982 to 1984) and Miniature Estrose Vol. 1 - seven pieces for solo piano (written from 1991 to 2002), Stroppa has discovered many new and important nuances of the sound from the piano.
read more

Shoot me an email if our dates and places happen to collide, I'd love to see you and grab coffee sometime.

Warm regards,
jenny Q

I am now enjoying my time and residency at Ircam until the end of Feb., and really looking forward to a series of residencies next month at Harvard, Boston Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Roosevelt University, Piano Forte Salon Series, and The Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, Poland, where I'll not only be playing, but also sharing my experiences working with electronics and artificial intelligence score following program Antescofo, which is developed at Ircam by scientist Arshia Cont and composer Marco Stroppa.
find out the dates

For those who have preordered my stamps, I want to let you know that they have just been mailed out to you. Thank you again for "collecting" me :)

Jenny Q Chai

There is a Shanghai Chinese woman living in New York who plays the piano sometimes diabolically, and sometimes in a slow but angelical way. She has gone upstream with her contemporary classical music in a China of ancient traditions. Her performance desire takes objects like baseball gloves and balls and strikes the keys hardly; she strikes what was not made ??to be struck. She gets uneasy while playing, stands up, grabs the ropes and makes them vibrate on her own hand. But this does not matter if through this act she manages to invent the most sacrilegious sounds that can be collected from a piano.

It was through Dr. Solomon Mikowsky, one of the professors who most influenced on her at the Manhattan School of Music, that she learned that there was a Mr. Leo Brouwer, living south , who was the epicenter of a chamber music festival bearing that same name. Perhaps because Dr. Mikowsky is Cuban, and in many of his classes he told incredible stories of the island and his childhood there, maybe because the professor, in an outburst of nostalgia, told the student: 'I am sure that Brouwer would love you to go to the festival', and he added: 'If you go and play there, you would make me proud a lot.'

The day : Tuesday October 7th. The time: 8:30 pm. Place: Mart' Theatre. There will be Jenny, accompanied by flutist Niurka Gonz'lez, the Havana Chamber Orchestra, Angklung Orchestra of Camag'ey and other guests. Playing in Cuba has been a unique opportunity for her and therefore she says the organization of the concert has been taken very seriously: 'I've been trying different options, from various perspectives; I even changed the program twice. Finally, I am satisfied with the final version, which includes a first part dedicated to anti-war theme, and a second one to the people who stay strong, happy and optimistic in all circumstances. '

'For this I have asked a few and great composers to write about those two topics. One is Theodore Wiprud with the song Jump, and the other is Richard Sussman, with Spirit Guide, so there will be some world premieres at the concert. Another piece that stands out is Juicy, by Jarowslaw Kapuscinski. This one is accompanied by a video where the elements of audio and image are equalized with electronic sounds controlled by an artificial intelligence program, Antescofo, developed by composer Marco Stroppa.

'I feel that, although I do not know very well the Cuban music school, I carry something of it with me, and that's the influence of my teacher Dr. Mikowsky, who has played for me some of that repertoire. I remember he once gave me a rumba to play as part of the additional program in a concert in Shanghai. I know that Cuba is quite rich in its culture and music, but I've never had the opportunity to have such experience. This is the first time, and I am thrilled with it.

'Moreover, the work of the Festival have greatly impressed me, it seems so great. Through it, artists and musicians from around the world are attracted, especially from the United States, which is more difficult. Both cultures as people need the exchange.

'The reason for which I founded the Face Art Institute of Music in my country has much in common with Brouwer's draft, the idea is that the Face Art to serve as a meeting point for artists, as a bridge for students and audience from there. We have been growing and impacting to the point that many musicians and even prime ministers of China have visited us. Our students have won over 60 awards, have the opportunity to meet other countries, make friends and manage to influence each other. '

From where comes the idea of ??experimenting with objects to create new sounds ?

'The idea, really, did not start with me. Maybe it did it with Beethoven or Mozart, or even earlier. The truth is that throughout history, people have tried to find and create new sounds with the piano. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the technology can make a major difference, by complementing the music with electronic sounds and visual effects in order to expand the ever growing horizon of piano melodies and harmonies. '

In presence of such unpredictable artist, the classic question that closes most of the interviews cannot miss: the one about future projects. Again, Jenny surprises when talking about her partnership with Ian Fenty, a scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): 'The goal is to combine music and science, with the topic of the environment and the effect of global warming on the water. Hence the program is called Aqua Water.

'The other project is with Marco Stroppa, electronic music composer and also scientist at MIT. With him I was fascinated by electronic sounds and musical concepts from the futurism and space, so I'll record an album with this kind of music, always played from the piano, very soon. '

You once said you were just a performance artist who used the piano as a tool. And I ask you, why the piano?

It is an instrument that has lived through several centuries, and has been expressed in many different ways by composers from different cultures, histories and circumstances. Somehow, I find it spirits and ghosts, and a lot of agony and hope. Moreover, the fact is that, practically speaking, the piano is the instrument that I play the best.

Jenny Q Chai

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This Christmas season, a wonderful time to wish you all a warm and loving end of 2014, going onto 2015!

I've had a wonderful year, having made my first world tour, especially to Cuba, released the Naxos CD with piano works by Nils Vigeland, premiered new works by many wonderful composers! My school FaceArt Institute of Music has officially established exciting partnerships with Boston Conservatory and Roosevelt University. The most random surprise is making it to Chinese postal service by chance! Here, the preview of my stamps...Sorry I will not be able to afford buying my own stamps and mailing you a real postcard ;) Voila, the digital version!

And lastly, I'm sending you the Spectrum NYC premier of a 3-minute piece Birichino by Marco Stroppa, about a boy who juggles 20 different sizes of balls in the same time.

Watch the performance

Jenny Q Chai

Merging music and science, World premier of the artificial intelligence program Antescofo with visuals

a program developed by Arshia Cont in 2007 at IRCAM in collaboration with composer Marco Stroppa

Jenny Q Chai's performance this coming Sunday at Spectrum in New York City (www.spectrumnyc.com) is one of several intriguing premieres. Not only is she presenting her collaboration with Nils Vigeland, and giving Marco Stroppa's "Birichino" a US debut, she will also be playing the piano alongside the new Antescofo technology.

Developed by Arshia Cont and Marco Stroppa at the French institute of music science IRCAM (www.ircam.fr), Antescofo is a radical new computer program that triggers audio and visual component to a live performance. Rather than using pre-recorded, fixed media, Antescofo reacts to the impulses and nuance of the performer. An artificial intelligence of sorts, the program gives a lot of freedom to expression, and has been used in performances from the BBC Scottish Orchestra to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Jenny will be giving the world premiere version of Jaros'aw Kapu'ci'ski's piece "Juicy" using Antescofo, featuring animations of fruits.

read more about Antescofo on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antescofo

Read more and watch films about Jenny
http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=2cf7a44ee169236786b861340&id=fd7336a9eb

Jenny Chai

In Waves

It's still so unbelievable and so marvelous, that John Cage would be able to perform such a piece on national television, on a game show! It's the sort of thing that was not supposed to be possible before the Internet, but there it is, and at the time it was shown there was little chance that the federal government knew who was watching it.

"Water Walk" seems to me to be convivial, like a party, with the same aesthetic values as "Living Room Music," something that friends should enjoy together in an intimate setting. It can be performed by anyone with the time and equipment to prepare and an inclination for quick thinking and good humor. I think Jenny Q. Chai has most of those qualities, but she's a busy musician with many demands on her time, and in the living room concert venue, Spectrum, on May 7, she was a little flustered and a little rushed as she checked the running time on her iPhone and moved from object to object. Practicing the piano is one thing, setting up and knocking down all the bric-a-brac on tables, and doing it again and again, is a challenge on time that I don't image Cage expected many musicians to undertake.

But in the context of the concert, and in the Spectrum setting with books lining the walls and easy chairs and couches, it was a convivial encore, a trick at the end of a good party. The party was a collection of old and new pieces, set together into short suites. Chai is known for her playing and her programs that demolish distinctions between past and present and show that the Western classical tradition is an endless flow, no part of it beyond the reach of any composer or the ears of any listener. The program was called Acqua Alta, the music having in some way to do with water.

She's not the only musician who does this ' most prominently in my mind is Marino Formenti ' but she does so without didacticism, which is unusual and compelling. She plays the music with great skill, intelligence and commitment, but she doesn't belabor her points or our need to hear what she hears, and as a critical listener I have utmost respect for that. I don't think all the music she played in Aqua Alta was successful, but I was left feeling that everything she played was offered as it should be.

The opening suite sandwiched Kurtag's "Hommage ' Scarlatti,", a couple Scarlatti Sonatas, and Gibbons' "The Italian Ground" with premieres from Milica Paranosic and Nils Vigeland. Scarlatti's are some of the finest keyboard works in the literature, and Chai played them with accuracy and insouciance, an ideal combination. All the older works put the new ones in difficult contrast, their combination of craft and the focussed exploration of controlled ideas set an example that Paranosic's underdone, programmatic and overlong minimalism couldn't match, Vigeland's "I Turisti" sounded great, but the result didn't match his own description, the composition too clear to encompass the sound of chattering tourists that was somehow supposed to drown out the music.

The large scale piece on the program was a new work from Michael Vincent Waller, "Acqua Santa," that started modestly but grew into an ambitious and attractive work. Waller's basic pulse both lengthens and picks up the pace as the music moves along, the structure builds from monophony to homophony, and there's some of the pleasantly mesmerizing quality of watching waves from the shore. It's essentially minimal without being minimalist in the repetitive sense, and the appearance of whole-tone scales develops an impressionistic aesthetic that elided nicely with the closing set of pieces: Ravel's "Une Barque Sur L'oc'an," Debussy's prelude to "La cath'drale engloutie," and Liszt's "La lugubre gondola," finished off with Marco Stroppa's effective adaptation of a traditional lullaby, "Ninnananna." This whole stretch of the concert was involving and powerful. While even the most sensitive, intelligent listener has to navigate their way through how a brand new piece should go, it's easy to hear exceptional Ravel, Debussy and Liszt. Chai is great in this music: she has the technique to pull it off, the power to play it with expression and confidence, and the intelligence to make it coherent and meaningful. There are few musicians who can play both Scarlatti and Liszt naturally and convincingly ' Formenti is one, there's Mikhail Pletnev ' and Chai does it. She plays Cage well too, and probably no one but the man himself can pull off "Water Walk."

See more: Jenny Q Chai plays "Ninnananna"

Jenny Q. Chai

PIANIST JENNY Q CHAI 'DISSECTS' MARCO STROPPA MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2012

And again, I hope you can make it to my lecture-recital. Prepared by my advisor, amazing contemporary pianist Dr. Marilyn Nonken, from NYU.

Recently compared to pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and David Greilsammer by New York Times reviewers Anthony Tommasini and Vivien Schweitzer in reviews of her appearances at New York's Carnegie Hall and Le Poisson Rouge, pianist Jenny Q Chai (www.JennyChai.com) presents her lecture-recital 'Dissecting Stroppa' ' An Analysis of 'Innige Cavatina' from Miniature Estrose by Marco Stroppa -- on Monday Dec. 3rd, 7:30 PM, at Miller Hall, Manhattan School of Music, 120 Claremont Avenue, in New York City. Tel: 212 749 2802. Free Admission.

In this groundbreaking performance mixing academics with theater, Chai, wearing a doctor's lab coat, will "dissect Stroppa" and in particular, his recent work, 'Innige Cavatina' from the collection Miniature Estrose. Chai met the composer Marco Stroppa in Darmstadt, Germany five years ago, and she was immediately enthralled by his music. The two kept in touch musically, and Stroppa introduced Chai to Pierre-Laurent Aimard, with whom she has studied for two years. This lecture-recital is taking place as part of Jenny Q Chai's D.M.A. thesis and dissertation on Stroppa.

For her debut at Zankel Hall, pianist Jenny Q Chai was praised by the New York Times' Anthony Tommasini for her "resourceful technique and sensitivity" as well as playing that is "admirable for its refinement and directness." Of her performance at the Keys to the Future Festival, Zachary Woolfe wrote, also in the New York Times: 'Jenny Q Chai opened the concert playing two of Ligeti's 'tudes with rich tone and rhythmic clarity; especially strong was her 'Cordes a vide.' Chai is an active pianist specializing in contemporary music, and in addition to Carnegie Hall, Jenny has played at New York venues such as Roulette, Symphony Space, the Stone and recently made her Chicago debut playing Schumann's Kreisleriana at the Dame Myra Hess Series. Recipient of the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust's 2011 Pianist/Composer Commissioning Project, first prize winner of the Keys to the Future Contemporary Solo Piano Festival, and recipient of the DAAD Arts and Performance award in 2010, Chai has premiered, most notably, Life Sketches and Five Pieces (for Jenny Q Chai) by Nils Vigeland, Intimate Rejection by Ashley Fu-Tsun Wang, Messiaen's Canteyodjaya (China premiere) and Marco Stroppa's Innige Cavatina (US premiere). Chai has also premiered 'Marriage (Mile 58) Section F' from The Road by Frederick Rzewski in Ghent, Belgium, where she was given the Logos Award for the best performance of 2008. Chai played the first contemporary solo piano concert in China this June at the National Performing Arts Center in Beijing; and she recently had the privilege of introducing the concept of prepared piano to a Chinese audience, with the world premiere of Mallet Dance by John Slover, in Shanghai Concert Hall. She has recently lectured at NYU, Manhattan School of Music, and in Shanghai at Fu Dan University and at FaceArt Music InterNations.

Composer, researcher and professor, Marco Stroppa was born in Verona, Italy, and has composed for both acoustical instruments and new media. His repertoire includes works for concerts, one music drama, two radio operas and various special projects. He often groups several works around large cycles exploring specific compositional projects, such as a series of concertos for instrument and a spatialized orchestra or ensemble inspired by poems of W.B. Yeats, a book of Miniature Estrose, seven pieces for solo piano, a cycle of works for solo instrument and chamber electronic music inspired by poems of e. e. cummings, and two string quartets. He has worked as a composer and researcher, and teacher at IRCAM (where he was selected by Pierre Boulez to be the director of Musical Research starting in 1987), and he founded the composition and computer music workshop at the International Bart'k Festival in Szombath'ly, Hungary. He taught composition at the Conservatoire National Sup'rieur de Musique in Paris and Lyon and since 1999 he has been full professor of composition and computer music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart. He studied at the Conservatories of Verona, Milan and Venice and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship. Among Stroppa's significant pedagogical contributions is a masterclass in composition and interpretation with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Conservatoire National Sup'rieur de Musique in Paris in 1988.

Jenny Q. Chai

Jenny Q Chai

A Piano, an iPad, a Mirror: Tools for a Modern Recital

Jenny Q Chai at Le Poisson Rouge
By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Published: November 5, 2012

In recent years the piano recital format has become more flexible. While many performers stick to the standard recipe of large-scale sonatas, multimovement pieces and oft-heard shorter works, others, like the pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and David Greilsammer, might juxtapose a dozen smaller pieces by composers as varied as Cage and Chopin, Scarlatti and Stockhausen.

The Chinese-born 29-year-old American pianist Jenny Q Chai, who has studied with Mr. Aimard, is following the more eclectic path, as demonstrated by her program on Sunday evening at Le Poisson Rouge. She told the small audience that because of Hurricane Sandy she had barely been able to make it back to New York from China in time for the event.

Ms. Chai wore a pale blue gown with satin top and billowing skirt for the first half of the program and a slinky dress and black high-heeled boots for the second half. A small mirror tucked into the back of each dress reflected light against the wall. She used an iPad instead of paper scores, a fast-growing trend on the concert stage. (An increasing number of professional pianists have begun to use music in solo recitals, bucking the unfair dictum that pianists should perform only from memory.)

Ms. Chai opened her program with an atmospheric rendition of Satie's 'Three Gymnop'dies,' followed by a thoughtfully conceived interpretation of Schoenberg's Three Piano Pieces (Op. 11), about which the composer wrote that he had 'no formal, architectural or other artistic intentions (except perhaps of capturing the mood of a poem), no aesthetic intentions.' Ms. Chai played two Scarlatti sonatas with a deft, light touch and concluded the first half of the program with the multilayered textures of 'Innige Cavatina' by the Italian composer Marco Stroppa.

The second part of the program opened with John Cage's 'Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs,' in which she gently tapped rhythms on the closed piano lid and sang an enigmatic melody. The postintermission highlights were Andr' Boucourechliev's rambunctious 'Orion III,' with its crashing chords, rumbling bass and misty interludes, and the Barcarole from Nils Vigeland's 'Life Sketches.' A descending motif in the upper register meshed with prepared piano notes in the lower register to create an eerie canvas.

The least convincing part of the program was the standard repertory, with stilted interpretations of Chopin's Barcarole and 'Child Falling Asleep,' the penultimate movement from Schumann's 'Kinderszenen.'

Ms. Chai sounded back in her element with the whispered vocals of the encore, Victoria Jordanova's 'Prayer.'

Jenny Q Chai

Pianist Jenny Q Chai at (le) Poisson Rouge

by Craig Brinker

The hurricane affected everyone in the New York/New Jersey area to some degree, and pianist Jenny Q Chai also felt the repercussions of the 'superstorm.' After coming back from intermission, Chai said that this was the first time she had slept on couches for two consecutive nights in order to give a recital. The 25 or so people in attendance at(le) Poisson Rouge on Sunday evening were glad she was willing to do so: Her intensity and control throughout a program full of technically challenging repertoire was impressive. Chai has the enviable ability able push past the sometimes overwhelming amount of notes on the page to give the audience a comprehensive musical narrative.

Beginning the program was a rather cold and austere interpretation of Satie's Three Gymnop'dies, followed by a performance of Schoenberg's Drie Klavierstuck that was both mesmerizing and powerful. Chai played the piece in exactly the manner it was intended, with emphatic gestures and some lovely usage of rubato. She also gave a scorching rendition of French composer Andr' Bouchorechliev'sOrion III'full of fire, but never lacking in subtlety.

The rest of the program was technically precise and well-rounded. Chai was willing to sing, tap on the piano, and reach inside the instrument to provide any of the more eccentric colors required by the thornier compositions on the program. The ever-versatile performer selected two vocal works to perform, John Cage's The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs and, as an encore, Victoria Jordanova's Prayer. Her reedy voice entered into fervent recitation during Wonderful Widow,highlighting the eeriness of text.

The last two pieces on the program were two Barcarolles, one by American composer Nils Vigeland, the other more familiar of the two, by Chopin. Chai joked that when she decided to program these two pieces she didn't think that boating through lower Manhattan would be a distinct possibility. Her delicate touch served her well for the Vigeland work, although there was a slight rhythmic misstep in the middle of the piece. The Chopin sounded simple and elegant after all the complex and often harsh music from earlier in the program. If it was easier on the listener's ears, it was certainly easier on her fingers, too; she played it confidently and with great rhythmic control.

Both an intellectually and viscerally fulfilling performance, Chai made a good case for the continued importance of the avant-garde in 20th- and 21st-century music. Wishing the audience goodnight with a second encore, 'Child Falling Asleep' from Schumann's Kinderszenen,audience members left the venue with a simple, yet strange, lullaby ringing in their ears.

Jenny Q Chai

Jenny Q. Chai ~ Reflections in Blue at LPR (A Review)

In Avant Garde, Classical Music, Concert reviews, Musicians, New Classical Music on November 10, 2012 at 5:25 pm

Reflections in Blue: Jenny Q. Chai at Le Poisson Rouge
Jenny Q. Chai, piano
Le Poisson Rouge, NYC
Sunday, Nov. 4th, 2012

Written by Scottie Roche

On Sunday, November 4th, I had the immense pleasure of leaving behind the troubles inflicted on New York City and much of the East Coast by Hurricane Sandy to be transported to that other realm we call Music, by way of Jenny Q Chai's show at Le Poisson Rouge. Understandably, things had been tense of late with a pivotal national election looming and the city devastated by a storm that had left the very area of the concert's venue in total darkness for a week ' Le Poisson Rouge was without power until the night before the concert.

That the performance happened at all is a testament to the resilience of New York City and the perseverance of an endearing performer who though she had difficulty reaching NYC from China and had spent the last few nights sleeping on the couches of friends (which she assured us were very comfortable.) 'The show must go on,' the old adage maintains. I'm glad it did.

I wasn't entirely sure what I was walking into when I saw the breadth of the program Ms. Chai had put together. Certainly I was intrigued, but curious as to how Satie would sit beside Schoenberg or what Scarlatti would sound like sandwiched between Stockhausen and the work of Marco Stroppa. As the performance proceeded I quickly learned to trust Ms. Chai's smart programming and theatrical good sense.

Ms. Chai made a stunning entrance in an ebullient powder blue gown' its strapless ruched satin bodice a modern reflection of the gown's more traditional organza skirt. Ms. Chai made the interesting choice of wearing an oval mirror on her back, while the front of her gown had a more forward-looking reflective waistline. The gown was a perfect synecdoche of the performance as a whole: the atonal complexity of Schoenberg's harmonic language might seem an ocean away from the simplifying French modernity found in Satie's Three Gymnopedies but in terms of the straightforward presentation of musical ideas, they make wonderful companion pieces. Powder blue streaks in Ms. Chai's hair were a striking addition to the overall ambience of the evening. Programming the Scarlatti after the Schoenberg made Scarlatti feel quite fresh, the second sonata being a particular joy. Following Scarlatti was Marco Stroppa's Innige Cavatina, an exciting piece that I'm happy to have come in contact with.

After intermission Ms. Chai entered with a change of wardrobe. She still sported a mirror at her back but her gown had been replaced with a dress that evoked an evening of fun in San Tropez. There was a subtle lighting change, adding warmth to the cooler preintermission atmosphere, but still blue.

I found the highlights of the program's second half to be Cage's 'Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs' with Ms. Chai's warm chest voice accompanying the taps on the fallboard called for by the piece. Andre Boucourechliev's 'Orion III' was really amazing, it dazzled in the upper registers and was full of crash boom fireworks in the bass. Where it all came together for me was the Chopin Barcarolle which ended the program. I found Ms. Chai's performance heartfelt and quite touching. It made me appreciate all the more the musical voyage through varying waters of style and century through which she navigated her audience. It is no small feat to present such a diverse program cohesively and Ms. Chai did so, splendidly. At the concert's closing we were graced with an encore from Ms. Chai's album New York Love Songs: Serbian born composer Victoria Jordanova's 'Prayer'. Hearing Ms. Chai's whispering and sultry voice perform this song live was just the perfect top-off to a magical evening.

Scottie Roche is an opera-trained vocalist, social media arts consultant and a freelance writer. His website is Scottie Roche.com

Jenny Q Chai

5 Questions to Jenny Q Chai (pianist)

Posted by Andrew Tham
December 2, 2012, 10:30 pm

Jenny Q Chai is a pianist currently based in New York, where she is receiving her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music. She has premiered new works by composers such as John Slover, Niles Vigeland, and Ashely Fu-Tsun Wang. As an advocate of contemporary music, Chai serves on the board of New York City's Ear to Mind organization which regularly promotes and programs new music. She also spends much of her time in Shanghai, where she founded FaceArt Music InterNations to help foster an exchange of contemporary music with China. I spoke to Chai about her work, including her latest project, 'Dissecting Stroppa,' in which the pianist will deliver a theatrical lecture-recital on composer Marco Stroppa's 'Innige Cavatina.'

Is 'Dissecting Stroppa' just a lecture-recital or do you consider the entire presentation a performance?

I definitely do consider the entire presentation a performance. A lecture-recital for me is all tied together, just as there's a '-' between the two words. As long as a person steps on a stage to present something, to me that is a performance.

I'm also weaving a little bit of theatrical elements into a usually academic performance. Because for me, Stroppa, and my former teacher Pierre-Laurent Aimard'and many artists I'm sure'music is about the everything we experience.

Is the medium of the lecture recital something you'd like to see more frequently in recital halls, especially in regards to contemporary music? Similarly, do you believe we should we be talking about new music as much as playing it?

Yes, absolutely! I believe we should talk about all classical music'especially the connection between new music and old music'and not keep it caged in an Ivory Tower anymore. This is why I think [music critics] Alex Ross and Anthony Tomassinni are great! I'm also a fan of Charles Rosen, who I recently learned has formed a strong musical bond and showed deep interest in Stroppa's Miniature Estrose (the piece I'll be talking about is from this piano cycle). If only he wasn't so ill now, he'd come.

Of course, there have been wonderful and great minds talking about music and philosophy throughout history. But to be able to talk and play consecutively is something only musicians can do and, I believe, should absolutely do.

As an active performer/lecturer in Shanghai, what is your view of their contemporary music scene? Do you think there is a general lack of coverage of new music in China?

The contemporary music scene in China is in its infancy now. Because I am from the very beginning of this infancy, from my personal experience, I see a big interest in Chinese people with a curiosity and challenging intellect to understand new music and the development of classical music. Classical music is not unpopular in China, mainly because people are so crazy about pianists!

On the psychoacoustic and cognitive level, music is something that crosses cultures. People certainly react very individually towards music, even in the same culture. But there are plenty of Chinese audiences who react to Western classical music in such a strong way that they don't even know why. That is why I think it is so important to talk about music, old and new, to help the Chinese audience to identify their 'vibrating frequency' with music. Also, this should be applied globally.

You've had various pieces written for you, including John Slover's Mallet Dance for two prepared pianos which you premiered in Shanghai. As a commissioner of new works, do you ever feel like writing for the 'unprepared' piano has become obsolete? Or are there still new sounds to discover on the instrument in its traditional state?

Oh, I think it is totally the opposite from obsolete. Preparing a piano is just a direction one can take, a style to choose to write. But it's just like with any other form of music; can you say that a fugue has been exhausted? Or that character pieces have become obsolete? It really depends on the composer.

Plus, music composition is formed on so many levels. Besides the sound (which, say, is set to be prepared piano), the form of the piece, the musical language, the interactions between musical materials, the interplay between audience's perceptions, and many more things can be explored infinitely. But sounds too, of course! John Slover has certainly found many amazingly new sounds which stirred up 1600 Chinese people that night. They loved it.

Many of your programs tend to mix old and new repertoire in interesting ways. Is there a particular piece from both the canon and the contemporary world that you'd like to someday pair together on a recital?

I think the next work I'd like to pair would be a Beethoven sonata. Because Beethoven has it all: the edge and the contemporary experimental spirit in him.

I am still searching for the right contemporary work to pair him with. I'm lucky to know so many of the best living and 20th century composers in person or in a very personal way. But let's face it, Beethoven is a big match for everyone. However, I am convinced I have the choice already in my repertoire of contemporary composers. Just need to look deeper (into myself and the composers), contemplate a bit more in quiescence.

Jenny Q Chai will present 'Dissecting Stroppa' on Monday, December 3, 2012 at the Manhattan School of Music's Miller Hall. You can find out more about her at jennychai.com and composer Marco Stroppa at marco-stroppa.com.

Jenny Chai

Dear friends and music lovers in SH,

I'd like to invite you to my solo piano concert at the SH Oriental Arts Center on 7/25.I'll be playing two major Schumann works plus a little bit of contemporary works. It'll be a modern interpretation of Clara Schumann, the great female contemporary pianist of 19th Century.

I've attached the poster and a link from SmartShanghai and the concert hall.

http://en.shoac.com.cn/PlayInfo.asp?PlayID=3164
http://www.smartshanghai.com/smartticket/jenny_q_chai

Jenny Q Chai pairs John Cage and Nils Vigeland

Dear Friends, I welcome to watch this special feature, made by WWFM Classical Music Station, where I talk about pairing music and stories of Nils Vigeland and John Cage, with my performances of their pieces at my last LPR performance.

Happy Holidays!

Jenny Q Chai

Nov 4: Jenny Q Chai's Poisson Rouge Debut

Following her recent, critically acclaimed New York Carnegie Hall debut, pianist Jenny Q Chai (LISTEN TO HER SOUNDCLOUD SAMPLER), has been selected to appear at New York's Le Poisson Rouge. The concert will take place on Sunday, November 4 at 7:30pm (doors at 6:30pm). Ms. Chai will perform works by Satie, Schoenberg, Stockhausen, Scarlatti, Stroppa, and more. Le Poisson Rougea is located at 158 Bleecker Street in New York City. And yes, LPR is hoping to have power restored before this Sunday, so help us celebrate with this performance MORE.

Sara Chough performing at Tanglewood, MA Summer 2017

Elina Christova

Jovianney Emmanuel Cruz

Philippino pianist Jovianney Emmanuel Cruz (prize winner Iturbi, Canals, Bayona, Jaén, Monza and Mazara del Vallo competitions) at the University of La Laguna Auditorium in Tenerife, Spain

Willanny Darias

Concert: Cuban Pianist Willanny Darias

February 24, 2015 / 7:00 p.m.

Americas Society / 680 Park Avenue / New York, NY

Admission: FREE for AS and YPA Members; $20 for non-members. No additional fees will be charged when purchasing online. $10 tickets will be available for purchase at the door for students with ID. YPA members who wish to register for this event should email Martha Cargo at mcargo@as-coa.org

Not yet a member? Join NOW! For information on YPA membership, click here.

Young Cuban pianist Willanny Darias presents a solo recital at Americas Society.

Program

Isaac Alb'niz El albaic'n from Iberia, Book III
Robert Schumann Symphonic Etudes op. 13, posthumous
Claude Debussy Reflets dans l'eau from Images, Book I
Ferruccio Busoni Sonatina no. 6, BV 284, Chamber Fantasy on Bizet's Carmen
Tania Le'n Momentum (1985)
Alberto Ginastera Sonata no. 2, op. 53 (1981)

Darias performs Scriabin's Sonata no. 3 op 23.

About the artist

Willanny Darias (b. 1993, Havana) graduated from Manhattan School of Music (MSM) in 2014 with a Bachelor of Music under the tutelage of Dr. Solomon Mikowsky, where she was the recipient of the International Advisory Board Scholarship. Recent performances include an appearance with Cuba's National Symphonic Orchestra (Cesar Franck's Symphonic Variations); solo recitals in Cuba and New York; and other performances at the Juilliard School and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, as part of the Young Musicians Concert organized by the AMT League. She also frequently performs both vocal and instrumental chamber music.

Darias began her piano studies at age 4 with Professor Rosalia Capote. At 7, she started at the Escuela Elemental de M'siva Manuel Saumell and made her first-ever public performance at the Teatro Amadeo Rold'n. She had her symphonic debut at 13 with Mozart's Piano Concerto no.12 in A major;? at 14, renowned Russian pedagogue Dr. Stanislav Pochekin invited her to the music and dance course held in Andorra.? She was later accepted into Cuba's Escuelas Nacionales de Arte, where she studied piano privately with Dr. Teresita Junco and took harmony and musical analysis courses with Dr. Iliana Garcia. That same year, she performed Tchaikovsky's first Piano Concerto with Cuba's Orquesta Sinf'nica Nacional de Cuba, conducted by Mexican maestro Eduardo Sanchez Zuber, who later invited her to tour in Mexico with the Orquesta Sinf'nica de Michoacan, with a final performance at the Sala Nezahualc'yotl (Mexico City). ?In 2010 she won first prize at the Uni'n de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba Piano Competition, Cuba's most prominent national classical music event, and was awarded all special mentions and recognitions by the jury, becoming the youngest performer ever to win this competition.

Her other awards include five grand and first prizes in national and provincial contests held in Cuba; First Prize at the Maracaibo International Piano Competition (Venezuela); and First Prize at the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition in New York.

This performance is part of Cuban Culture Festival New York, presented by the American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba.

Willanny Darias

(4th Prize Winner) and Khowoon Kim (1st Prize Winner) of the 2014 Panama International Piano Competition

Ruiqi Fang

Wael Farouk

Recommended Chicago-area classical concerts

Featured pick: New Philharmonic: It's a milestone 40th anniversary season for the greatly improved west suburban orchestra, and music director Kirk Muspratt has planned an ambitious celebration. Pianist Wael Farouk is soloist for the opening concert of 2016-17, which holds Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" Symphony and "1812 Overture," along with Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto. Harold Bauer, the orchestra's founder and first music director, also appears as guest conductor of a Bach sinfonia. 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn; $49; 630-942-4000, www.atthemac.org

Bach and Beethoven Ensemble: The Chicago baroque group presents a rare modern staging of "The Gentle Shepherd" (1725), considered Scotland's first opera, a pastoral romance set to traditional folk and fiddle tunes. 8 p.m. Saturday, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4545 N. Lincoln Ave.; and 7 p.m. Sunday, Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.; $20, $10 for students, free for those under 13; www.bachandbeethoven.org

Bella Voce, St. Luke's Choir, Ars Antigua: Andrew Lewis leads singers and instrumentalists in Henry Purcell's ode "Hail, Bright Cecilia," and Christine Kraemer plays organ works by Herbert Howells. 7 p.m. Saturday, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 939 Hinman Ave., Evanston; $25-$30, $15 for seniors and students, free for children under 18; www.stlukesevanston.org

Chicago Latino Music Festival: Acoustical and electronic sounds combine in a program of new classical works by Francisco Colasanto, Javier Alvarez, Gustavo Leone and other Latin American composers, played by CMMAS, an instrumental ensemble based in Michoacan, Mexico. 2 p.m. Sunday, Pritzker Auditorium, Harold Washington Library, 400 S State St.; free; www.latinomusicfest.org

Chicago Voices — Stories and Songs of Chicago: Three city groups perform original music theater works celebrating the stories of their communities, developed over a 16-week creative process under the auspices of Lyric Unlimited and Lyric creative consultant Renee Fleming. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph; sold out, but a limited number of free tickets may be available at the door; https://chicagovoices.lyricopera.org

Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Music director Riccardo Muti conducts the opening subscription concerts of the season, a program that holds Bruckner's Symphony No. 7, Strauss' "Don Juan" and Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain"; 8 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; $34-$220. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato is the vocal soloist for a program that pairs 20th century Italian rarities by Alfredo Catalani ("Contemplazione") and Giuseppe Martucci ("La canzone dei ricordi," or "The Song of Remembrance") with Beethoven's Symphony No. 7; 8 p.m. Thursday (repeated Sept. 30 and Oct. 1); $36-$259. Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; 312-294-3000, www.cso.org

Civic Orchestra of Chicago: Riccardo Muti leads the CSO's youth training orchestra in its season opener, an open rehearsal of movements from Brahms' Symphony No. 4. 7 p.m. Monday, Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; free, but tickets are required; 312-294-3000, www.cso.org

Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts: Performing on the weekly series is pianist Mariam Batsashvili. 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; free; www.imfchicago.org

Orion Ensemble: The Chicago chamber group begins its 24th season with works by Mozart and Zemlinsky, along with James Wintle's "Pontoon-Bridge Miracle," written for the Orion in 1996. Stephen Boe is the guest violist. 7: 30 p.m. Sunday, Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston; and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, PianoForte Studios, 1335 S. Michigan Ave.; $26, $23 for seniors, $10 for students, free for children 12 and under; 630-628-9591, www.orionensemble.org

Rembrandt Chamber Musicians: The admirable ensemble (formerly known as Rembrandt Chamber Players) begins its 27th season with a salute to Hungarian and Romanian folk music, as transmogrified in works by Brahms, Stravinsky, Kodaly and others. 3 p.m. Sunday, Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston; and 7:30 p.m. Monday, Driehaus Museum, 40 E. Erie St.; $38-$40, $10-$12 for students; 872-395-1754, www.rembrandtchambermusicians.org

Shanghai Jingju Theater Company: The troupe presents its Peking Opera-style version of "Hamlet," titled "The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan," which combines speech, song, mime and choreographed movement. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St.; $35-$125; 312-334-7777, www.harristheaterchicago.org

Vox 3 Collective: The Chicago vocal music ensemble opens its season with a cabaret program, "Poor Unfortunate Souls." 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Mary's Attic, 5400 N. Clark St.; www.vox3.org

John von Rhein is a Tribune critic.

jvonrhein@chicagotribune.org

Twitter @jvonrhein

Wael Farouk

Clavier Companion: Wael Farouk and the Rachmaninoff piano oeuvre

Published in the September-October 2015 issue of the Clavier Companion

Repertoire

Wael Farouk and the Rachmaninoff piano oeuvre

by Laura Janota

Wael Farouk was born with extremely short hand ligaments. He can't make a fist, open a jar, or button his shirt, but he can play the complete solo piano works of Sergei Rachmaninoff, who is known for complex and demanding music.

At thirty-two years of age, the youngest piano faculty member in Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA) recently took on the challenge of memorizing and performing all of Rachmaninoff's solo piano works, proving wrong the skeptics who had repeatedly predicted limitations on what Farouk could do at the piano.

"In my opinion, hand size is completely irrelevant," said the internationally-known pianist, who was initially denied entry at seven years of age to the Cairo Music Conservatory because of his small hands and short fingers. "What it takes is a strong technical foundation and a highly developed technique," said Farouk, who is five feet tall with a reach of an octave. Rachmaninoff, by comparison, was 6 feet, 6 inches, his reach spanning a twelfth.

The pianist recently performed nearly twelve hours of Rachmaninoff's solo works during five recitals held over an eight-month period at Roosevelt University's Ganz Hall in downtown Chicago. It was the first time that all of Rachmaninoff's solo works for piano had been performed in Chicago, and a rare piano performance feat in general.

"In my fifty years of being in the music business and going to classical music concerts, I've never been aware of anyone doing something like this, particularly in a single season," said Henry Fogel, former head of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and dean of CCPA. "It doesn't matter if he was over six feet tall and had big hands like Rachmaninoff. This would still be an impressive accomplishment."

How did Farouk manage to perform all ninety-eight of Rachmaninoff's solo piano works from memory over such a compressed time period? One answer is undoubtedly his determination. Selected as the most talented child in his native Egypt at eight years of age and making his debut with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra at eleven years of age, Farouk was first introduced to Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto at age thirteen by an instructor who warned him against playing the piece, because it might be damaging to his hands.

"It was like a dream for me. I had an affinity for the music the moment I heard it, and I knew I had to play it," said Farouk, who, at age sixteen, routinely performed meticulous hand exercises at the piano that would bulk up his hands and fingers.

For fifteen hours a day, he practiced, putting one finger down on a key and then lifting and reaching the other fingers on the hand as far as they would go - up and down, up and down, up and down on the keys from an ultra-stretched position.

"It took a couple of hours to do each of the exercises, which essentially are the equivalent of stretching exercises for athletes," he recalled. "It wasn't a picnic, but it was something I had to get done because I had this faith that I could not only play the piece, but that I could add something new to it."

At nineteen, he performed Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto for the first time at the Cairo Opera House in the piece's Egyptian premiere. Before attending college in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar, he learned to play the composer's second sonata, which he played at his Carnegie Hall debut in 2013 - a performance that a writer for the New York Concert Review described as absolutely masterful. He also learned and performed selections from Rachmaninoff's preludes, Etudes-Tableaux, and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The composer's complete solo portfolio, including obscure pieces that are rarely performed, thus became something of a natural progression for Farouk. Still, it took the pianist, who lives in Chicago, teaches at Roosevelt University, and is a doctoral student in piano performance at Rutgers University, two years of intense preparation.

First, he gathered history and biographical information about Rachmaninoff. Then he familiarized himself with the composer's complete canon, including his solo, orchestral and choral works, songs, and chamber music. It was my goal to always have his music in my ears," said Farouk.

Farouk also got to know the context of each piece the composer wrote so that he was aware of what came before and after. For instance, Rachmaninoff's first piano sonata, known as Faust, Op. 28, completed in 1908, came after he wrote his second symphony, Op. 27, in 1906-07, and immediately before he composed his symphonic poem, Isle of the Dead, Op. 29. The piece was followed by Rachmaninoff's beloved third piano concerto, Op. 30, which he wrote in 1909.

"He [Rachmaninoff] must have had many of these musical ideas floating with him at the same time," said Farouk, who listened to recordings, especially those of the composer performing his own music. "Acquainting myself with all of Rachmaninoff's work, as well as how he himself approached the music and how the works were part of the time period's piano tradition, helped me to interpret pieces like the composer's first piano sonata," he said.

In order to come up with a "best" edition for each piece, the pianist compared all available editions against...to continue reading, subscribe today at www.ClavierCompanion.com.

Wael Farouk

Wael Farouk, a Roosevelt University professor, is a piano virtuoso who was born with shortened ligaments in his hands. Yet, he is about to achieve what few if any pianists have done -- performing the complete solo works of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff in a season.

Wael Farouk

Pianist isn't limited by the size of his hands

Roosevelt University's youngest piano professor, already an accomplished musician, is proving skeptics wrong again

April 06, 2014|By Jodi S. Cohen, Tribune reporter

It's an hour before the recital, and the concert hall is dark and empty.

In a dressing room behind the stage, Wael Farouk puts on his black tuxedo.

He turns toward his wife, so she can fasten the cuffs at the end of his white sleeves. He holds out his hands, revealing his short, thick, curled fingers.

Farouk was born with unusually short ligaments in his hands. He can't make a fist, open a jar or slip buttons through the holes on his shirt. He's been repeatedly told the condition would limit what he could do on the piano.

But Roosevelt University's youngest piano professor, already an accomplished musician, is proving skeptics wrong again this year as he undertakes a rare challenge: playing the complete solo piano works of legendary Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, known for writing complex and demanding music.

On Thursday night, in the university's majestic Ganz Hall, Farouk will perform the capstone concert in his Rachmaninoff series. It will be the last of five recitals ' nearly 12 hours of music total, all played from memory.

It's a remarkable accomplishment that would be difficult for any pianist, let alone one whose fingers cannot stretch beyond an octave, the standard eight-note interval on a piano. Rachmaninoff was known for his unusually large hands that could each stretch an octave and a half.

As a piano student in Egypt, Farouk was told his small hands would prevent him from becoming a concert pianist. One teacher cautioned him to stay away from Rachmaninoff pieces in particular because they were so difficult that he could damage his hands.

But Farouk learned long ago that playing the piano is about more than the size of one's hands.

"You don't really play it only with your hands," said Farouk, 32. "The hand is the part that really transmits what is in the heart."

As a toddler, Wael Farouk struggled to use his tiny hands. He couldn't grasp a door handle or pick up a spoon. He repeatedly dropped his sippy cup, spilling milk all over himself.

His parents took him to the local hospital to ask if there was medication or vitamins that would help his hands grow. They wondered whether surgery could fix his fingers. Instead, the doctor suggested giving Farouk something that would naturally encourage him to strengthen his hands.

His parents gave him a rubber ball to squeeze, but he kept dropping it.

Then, for his third birthday, they bought him a blue plastic toy piano.

Farouk put the piano, the size of an iPad, on his lap and began tapping on the tiny keys. Within weeks he was imitating music he heard on the radio and TV. By age 5, Farouk was playing at church services throughout Cairo.

Neither his father, a military officer, nor his mother, who worked for a phone company, had a background in music, but they recognized that their youngest son had a special talent.

The family had modest means, and it would be many years before they could buy a real piano ' which, if new, would have cost seven times his father's annual income, Farouk said. An uncle lent his family money for the first down payment for a used piano. When the second payment came due, the seller realized the family's financial difficulties ' and had heard of Farouk's talents ' and decided to give them the instrument, according to his family.

When Farouk was 7, his parents took him to audition for the Cairo Conservatory, the premier music school in Egypt.

He said he got the highest scores on the entrance exams, but the piano faculty wouldn't admit him because of his hand condition. "They told my parents, 'You don't want to put a strain on him psychologically, where he will want to do something and for physical reasons cannot,'" Farouk said.

"My dad said, 'Give him a chance.'"

The school conceded to a three-month trial period. Farouk ended up staying for 14 years, rising to the top of his class. Within his first year at the school, he was selected to play before then-first lady Suzanne Mubarak, he said.

At 12 he made his concert debut with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. And at 13 he performed as a soloist at the Cairo Opera House, he said.

It was around that time when he first heard Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, and "madly fell in love with the piece." "It was like seeing the aurora borealis," he said.

"I was just completely overtaken by this piece, and I had to learn it one day and I had to perform it," Farouk said. "My great teacher at the time said, 'Don't even humor yourself. I cannot even play this piece.'"

Farouk describes the moment as a crossroads in his life: Listen to the warnings from his instructor ' or try to prove him wrong.

The piece is considered one of the most technically challenging ever composed, so difficult that it was featured in the movie "Shine," about a pianist who has a mental breakdown while trying to master it.

Farouk began practicing for as long as 15 hours a day. He stretched his fingers by moving them, one by one, up and down the white and black keys.

He stretched the fingers on his right hand while eating a sandwich with his left. His family stopped taking summer trips to the beach, instead staying home so Farouk could practice in the "piano room" in their two-bedroom fourth-floor apartment. They saved money to buy music scores so Farouk didn't have to use the tattered ones from the public library.

His mother, in an interview from Egypt, began to cry as she spoke about her son's accomplishments and the family's sacrifices. "We did what any parent would do," she said in Arabic, her son translating.

It was 1999, and Douglas Weeks, a piano instructor at Converse College in South Carolina, was on a Fulbright Fellowship to teach at the Cairo Conservatory.

He met Farouk, then 18, who told him that he was trying to conquer the Rachmaninoff concerto.

While the music had been on his mind for years, his hands had to grow. It wasn't until he was 16 that Farouk's fingers could stretch an octave.

Weeks looked at Farouk's fingers, which to this day cannot be fully straightened, and questioned whether it would be possible. He looked at his overall size: Farouk is barely 5 feet tall. Rachmaninoff was 6 feet, 6 inches.

"I thought there was no way he will play it, and I will have to be kind and not hurt his feelings," Weeks said.

A few days later, Weeks thought he recognized the concerto coming from down the hall. He walked toward the music and peeked in the door.

"(Farouk) was half-sitting, half-standing. His feet didn't quite reach the pedals," Weeks said. "To me, it was a revelation like I never thought I would have. I didn't think it was possible for someone with his physique to play a virtuosic concerto from the romantic era. I will never forget it."

At age 19, Farouk played Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Cairo Symphony, in what he believes was a first for Egypt.

Two years later he won a Fulbright Fellowship and moved to the U.S. to study piano in Washington, D.C. In 2004 he won a full scholarship to Converse College to study with Weeks, and earned his master's degree in piano performance.

He is now working on his doctorate at Rutgers University in New Jersey on a full-ride scholarship.

But his home is in Chicago, where he lives in the West Loop with his wife, Amy, and where he is on the faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

There he teaches students the techniques of the piano, but he also tries to teach them something more.

On a recent day he worked with Youmin Lee, 24, who is in the second year of a master's program. They sat at dueling pianos in a ninth-floor practice studio overlooking Michigan Avenue.

He listened to Lee play, interrupting periodically to share his advice: Slow down, and let the notes evaporate. Don't be afraid to make big sounds. Find a way to relate the music to your own life. Make it suspenseful. Breathe.

Then he sat at the edge of the piano bench and placed his hands on the keys to demonstrate how to do it. He played part of Robert Schumann's piece titled "Why?"

"The music has to take over you. It can't just be sounds," he explained to his student. "You have to relate to it, and find something in your own personal life."

Farouk speaks quietly and with a slight lisp. He has a genteel way about him, a throwback to a more formal time.

His list of accomplishments is long. His repertoire includes more than 70 concertos and 60 solo programs, and he has performed around the world, including in Russia, Italy, France and Japan.

Last year he made his Carnegie Hall debut, a performance that a writer for the New York Concert Review described as "absolutely masterful."

But his current concert series is a climax in his life, the conclusion of a pledge he made years ago to try to play all 98 of Rachmaninoff's solo piano works publicly.

He said it is a way to honor the composer who motivated him when he was a teenager.

"Whether it's something on the inside or the outside, we all have our challenges," he said. "Nothing is easy. It makes you learn more about yourself."

Henry Fogel, dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts, said he doesn't think any pianist in Chicago has publicly performed all of Rachmaninoff's solo pieces. It's possibly never been done anywhere, particularly not in a six-month period, he said.

"His playing is not only exceptional because he is small, or his hands are small," said Fogel, former president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. "What I want to convey is that if he was 6-2 and had big hands, he would still be an extremely impressive pianist."

On a Friday evening in March, Fogel was in the audience as Farouk walked onto the stage for the fourth recital in the concert series.

The audience applauded as Farouk approached the 9-foot Steinway grand piano, spotlighted on the Ganz Hall stage.

Farouk deliberately placed his fingers on the piano, first the right hand, then the left. With all 10 fingers on the keys, he did one last stretch.

Then for about 90 minutes, his fingers raced across the keys, sometimes moving so fast they were a blur. In other moments, he left a note lingering as if teasing the audience.

At the end of his encore, he took a final bow, his hands at his side.

Then he looked out into the audience and grinned.

"Thank you," he said.

The applause continued long after he walked off the stage.

And that wasn't the end.

Farouk will return to the recital hall Thursday evening to finish what started as a dream so many years ago.

jscohen@tribune.com

Twitter @higherednews

Wael Farouk

Pianist isn't limited by the size of his hands

Roosevelt University's youngest piano professor, already an accomplished musician, is proving skeptics wrong again

By Jodi S. Cohen, Tribune reporter

April 6, 2014

It's an hour before the recital, and the concert hall is dark and empty.

In a dressing room behind the stage, Wael Farouk puts on his black tuxedo.

He turns toward his wife, so she can fasten the cuffs at the end of his white sleeves. He holds out his hands, revealing his short, thick, curled fingers.

Farouk was born with unusually short ligaments in his hands. He can't make a fist, open a jar or slip buttons through the holes on his shirt. He's been repeatedly told the condition would limit what he could do on the piano.

But Roosevelt University's youngest piano professor, already an accomplished musician, is proving skeptics wrong again this year as he undertakes a rare challenge: playing the complete solo piano works of legendary Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, known for writing complex and demanding music.

On Thursday night, in the university's majestic Ganz Hall, Farouk will perform the capstone concert in his Rachmaninoff series. It will be the last of five recitals ' nearly 12 hours of music total, all played from memory.

It's a remarkable accomplishment that would be difficult for any pianist, let alone one whose fingers cannot stretch beyond an octave, the standard eight-note interval on a piano. Rachmaninoff was known for his unusually large hands that could each stretch an octave and a half.

As a piano student in Egypt, Farouk was told his small hands would prevent him from becoming a concert pianist. One teacher cautioned him to stay away from Rachmaninoff pieces in particular because they were so difficult that he could damage his hands.

But Farouk learned long ago that playing the piano is about more than the size of one's hands.

"You don't really play it only with your hands," said Farouk, 32. "The hand is the part that really transmits what is in the heart."

As a toddler, Wael Farouk struggled to use his tiny hands. He couldn't grasp a door handle or pick up a spoon. He repeatedly dropped his sippy cup, spilling milk all over himself.

His parents took him to the local hospital to ask if there was medication or vitamins that would help his hands grow. They wondered whether surgery could fix his fingers. Instead, the doctor suggested giving Farouk something that would naturally encourage him to strengthen his hands.

His parents gave him a rubber ball to squeeze, but he kept dropping it.

Then, for his third birthday, they bought him a blue plastic toy piano.

Farouk put the piano, the size of an iPad, on his lap and began tapping on the tiny keys. Within weeks he was imitating music he heard on the radio and TV. By age 5, Farouk was playing at church services throughout Cairo.

Neither his father, a military officer, nor his mother, who worked for a phone company, had a background in music, but they recognized that their youngest son had a special talent.

The family had modest means, and it would be many years before they could buy a real piano ' which, if new, would have cost seven times his father's annual income, Farouk said. An uncle lent his family money for the first down payment for a used piano. When the second payment came due, the seller realized the family's financial difficulties ' and had heard of Farouk's talents ' and decided to give them the instrument, according to his family.

When Farouk was 7, his parents took him to audition for the Cairo Conservatory, the premier music school in Egypt.

He said he got the highest scores on the entrance exams, but the piano faculty wouldn't admit him because of his hand condition. "They told my parents, 'You don't want to put a strain on him psychologically, where he will want to do something and for physical reasons cannot,'" Farouk said.

"My dad said, 'Give him a chance.'"

The school conceded to a three-month trial period. Farouk ended up staying for 14 years, rising to the top of his class. Within his first year at the school, he was selected to play before then-first lady Suzanne Mubarak, he said.

At 12 he made his concert debut with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. And at 13 he performed as a soloist at the Cairo Opera House, he said.

It was around that time when he first heard Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, and "madly fell in love with the piece." "It was like seeing the aurora borealis," he said.

"I was just completely overtaken by this piece, and I had to learn it one day and I had to perform it," Farouk said. "My great teacher at the time said, 'Don't even humor yourself. I cannot even play this piece.'"

Farouk describes the moment as a crossroads in his life: Listen to the warnings from his instructor ' or try to prove him wrong.

The piece is considered one of the most technically challenging ever composed, so difficult that it was featured in the movie "Shine," about a pianist who has a mental breakdown while trying to master it.

Farouk began practicing for as long as 15 hours a day. He stretched his fingers by moving them, one by one, up and down the white and black keys.

He stretched the fingers on his right hand while eating a sandwich with his left. His family stopped taking summer trips to the beach, instead staying home so Farouk could practice in the "piano room" in their two-bedroom fourth-floor apartment. They saved money to buy music scores so Farouk didn't have to use the tattered ones from the public library.

His mother, in an interview from Egypt, began to cry as she spoke about her son's accomplishments and the family's sacrifices. "We did what any parent would do," she said in Arabic, her son translating.

It was 1999, and Douglas Weeks, a piano instructor at Converse College in South Carolina, was on a Fulbright Fellowship to teach at the Cairo Conservatory.

He met Farouk, then 18, who told him that he was trying to conquer the Rachmaninoff concerto.

While the music had been on his mind for years, his hands had to grow. It wasn't until he was 16 that Farouk's fingers could stretch an octave.

Weeks looked at Farouk's fingers, which to this day cannot be fully straightened, and questioned whether it would be possible. He looked at his overall size: Farouk is barely 5 feet tall. Rachmaninoff was 6 feet, 6 inches.

"I thought there was no way he will play it, and I will have to be kind and not hurt his feelings," Weeks said.

A few days later, Weeks thought he recognized the concerto coming from down the hall. He walked toward the music and peeked in the door.

"(Farouk) was half-sitting, half-standing. His feet didn't quite reach the pedals," Weeks said. "To me, it was a revelation like I never thought I would have. I didn't think it was possible for someone with his physique to play a virtuosic concerto from the romantic era. I will never forget it."

At age 19, Farouk played Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Cairo Symphony, in what he believes was a first for Egypt.

Two years later he won a Fulbright Fellowship and moved to the U.S. to study piano in Washington, D.C. In 2004 he won a full scholarship to Converse College to study with Weeks, and earned his master's degree in piano performance.

He is now working on his doctorate at Rutgers University in New Jersey on a full-ride scholarship.

But his home is in Chicago, where he lives in the West Loop with his wife, Amy, and where he is on the faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

There he teaches students the techniques of the piano, but he also tries to teach them something more.

On a recent day he worked with Youmin Lee, 24, who is in the second year of a master's program. They sat at dueling pianos in a ninth-floor practice studio overlooking Michigan Avenue.

He listened to Lee play, interrupting periodically to share his advice: Slow down, and let the notes evaporate. Don't be afraid to make big sounds. Find a way to relate the music to your own life. Make it suspenseful. Breathe.

Then he sat at the edge of the piano bench and placed his hands on the keys to demonstrate how to do it. He played part of Robert Schumann's piece titled "Why?"

"The music has to take over you. It can't just be sounds," he explained to his student. "You have to relate to it, and find something in your own personal life."

Farouk speaks quietly and with a slight lisp. He has a genteel way about him, a throwback to a more formal time.

His list of accomplishments is long. His repertoire includes more than 70 concertos and 60 solo programs, and he has performed around the world, including in Russia, Italy, France and Japan.

Last year he made his Carnegie Hall debut, a performance that a writer for the New York Concert Review described as "absolutely masterful."

But his current concert series is a climax in his life, the conclusion of a pledge he made years ago to try to play all 98 of Rachmaninoff's solo piano works publicly.

He said it is a way to honor the composer who motivated him when he was a teenager.

"Whether it's something on the inside or the outside, we all have our challenges," he said. "Nothing is easy. It makes you learn more about yourself."

Henry Fogel, dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts, said he doesn't think any pianist in Chicago has publicly performed all of Rachmaninoff's solo pieces. It's possibly never been done anywhere, particularly not in a six-month period, he said.

"His playing is not only exceptional because he is small, or his hands are small," said Fogel, former president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. "What I want to convey is that if he was 6-2 and had big hands, he would still be an extremely impressive pianist."

On a Friday evening in March, Fogel was in the audience as Farouk walked onto the stage for the fourth recital in the concert series.

The audience applauded as Farouk approached the 9-foot Steinway grand piano, spotlighted on the Ganz Hall stage.

Farouk deliberately placed his fingers on the piano, first the right hand, then the left. With all 10 fingers on the keys, he did one last stretch.

Then for about 90 minutes, his fingers raced across the keys, sometimes moving so fast they were a blur. In other moments, he left a note lingering as if teasing the audience.

At the end of his encore, he took a final bow, his hands at his side.

Then he looked out into the audience and grinned.

"Thank you," he said.

The applause continued long after he walked off the stage.

And that wasn't the end.

Farouk will return to the recital hall Thursday evening to finish what started as a dream so many years ago.

Wael Farouk

Pianist Wael Farouk is a 'super-virtuoso' with a unique path to success

By Ronni Reich/The Star-Ledger
Published: November 10, 2013

The piano lid shakes as Wael Farouk thunders out note after note, spanning the length of the instrument in seconds. His small, curved fingers whip across the keyboard, sometimes stretching over the sides of the ivories to hit their marks, but always landing exactly where he wants them.

As he demonstrates a few of his favorite pieces in a concert hall at Rutgers University, his face is impassive, as though everything he is feeling is concentrated between his shoulders and his fingertips.

Farouk, a 32-year-old pianist from Cairo, was born with shortened ligaments in his fingers. He cannot make a fist. It is not easy for him to grab a pencil or throw a ball. His hands are nearly child-sized and lacking some typical functions ' but he has spent most of his life pursuing a career that depends on them.

"You know, I can play the piano fine, so that makes it up," says Farouk, who is a doctoral student at Rutgers.

It's a bit of an understatement.

Described by David Dubal, of radio's "The Piano Matters," as "the greatest pianist ever born in Egypt," Farouk has performed all over the world ' from an early concert at age 12 in Japan to playing Tchaikovsky's own piano in Russia.

He holds diplomas from Catholic University ' which he attended on a Fulbright scholarship ' Converse College in South Carolina and Manhattan School of Music, where he won the competitive concerto competition. He recently recorded his first CD and performed at Carnegie Hall.

In his native country, he gave the first-ever performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, considered one of the most difficult compositions ever written for the instrument.

"He's a super-virtuoso," says Daniel Epstein, with whom Farouk studies at Rutgers.

"There's a lot of people who play fast and loud, but true excitement in music goes beyond that. It's a sense of pulse, structure, knowing how things connect to one another. When you play a piece, you're building a dramatic narrative."

"That's something that's difficult to teach," he adds. "People usually have it or they don't, and he has it."

When Farouk describes his urge to play piano, he says it's as "natural and assertive" a need as getting up in the morning.

"On this level, music is really a calling, it's not a choice," Epstein says.

hard-won achievements

As a child, Farouk needled around on a toy piano and a church instrument, playing mostly by ear. He was discovered by the conductor Selim Sahab and applied to study at the Cairo Conservatory, a bastion of classical music in the country, where strict Russian traditions reign.

Farouk scored the highest marks on his entrance exams for ear training and theory, but he was rejected. He was 7 years old.

"The first impression that the piano panel had after my audition was that there is no way that I could have a career with an opposing hand condition," he said.

"This is something you cannot fix ' you cannot trade hands."

Farouk's father, a military officer who knew nothing about music but wanted to support his son, pled with the instructors: If Wael could master two years' worth of piano training in three months, they should let him stay.

By the time he was 12, he had given his first performance with orchestra; a year later, he became the youngest performer to give a recital at the Cairo Opera House.

"Everything I played at the time fascinated me," he says. "It was like different ingredients your body needs."

But one piece stood out ' the Rachmaninoff Third.

"I was literally in a different world on hearing that ' impressed that even such music is possible, that this emotion can be really translated into sound.

"I had to play this one day."

Farouk struggles to put into words what he feels for the piece, but to get a sense of it ' and of where his drive comes from ' he refers to the composer's biography and how it relates to his own background.

"It is a panaroma of his life," Farouk says. "It's like an autobiography."

Within 45 minutes, the work encompasses gentle, contemplative melodies, immense octave passages and torrents of intricate patterns, forceful spirals up and down the piano, a bravado-laden finale. Turbulent, rapid descents and jangling tremolos lead to stately ascents and a hard-won final triumph.

His own way

Born to a well-to-do family in 1873, Rachmaninoff was forced into poverty when his father squandered the estate. Two siblings died from the cold. After the Bolshevik revolution, he fled Russia for Europe. Once he had established himself as a world-class artist there, World War II waged, and he started over again, in New York.

"All the people who knew him said he practiced longer than anybody and worked harder than anybody, and was always helping friends," Farouk says.

Farouk's father also fought to achieve stability for his wife and children. The first of the family to go to college, he worked two jobs while he was a student, and because he had no electricity at home, he used to read textbooks under streetlamps.

"It's not an easy country to grow up in," Farouk says of Egypt. "For my father to get a decent job, and go to college and put his kids in school was a big accomplishment."

"He always tried to tell me that hard work always pays off," he adds. "This is the one thing you have a choice about ' if it's something you love and dedicate yourself and commit to, that's all that you need."

The Rachmaninoff concerto looms large in piano lore. In the movie "Shine," trying to perfect it drives a man insane. The humor duo Igudesman and Joo skewered the composer's propensity to cover huge spans of notes in a sketch titled "Rachmaninov had big hands."

When Farouk was 13, his teacher told him it was the most challenging piece of music in the piano repertoire. "A big guy ' at least to me," the 5-foot Farouk remembers, with a hand about four times larger ' the teacher could easily span 13 notes on the piano, but would not perform the concerto.

"You can play other things, but not that," the teacher said.

"You'll hurt your hands, it's not good for your psychology."

But Farouk would not listen. He took a few years, spending up to 14 hours a day in the summers to built his strength and technique.

(He still relies on staggering time management and stamina as he splits his time between New Brunswick and Chicago, where he lives with his wife, Amy, and teaches at Roosevelt University.)

"During certain periods of his life, he worked more at the piano than anybody I've ever heard of," Epstein says.

"He's found his own way of doing certain things with the keyboard."

Farouk may break a chord into smaller parts, but play so quickly, the modification goes unnoticed, his teacher explains.

He also points out that Farouk has stretched his hand, with the pinky almost perpendicular to the other fingers.

dedicated to music

Douglas Weeks, a pianist and professor at Converse College, visited Cairo on a Fulbright scholarship in 1999, which is where he first heard Farouk ' and later encouraged him to study in the United States.

He describes the playing as deeply personal and marked by emotional sensitivity; it has moved him to tears.

Yet even Weeks was skeptical when he heard about the plan to play the concerto, and remembers the first time he caught Farouk practicing it at the conservatory.

"I remember still feeling as if I were in a daze because I had a feeling I was about to experience something I simply didn't think was possible," he says. "I felt like I was floating down the hall, and there was Wael."

"It completely changed my concept of what small hands are capable of doing on the piano."

Building up his abilities to play the piece that "addicted" him, Farouk says, "could not have been a more, in the best sense of the word, crushing experience."

"It was simple enough to realize that you cannot have that without dedicating the rest of your life to music or piano."

When he was 19, he gave the first performance of the concerto ever heard in Egypt. There were expert teachers in the audiences, who knew every note, and people who had never been exposed to the music that Farouk loved.

"It's as if I have to be climbing Everest while people are watching ' climbers and non-climbers," he says.

He was nervous before stepping onstage, but "once you sit down and hear the four-measures opening and you start playing, the music takes over.

"Nothing else really exists other than the mission at hand."

"It's like you wanted to see the pyramids or own the Mona Lisa," Farouk says, "and you finally did. It's not to prove anything, it's just to have that joy."

These days, he keeps up his excavation of Rachmaninoff's works.

He will play all of the solo piano works in a series of Chicago concerts, and for a project related to his Rutgers dissertation, he hopes to create an edition of his scores.

Farouk has overcome tremendous odds to reach his goals, but he doesn't call his hand condition a disability, and in fact, it may have added to his motivation to excel.

"I never thought about it as something stopping me," he says.

"We all have our challenges, inside or outside. It's really about what you do with them at the end of the day."

Wael Farouk

Wael Farouk, pianist in Review

Just a year ago, I had the pleasure of hearing (and reviewing) Wael Farouk in one of the best renditions of the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto I'd ever heard, and I could hardly wait to hear him again. The focus in that first hearing had not been his adverse situation as a pianist or, as his biography states, "small stature and an unusual hand condition that prevents him from making a fist or straightening his fingers" (though it was indeed striking to behold his hands' miraculous maneuvers); what struck one most that evening was his tremendous music making, the kind that defies and transcends any and all challenges. His playing shows a commitment that is profound, and so does his repertoire, which according to his biography includes more than 50 concertos and 60 solo programs (of which he has given Egyptian premieres of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2, and Prokofiev Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2, and 3).

Mr. Farouk had been scheduled to give his New York recital debut in Weill Hall in November, 2012, but he was forced to reschedule the concert because of Hurricane Sandy. The debut finally materialized seven months later ' an annoying amount of time to keep a program on the "back burner" while scheduled also for a 140th Anniversary complete Rachmaninoff cycle ' but his devoted following was handsomely rewarded for the wait. There were, as will increasingly be expected, numerous pianists clustered near the stage, gesturing towards their own hands, speaking about sizes and stretches, and watching intently. As one may guess, Mr. Farouk's magic is not so much about hands as about the inner musician.

Mr. Farouk's imagination was readily apparent from the very first notes of the Prelude in B-flat Minor, Op. 37, No. 1, by Alexander Scriabin. The gentle, almost glassily rendered melody of his opening announced the presence of a sensitive artist and set the tonal palette well for future building into the next work in the same key, Rachmaninoff's Sonata No. 2, Op. 36 (the revised version). Here Mr. Farouk shaped his phrases with elegance and an almost cerebral quality that is unusual among the many heart-on-sleeve versions. I must admit I lean towards the heart-on-sleeve interpretations, but it was fascinating to hear so many inner voices featured and such a sense of priority in the architecture. For me, there needed to be more building along the way (especially in top melodic registers) from the very first accelerando of the first movement to the clangorous almost bell-like resonances later on, but disagreements are inevitable, and Mr. Farouk always showed persuasive commitment. Vive la difference ' Mr. Farouk will not be without controversy!

To close the half (surprisingly, as one usually sees the Rachmaninoff Op. 36 closing a half), Mr. Farouk gave the U.S. premiere of "To Our Revolution's Martyrs" by leading twentieth-century Egyptian composer Gamal Abdel-Rahiem (1924-1988). In two well-crafted movements, "Elegy" and "Clash" the music spoke of national struggles through a hybrid language of Arab and Western modalities (and outlines of diminished fourths never far). In light of 2011 events, it has an updated political resonance, perhaps the intent in Mr. Farouk's programming; at any rate, it was particularly interesting simply to hear music of a composer who taught virtually an entire generation of Egyptian composers.

To open the second half, Mr. Farouk gave the World Premiere of "I Colored a Wanted Music I Can Always Hear"- a tonally mild and quasi-impressionistic haiku-inspired composition by Scott Robbins (b. 1964). It was sensitively delivered, and the composer, present to take a bow, beamed with pleasure.

Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op. 32, No. 5 in G Major made a skillful transition back to the Russian world, specifically to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Here was the absolutely masterful playing of the evening. Mr. Farouk distilled the essence of each feeling and image in Mussorgsky's phrases and gestures. Each highly contrasting movement was a gem of color and spirit, overflowing with energy and life right up through the final powerful chords. The audience leapt to its feet and was rewarded with three encores, the Gluck-Sgambati Melodie, Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G-sharp minor, Op. 32, No. 12 and the brilliantly played Liszt Paraphrase on Verdi's Rigoletto. Bravo ' and encore! While, nothing has eclipsed the memory of that Rachmaninoff Third Concerto of a year ago, I would still say: run ' don't walk ' to hear Wael Farouk!

-Rorianne Schrade for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

With conductor Philippe Entremont and student Wael Farouk, following
a performance of the Rachmaninoff Concerto #3 at MSM, 2008

Robin Freund-Epstein

Robin Freund-Epstein attended Oberlin College and subsequently completed both her B.M. and M.M. degrees at Manhattan School of Music studying with Solomon Mikowsky.

Ms. Freund-Epstein's training also includes the Tanglewood Summer Institute and private studies with Sascha Gorodnitzki and Fiorella Canin. As a concerto soloist she has performed with the Bay Atlantic Symphony, Atlantic Chamber Orchestra and Brooklyn Heights Orchestra. She was a member of the Riverside Piano Quartet and Olmsted Trio and has appeared as a guest artist with the American Chamber Players. As a winner of the Artists International competition she played a Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1999.

Manhattan School of Music Precollege faculty since 1987.

rfreund-epstein@msmnyc.edu

Angelika Fuchs

Music in Review

Philippe Entremont Conducts (Angelika Fuchs); Simone Dinnerstein Performs; Music by Ezequiel Vinao
Published: February 3, 2012

MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC SYMPHONY

Borden Auditorium

Distinguished musicians often complement their stints at professional institutions with residencies at conservatories, as the French pianist and conductor Philippe Entremont did this week at the Manhattan School of Music. In the first of two concerts, on Wednesday evening, he conducted the school's symphony orchestra in a program featuring three pianists from its graduate program playing Mozart concertos.

Mr. Entremont, who shifted his focus from a solo career to conducting in the 1970s, has often performed Mozart as both pianist and conductor. Mozart's music can brutally reveal flaws in ensemble work, but barring a few slips and tempo inconsistencies, Mr. Entremont drew gracious and nuanced playing here.

The program opened with Mozart's Concerto No. 23 in A; Angelika Fuchs, a Ukrainian pianist who is a student of Solomon Mikowsky's, was the soloist. Ms. Fuchs, an insightful musician, showed elegant phrasing throughout and expressive poise in the F sharp minor Adagio.

The Beijing-born pianist Jiaxin Tian, a student of Jeffrey Cohen's, offered the stormy Concerto No. 20 in D minor, a key that Mozart used to represent tragedy and fury in works including 'Don Giovanni.' The orchestra vividly conveyed the turbulence of the dramatic opening section. Ms. Tian mirrored the ensemble's passion and energetic commitment, although her tone sometimes turned hard-edged, and she could have better conveyed the work's dark, soulful nature.

Hong Tang, a Chinese pianist and student of Mr. Cohen's, concluded the evening with a refined interpretation of Mozart's Concerto No. 21 in C, demonstrating a thoughtful musicality and a lithe, sparkling touch in the outer movements. VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Erica Guo

Erica Guo plays Chopin concerto no. 1 with orchestra in Temppeliaukio (the rock church) in Helsinki, Finland.

Bing Han

Chinese student Bing Han with conductor Kurt Mazur after a performance of Ravel's L.H. Concerto

Kookhee Hong

EVENT: Shall We Dance?A Night In Paris"
TIME: 7:30 pm
DATES: 2/26/2016 - 2/26/2016
DEPT: Music
DETAILS: Duo pianists IVC faculty Minji Noh and guest artist Kookhee Hong perform two piano music composed by Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saens and Stravinsky.
LOCATION: Main Stage,PAC

http://www.ivcarts.org/details.asp?id=539

Kookhee Hong

Kookhee Hong and Yu Zhang with Maestro David Gilbert after a performance of the Gershwin Concerto in F and the Bartok Concerto No. 3 with the Tenerife Symphony, Spain

Gustavo Díaz-Jerez

One of the foremost Spanish pianists and composers of his generation, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez has gained an international following among audiences as well as unanimous critical acclaim for his performances of both contemporary music and the time honored repertoire.
Born in the Spanish Canary Islands, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez studied piano with J. A. Rodriguez at the Conservatorio Superior of Santa Cruz (Tenerife), and subsequently with Solomon Mikowsky at Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he also studied composition with Giampaolo Bracali and Ludmila Ulehla.
Gustavo Díaz-Jerez has performed extensively throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, the UK and the USA, in many of the world’s most renowned halls, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, Royal Festival Hall in London, Sydney Opera House in Sydney and numerous other eminent venues. He has performed as soloist with many of the world’s great orchestras, such as the Berlin Simphoniker, The Budapest Festival Orchestra, The Turin Symphony, The Northern Sinfonia, as well as the major Spanish orchestras. He has collaborated with such conductors as Ivan Fischer, Cristian Mandeal, Matthias Bamert, Gunther Herbig, Adrian Leaper, and others. He has been invited to play at various international music festivals, including the Festival Internacional de Canarias, La Roque d’Anthéron, Quincena Musical Donostiarra, Festival Internacional de Santander, Granada, etc.
His works have been performed widely by soloists and ensembles around the world. In 2011 his orchestral work Ymarxa, commissioned by the Festival de Música de Canarias was premiered by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Charles Dutoit. His first opera La casa imaginaria was recently premiered with great audience success. A CD with his piano pieces Metaludios was recently released. Later in 2019 the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) will record a double CD with a cycle of seven orchestral works inspired in the Canary Islands, under the baton of maestro Eduardo Portal. He was the recipient of the 2018 Martín Chirino Composition Contest.
His compositional language may be defined as “algorithmic spectralism”, merging elements of the spectralist movement (Grisey, Murail, Radulescu, etc.), in which timbre plays a fundamental role, with processes derived from mathematical disciplines such as cellular automata, L-systems, fractals, genetic algorithms, number theory, spectrum analysis, etc. Needless the say, the use of the computer is indispensable, usually producing results in the form of electronic music. However, his main interest is not in electroacoustics, but to “transcribe” these results using traditional instruments. This requires a very careful and elaborate process of quantization of melodic, rhythmic and timbre elements, so it can be adequately performed by human players. These transformations, however, leave intact the essence of the original process. An accomplished programmer as well, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez is author of FractMus, a Windows program that explores algorithmic/generative composition using algorithms derived from number theory, non-linear equations, cellular automata, and fractals. He has written a number of articles on the subject that have been published by prestigious publications such as Electronic Musician.
He is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts of the Canary Islands and, since 2002, a professor piano at the Superior Conservatory of Music of the Basque Country, Musikene.
To buy his scores please visit here

Gustavo Díaz-Jerez

CONCIERTO DE PIANO SOBRE “IBERIA” DE ALBÉNIZ
AUDITORIO CIUDAD DE LEÓN (ESPAÑA) 19 DE MARZO DE 2016 A LAS 20:30 h
INAUGURACIÓN DEL X CICLO “JÓVENES MAESTROS INTERNACIONALES 2016”

NOTA: Presentación en León del DVD de IBERIA, (Primera grabación mundial de la IBERIA en vídeo de alta definición).
Después del concierto Gustavo Díaz-Jerez firmará ejemplares de su DVD.

Programa

1er Cuaderno
I. Evocación
II. El Puerto
III. El Corpus Christi en Sevilla

4º Cuaderno
I. Málaga
II. Jerez
III. Eritaña

---- (Intermedio) ----

2º Cuaderno
I. Rondeña
II. Almería
III. Triana

3er Cuaderno
I. El Albaicín
II. El Polo
III. Lavapiés

Gustavo Díaz-Jerez es uno de los máximos exponentes de la interpretación y la creación musical en España. Como pianista ha actuado en la mayoría de los auditorios españoles y muchos de los principales a nivel mundial (Carnegie Hall y Alice Tully Hall de Nueva York, Musikverein de Viena, Concertgebouw de Amsterdam, Royal Festival Hall de Londres, Beijing University de China, Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, etc.). También ha sido solista de la mayoría de las principales orquestas españolas (Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Orquesta de RTVE, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Sinfónica de Madrid...) y de importantes formaciones extranjeras (Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Turín, Northern Symphony, Berliner Symphoniker, etc.), bajo la batuta de directores de la talla de Stanislaw Skrowaczevski, Ivan Fischer, Adrian Leaper, Matthias Bamert, Lü Jia, Günther Herbig, José Ramón Encinar y Víctor Pablo Pérez, entre otros. Así mismo es habitualmente invitado a importantes festivales como el Festival de Música de Canarias, Quincena Musical Donostiarra, Festival de Granada, etc.

Destacado intérprete de la música española, en 2010 le fue concedida la Medalla Albéniz, galardón que también recibió Alicia de Larrocha, por su grabación y difusión de Iberia. Su anterior doble CD de 2009 con la grabación de la obra ya fue calificado de “excepcional” por la crítica.

Recientemente ha realizado, como primicia mundial, la primera grabación en vídeo de alta definición de la IBERIA de Albéniz. El vídeo, publicado en DVD por el sello ORPHEUS y lanzado al mercado en diciembre de 2015, ha sido acogido con gran entusiasmo por la crítica y por los medios de comunicación. Como presentación del DVD, Gustavo ha interpretado ya la IBERIA en el Festival “Rafael Orozco” de Córdoba, el Palau de la Música de Valencia, el Festival Ibérico de Badajoz. Próximas presentaciones a lo largo de 2016 incluyen recitales en Tenerife, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, León, Gijón, Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, y fuera de España en Berlín, Moscú y en diferentes ciudades de Estados Unidos.

Además, entre su extensa discografía también está la grabación de la obra completa para piano de Manuel de Falla (SEDEM), música para piano de Teobaldo Power (RALS) y la música para piano solo y piano y orquesta de Carlos Suriñach, junto a la Orquesta Sínfónica de Tenerife y Víctor Pablo Pérez.

Asimismo, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez ha sido galardonado en numerosos concursos internacionales (Santander Paloma O’Shea, María Canals, Palm Beach (EEUU), Pilar Bayona, Premio Jaén, Viña del Mar (Chile), entre otros). Igualmente ha sido distinguido con premios tan significativos como el “Mont Blanc” a la cultura en Canarias en 1991, “Casino de Tenerife” en 1990 y el “Harold Bauer Award” de la Manhattan School of Music de Nueva York.

Como compositor sus obras han sido estrenadas por prestigiosos intérpretes y agrupaciones, dentro y fuera de España. En 2011, su obra orquestal Ymarxa, obra encargo del XXVII Festival de Música de Canarias fue estrenada por la Royal Philharmonic Orchestra dirigida por Charles Dutoit.

Es asimismo autor del programa informático “FractMus”, dedicado a la exploración de la composición algorítmica, y sus artículos sobre la materia han sido publicados en prestigiosas publicaciones especializadas como Electronic Musician y Leonardo Music Journal del MIT. Desde 2009 participa como investigador en la Universidad de Málaga en “Melomics”, proyecto que aplica la computación evolutiva y la inteligencia artificial a la creación musical. En 2012, el álbum “IAMUS”, con la grabación de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Londres de las composiciones resultantes de su investigación en el campo de la inteligencia artificial, causó gran impacto en el panorama de la creación musical.

Natural de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez fue discípulo de Jesús Ángel Rodríguez Martín en el Conservatorio Superior de Música de su ciudad natal y posteriormente, de Salomon Mikowsky en el Manhattan School of Music, donde asimismo estudió composición con Giampaolo Bracali y Ludmila Ulehla.

También es Académico Correspondiente de la Real Academia Canaria de Bellas Artes de San Miguel Arcángel, y desde 2002 es profesor de piano del Conservatorio Superior de Música del Pais Vasco “Musikene”.

Gustavo Díaz-Jerez

DVD in Review: Pianist Gustavo Díaz-Jerez plays Iberia, by Isaac Albéniz

Attention, those interested in “firsts” in the piano world: for the very first time, a full high definition video of Iberia is now available, and it is quite beautifully played by pianist Gustavo Díaz-Jerez ( www.gustavodiazjerez.com).

For those unfamiliar with Iberia, by Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909), it is one of the masterpieces of the piano literature, a set of twelve pieces devoted to the sounds and impressions of the composer’s native Spain, with the emphasis on Andalusia. Though of strong local flavor, the set was loved and admired by Debussy, Messiaen, Fauré, and countless other great musicians and is now admired worldwide as a creation of universal expressiveness.

Composed from 1905 through 1909, each book was given its separate premiere by French pianist Blanche Selva (1906, 1907, 1908, and 1909) and almost each piece has sunk roots singly into the piano repertoire over time. The set is still seldom heard in live recital in its entirety of twelve movements, possibly due to length (around 90 minutes), difficulty (large orchestral textures with awkward hand distribution), and pacing (a challenge to sustain, with prolonged meditative parts and nuanced pianissimo levels down to ppppp). Many musicians cite the history as reason – that Albéniz did not envision the twelve played at a stretch and that the pieces are not meant as a marathon but better played separately.

From the 1960’s through the 1980’s, pianistic legend, Alicia de Larrocha, gave life to the entire opus in repeated recordings and performances of the set. There followed various other excellent interpretations of the set on compact disc. Videos, though, were a different story. Of de Larrocha, one can find only some of her CBS studio videotapes, and they are of poor sound quality (some even with commentary heard over the playing). Of complete live readings, there have been concerts by outstanding virtuosi such as Marc-André Hamelin, with some selections from these viewable on the Internet, but one needs to flip from link to link to hear several in a row (akin to listening to the old 78-RPM recordings). For the first full video of the complete Iberia, one had to wait for Gustavo Díaz-Jerez, whose performance, recorded in 2015, is now available on DVD (www.iberiadvd.com).

One uses the word “performance” because Mr. Díaz-Jerez does give what appears to be an unbroken recital, despite its having involved four days of recording (July 20-24, 2015). The atmosphere also approaches that of a concert despite the fact that there is no apparent audience in the beautiful hall of Paraninfo de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (the Canary Islands). The DVD opens with a dignified Mr. Díaz-Jerez, clad in black, walking with resolve towards an imposing Steinway D piano, his footsteps resonating on the large empty stage. It is seemingly a solitary event, but there is such formality and intensity in his demeanor that the occasional shift of camera focus to a hall of empty seats does not detract, but rather seems to suggest listeners past or future. There is a certain poetry in that.

From the first notes of Evocación, a feeling of spaciousness pervades, and it is clear from each expressive inflection that Mr. Díaz-Jerez is a sensitive artist with considerable dedication to this music. He soulfully projects the composer’s most heartrending melodies and lavishes each poignant turn of phrase with affection, somehow without seeming excessively self-indulgent – quite an artful balance! El Puerto follows Evocación with spirit, zest, and a perfect nostalgic lingering towards its close. Mr. Díaz-Jerez has a broad array of articulations at his disposal, and undoubtedly students will enjoy watching close-ups of his hands here and elsewhere – possibly even gaining some insight on distribution of hands in the score’s various tangles. El Corpus Christi En Sevilla brings the opening group to brilliant peaks before its quiet close, rounding out a highly successful Book I.

Book II is equally moving with an intoxicatingly sunny Rondeña and a dreamy Almeria. Mr. Díaz-Jerez has a special knack for transparent voicing in which a melody simply glows from amid other voices without badgering the listener or oversimplifying the texture. The famously challenging Triana ( Click here to view)closes this book well, expansive without being overtly showy. Here is one of the pieces that might benefit most from the synergy of a live audience, but its polish is admirable. The eternal discussion of live versus recorded is not for the current review.

A listener might want to give himself an “Intermission” at this juncture, because a saturation point can be reached. By the end of Book II, one can become so spoiled by the surfeit of sultry harmonies, nostalgic melodies, and florid ornaments, that they lose their distinctiveness. El Albaicín, El Polo, Lavapiés, Málaga, Jerez, and Eritaña all have uniquely beautiful qualities, but they do need some space after the first two books for their uniqueness to emerge. Hopefully, the listeners (viewers) will exercise some judgment in the pacing.

In summary, all the performances are excellent. Though one may have one’s favorite performances by other artists for isolated pieces, this full set makes for a fine reference collection and should be of interest for pianists negotiating the hand-overlappings and leaps for the first time. There are many close-ups. The technique in every piece is solid, there is nothing offensive, and there is much that is exemplary.

While one feels a bit incomplete not hearing the rush of applause upon the last notes of Eritaña, the silence underscores the dream element so present throughout the video. In fact, that aspect is so pervasive that one might simply decide to ignore each shot of hands and face and keyboard, and drift away. This would bring one full circle to the respective raisons d’être of DVD versus CD, visual versus aural, or in combination. As Debussy wrote of this set: “One closes one’s eyes and is bedazzled by the sheer wealth of invention in this music!” What Debussy said is true. Here, though, the listener has a choice.

Gustavo Díaz-Jerez

Wenqiao Jiang

Adam Kent

Music at CUUC presents

ADAM KENT, piano

and

PASCAL ARCHER, clarinet

performing works by

by Brahms, Poulenc, and Honegger

Sunday, April 28, 2019 at 12:30 pm

Also featuring choral works by the CUUC choir, directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas.

Light luncheon foods served.

Suggested Donation:

$20 Adults

$10 Seniors & students

$5 Kids 13 & under

$45 Maximum family price

Buy your tickets online:

www.cucwp.org/concert-series

(914) 946-1660 x6

Adam Kent

Music at CUUC presents
ADAM KENT
IN AN ALL MOZART PIANO CONCERT
Sunday, November 5, 2017 at 12:30 pm
Come hear pianist Adam Kent in an all-Mozart program featuring sonatas, variations, rondos and fantasies by the prodigy from Salzburg.
This family-friendly event features rondos, sonatas, variations and other works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as an imaginary encounter between the composer and another celebrated son of Vienna from a later century, Sigmund Freud.
Free childcare available with advance reservation.
Suggested Donation:
$20 Adults
$10 Seniors & students
$5 Kids 13 & under
$45 Maximum family price
Buy your tickets online:
www.cucwp.org/concert-series
(914) 946-1660 x6
COMMUNITY UNITARIAN
UNIVERSALIST CONGREGATION
468 Rosedale Avenue
White Plains, NY
cucwp.org

Adam Kent

Sunday, January 29, 2016 at 1pm
Music at CUUC presents our annual concert of intimate chamber and vocal works, featuring mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna in songs by Spanish composers Enrique Granados, Carlos Surinach, and Joaquin Nin-Culmell. Violinist Elena Peres dazzles in works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky, and the program ends with Brahms’ glorious Piano Trio in C minor performed by violinist Claire Chan, cellist Sibylle Johner, and CUUC’s Music Director/pianist Adam Kent.
The concert opens with a family-friendly Music for All Ages presentation.
Suggested Donation:
$20 Adults
$10 Seniors & students
$5 Kids 13 & under
$45 Maximum family price
Free onsite childcare available with advance reservation
Buy your tickets online:
www.cucwp.org/concert-series
(914) 946-1660 x6

Adam Kent

Enrique Granados (1867-1916) was one of Spain’s greatest classical composers, pianists, and musical educators. He was preoccupied with the art work of Francisco Goya, the inspiration behind his opera Goyescas. In 1916, Granados and his wife Amparo traveled to New York City to attend the premiere of Goyescas at the Metropolitan Opera. On their return journey to Spain, their boat was torpedoed in the English Channel, and the couple perished at sea. Granados’s lush, hauntingly romantic music will forever be associated with his one fateful journey to the U.S., the centenary of which is commemorated in 2016. Music at CUUC presents a special concert featuring Granados’s solo piano, duo-piano, and chamber music, with pianist Jason Cutmore, the Damocles Trio, and CUUC Music Director Adam Kent.

Ticket prices:
$20 Adults
$10 Seniors & students
$5 Kids 13 & under
$45 Maximum family price
Free onsite childcare available
Tickets can be purchased at the door
or by calling 914-946-1660 x6.

Adam Kent

CUUC Music Director Adam Kent plays solo piano works by Unitarian composers Edvard Grieg, B'la Bart'k, and Arthur Foote. Come hear musical masterpieces by the denomination's greatest classical composers! The concert begins with a 30-minute Music For All Ages intro for kids & adults alike, followed by the main performance at 1:30 PM with onsite childcare available (with advance reservation).

Ticket prices:
$20 Suggested donation
$10 Seniors & students
$5 Kids 13 & under
$45 Maximum family price
Childcare for concert $5 per child
with advance reservation

Tickets can be purchased at the door or by calling 914-946-1660 x6.

Adam Kent

Adam Kent with the Queen of Spain

Adam Kent

Chamber Music by Franz Schubert at Bargemusic

Dear Friends: On Saturday afternoon October 18 at 4 p.m., I will be joined by violinist Elena Peres and cellist Jeffrey Sollow in a performance of Schubert's Piano Trio No. 2 in Eb Major at Bargemusic, located at the Fulton Ferry Landing by the Brooklyn Bridge. Also on the program are several solo piano works by Schubert. Admission is free. For directions and more information, please visit www.bargemusic.org or www.adamkentmusic.com.

Adam Kent

RINGWOOD, N.J. NOVEMBER 16, 2014 AT 7 p.m.

DETAILS:
A Gl'ck Tricentennial Concert. Program includes Mozart's Variations on a Theme by Gl'ck, K. 455 and Brahms's arrangement of the Gavotte from Iphig'nie en Aulide played by Adam Kent. Other works and performers tba.

VENUE:
Community Presbyterian Church
145 Carletondale Road
Ringwood, N.J. 07456
DIRECTIONS

ADMISSION
Free Admission
For more info call or email:
T: 973-835-5862 or 973-224-4323
E: ringwoodfriendsofmusic@gmail.com

Check out the new website for upcoming concerts, events, writings and more.

Albert Kim

Van Cliburn (left) and Alexis Weissenberg (right), among other pianists, with 10-year-old Mikowsky student Albert Kim, when he substituted for Vladimir Horowitz at the 135th Anniversary of STEINWAY at Carnegie Hall (photo by Steve J. Sherman)

Bolarm Kim

Bolarm Kim performing the Mozart Concerto No. 10 in E Flat Major for Two Pianos and Orchestra with the MSM Symphony Orchestra conducted by Philippe Entremont, March 2011. Second pianist, Grace Han, is not shown.

Kho Woon Kim

PIANO RECITAL

Kho Woon Kim

By THIRSTY

After South Korean pianist Kho Woon Kim earned her doctorate from the Moscow Conservatory in 2012, she came to Manhattan School of Music (MSM) to study with Solomon Mikowsky in the Professional Studies program. She was the recipient of MSM's Elva Van Gelder Memorial Piano Scholarship and, upon graduation in May 2013, the Roy M. Rubinstein Award. She is continuing her study at MSM with Solomon Mikowsky as the recipient of the prestigious MSM's Eugene Istomin Scholarship for Piano.

Her resume of competition awards is most impressive. She won First Prize in: the Horowitz International Competition for Young Pianists (2010) in Kiev; the Andorra International Piano Competition (2009); the Ferrol International Piano competition in Spain (2013); the International Keyboard Institute and Festival Dorothy Mackenzie Competition in New York (2013); and, the Eisenberg-Fried Piano Concerto Competition at Manhattan School of Music (2013), as well as the Special Prize in the Franz Liszt Competition for Young Pianists in Weimar (2011) and the Fourth Prize and Audience Prize in the Rachmaninoff International Competition in Moscow (2008). Most recently, she received a First Prize and Brazilian Composer Prize in the Panama International Piano Competition (2014).

She has performed as a soloist and recitalist in such prestigious venues as Salle Cortot in Paris, the Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory and the National Philharmonic Hall in Cuba. She has soloed with the MSM Symphony Orchestra (with Philippe Entremont), the National Symphony Orchestra of Panama, the Galician Symphony Orchestra in Spain (with Enrique Garcia Asensio), the National Music Academy of Ukraine Orchestra, the Samara Philharmonic Orchestra in Russia, the Korean Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, the Pleven Philharmonic in Bulgaria and the Polish State Philharmonic Orchestra of Katowice.

If her resume wasn't sufficient to convince, watching her performance is reason enough to name her our Stay Thirsty Magazine Spotlight Artist for Spring 2015.

Kho Woon Kim

1st Prize ($20,000) Winner of the 2014 Panama International Piano Competition

Kho Woon Kim

Kho Woon Kim, de Corea del Sur, logra el Premio de Piano
'Cidade de Ferrol'

REDACCI'N FERROL
Actualizado 30 Noviembre 2013

Kho Woon Kim, de Corea del Sur, fue la ganadora del XXVII Concurso de Piano 'Cidade de Ferrol' que ayer celebro su gran final. La pianista coreana logr' el galard'n con una brillante interpretaci'n, de solo 17 minutos, del Concierto no 1 de Franz Liszt. El segundo lugar fue para el int'rprete austr'aco Feilmair Florian, que toc' el Concierto no 5 de Beethoven, mientras que el tercer puesto se qued' en las manos del hispano-israel' Michael Davidov. Adem's de ser una final at'pica, en la que por vez primera en anos no estaba ning'n int'rprete ruso, Kim es la primera mujer que logra el premio desde que el certamen se celebra en el Jofre, en el ano 2005.
Un teatro casi llen' acogi' una vibrante final en la que los j'venes m'sicos, todos ellos menores de 35 anos, tocaron sus piezas acompanados de la Orquestra Sinf'nica de Galicia, dirigida especialmente por el popular maestro Enrique Garc'a Asensio. Esta formaci'n ya hab'a ensayado con los finalistas el jueves en A Coruna, y en el Jofre ayer mismo antes de la final.

Premios
Todos los finalistas obtienen un diploma, mientras la ganadora logra 12.000 euros; Florian 6.500 euros; y Davidov 4.000. Adem's, Kim tendr' la posibilidad de dar cuatro conciertos, en colaboraci'n con la Sociedad Filarm'nica Ferrolana, el Festival de M'sica de Lugo (Semana del Corpus), la Sociedad Filarm'nica de A Coruna y el Consorcio para la Promoci'n de la M'sica de A Coruna. En este 'ltimo caso se realizar' hoy mismo en el Palacio de la 'pera, dentro de la programaci'n de la Sinf'nica de Galicia, para la pianista ya sin la presi'n competitiva de ayer.
En cuanto al resto de los galardones, no habi'ndose presentado m'sicos gallegos, el 'Gregorio Baudot' qued' desierto, mientras que el premio al mejor int'rprete de m'sica espanola fue a parar a las manos del japon's Ryutaro Suzuki que se lleva 2.000 euros y un diploma por su versi'n de la 'Fantas'a B'tica', de Manuel de Falla.
En esta XXVII edici'n tomaron parte 42 pianistas procedentes de 20 naciones, lo que convierte el certamen musical en el evento competitivo m's internacional de cuantos se celebran en la ciudad.
La segunda fase del galard'n concentr' a los mejores 14 int'rpretes, as' hasta los tres que seg'n el jurado merecieron llegar a la final de este ano. n

Kho Woon Kim

Kim Kho Woon gana el Premio Internacional de Piano de Ferrol

La coreana es la primera mujer, en 27 ediciones, que logra el galard'n

RAM'N LOUREIRO
ferrol / la voz 30 de noviembre de 2013

No es que lo digamos nosotros, que al fin y al cabo no tendr'a importancia, sino que lo dec'an quienes se encontraban en el patio de butacas: anoche hab'a de nuevo algo m'gico, en el teatro Jofre, mientras Kim Kho Woon, interpretando a Liszt, ganaba el Premio Internacional de Piano Cidade de Ferrol. Ya lo vaticinaba, adem's, de hecho, horas antes, la presidenta del jurado, Natalia Lamas: 'Esta de hoy puede ser la mejor final de la historia del premio', dec'a. Y cuando la final termin', momentos antes de que se anunciase el nombre del ganador, lo ratificaba: 'Ha sido la mejor de siempre -remarcaba Natalia-. No, no nos hab'amos equivocado'. Toc' maravillosamente Kim Kho Woon (Corea del Sur, 1984). Conviene decirlo muy claro. Pero tambi'n tocaron de forma extraordinaria el austr'aco Florian Feilmar y el hispano-israel' Michael Davidov, segundo y tercer clasificados tras unas deliberaciones que no fueron, precisamente, f'ciles. El premio estaba dotado este ano con 12.000 euros en met'lico para el ganador, 6.500 euros para el segundo clasificado y 4.000 para el tercero. Pero no es la cuant'a econ'mica del galard'n, precisamente, la que sit'a al certamen ferrolano en lo m's alto de los concursos internacionales de su g'nero, sino la composici'n del jurado. Un jurado que, junto a Natalia Lamas, la gran dama del piano gallego, este ano integraban el alem'n Andreas Fr'lich, el italiano Tommaso Cogato, el cubano Leonel Morales y el portugu's Miguel Henriques.

El certamen, que por primera vez en 27 ediciones gana una mujer, reuni' a 42 participantes. La 'lite de los j'venes pianistas del mundo, de edades comprendidas entre los 16 y 35 anos entre los que eran mayor'a los rusos, los italianos, los ucranianos y los asi'ticos siempre muy unidos al Premio Cidade de Ferrol.

Kyu Yeon Kim

Yoon Lee

Soyeon Lee

THE WALTER W. NAUMBURG FOUNDATION
Announces Winners of the 2010 Piano Competition

First Prize Winner: SOYEON LEE

Second Prizes to: RAN DANK and ALEXANDRE MOUTOUZKINE

Honorable mention to: CHRISTOPHER GUZMAN

Forty-two Pianists competed in the competition Final Round took place on Wednesday, June 23 in New York City June 24, 2010, New York City ' On Wednesday, June 24, 2010, the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation held the final round of the 2010 Naumburg Piano Competition. Three finalists, out of a pool of 42 pianists from around the world, were chosen to compete in the final round.

The first prize was awarded to Soyeon Lee, a native of South Korea, who has been hailed by The New York Times as a pianist with 'a huge, richly varied sound, a lively imagination and a firm sense of style.' She is the second pianist from South Korea to be awarded the Naumburg Piano Award following in the foot steps of Kun-Woo Paik who was the first prize winner in 1971. Her prize includes two fully subsidized concerts in New York City, one of which will be given on March 29, 2011 in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall; concert engagements with orchestra and in recital throughout the United States; and a cash award of $10,000.

Two second prizes were awarded to Israeli pianist Ran Dank, and Alexandre Moutouzkine, a native of Russia. Mr. Dank and Mr. Moutouzkine each received a cash award of $4,000. Honorable mention was awarded to Christopher Guzman, a D.M.A. candidate at The University of Texas at Austin where he studies with Anton Nel. Mr. Guzman received a cash award of $1,000.

The preliminary round of the 2010 Naumburg Piano Competition took place June 17 ' 19 in Manhattan School of Music's Miller Recital Hall. Twelve pianists were selected to compete in the semi-final round that was held on Monday, June 21 in Merkin Concert Hall. The final round was held on Wednesday, June 23 in Manhattan School of Music's John C. Borden Auditorium. The competition was open to pianists of every nationality, not under the age of 17 or more than 32 years of age.

The jury for the 2010 Naumburg Piano Competition consisted of Anton Nel, Ursula Oppens, Andr'-Michel Schub, Ann Schein, Jeffrey Swann, Robert Mann, Seth Knopp, Robert Levin and Menahem Pressler. Among past winners of the Naumburg Piano Award are Abby Simon (1941), William Kappell (1941), Constance Keene (1943), Andr'-Michel Schub (1974), Stephen Hough (1983), Anton Nel (1987), Awadagin Pratt (1992), and Gilles Vonsattel (2002).

Younji Lee

Dear friends: I know that it’s a bit out of the way, but it’s in a beautiful hall (Le Frak Hall, Queens College) and beautiful music. I would be honored if you would consider attending. Chin Kim

Friday, March 15, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.

Faculty Recital by

Chin Kim, violin

with

Younji Lee, piano

Devil’s Trill Sonata

Tartini-Kreisler

Partita No. 2 d minor

J. S. Bach

Sonata A Major for Violin and Piano

C. Franck

Tzigane for Violin and Piano

M. Ravel

International soloist and pedagogue, top and high prizewinner in several of the most prestigious of international violin competitions including the Concours International Musique de Montréal, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the Paganini Competition, and the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, Chin Kim, one of the most sought-after of violinists today, has been concertizing extensively throughout North America, Asia, and Europe as guest artist with orchestras as those of Philadelphia, St. Louis, Montréal, Czech Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, and with all major orchestras in Korea, with conductors Leonard Slatkin, John Nelson, Myung Whun Chung, Gerhardt Albrecht, Ling Tung, and Ianzug Kakhitzhe.

Younji Lee began studying piano at the age of six in Seoul, South Korea. She studied at Yewon School. Shortly after entering Seoul Arts High School, she studied in the Juilliard Pre College and received Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees at Indiana University in Bloomington. As a full scholarship recipient, she has worked as an associate instructor in the Secondary Piano Department and String Academy in Indiana. As an active chamber musician, she has worked with Janos Starker for his studio and she was invited to perform at various venues including Alice Tully Hall and Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Le Frak Concert Hall and Seoul Arts Center. She was an assistant instructor at Manhattan School of Music and she works as an official pianist in Accompanying Department. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Piano Performance at Manhattan School of Music with Dr. Solomon Mikowsky.

Younji Lee

Jiayin Li

Ssu Hsuan Li

Sining Liu

Sining Liu performing at a Weill Recital Hall concert in May 2013, sponsored by the Piano Teachers Congress of New York, following competitive auditions.

Chia-Hui LU

Sofya Melikyan

Dear Friends,

I want to wish you a very happy, bright and uplifting 2019!

It is my pleasure to share with you some updates on past and future activities.

My two new solo records were released in 2018. One CD which is dedicated to music by contemporary female composers and the second one to music by Granados and Mompou.

I am humbled and happy that both CDs found a very enthusiastic and warm reaction of the press, including Golden Disc by Melomano magazine, Best CD of the Summer by Taggesspiegel Newspaper, recommendation of the Week by Klassiek Heute, among others.

If interested, you can listen to the CDs on the following links:

1

2

Thank you for your attention and your support.

With best wishes,

Sofya

Sofya Melikyan

Queridos amigos,

Espero que estéis bien.

Pronto viajaré a Madrid para un recital en CentroCentro el 4 de abril a las 19.30h. Es un concierto dentro del ciclo 'Limites de la Identidad' organizado por Jorge Fernández Guerra. El programa incluye obras de compositoras mujeres. 4 de abril. Historia

Kaija Saariaho. Preludio

Raquel Quiaro. Clúster Suite

Sofia Gubajdúlina. Sonata Geghuni Chitchyan. Armenian Bas-Reliefs

Si tenéis la tarde libre, sería una alegría grande compartir este momento con vosotros.

Aquí esta la información:http://centrocentro.org/cms/pre_otras/1

Un abrazo y mis mejores deseos,

Sofya

www.sofyamelikyan.com

Sofya Melikyan

The American Liszt Society NY/NJ Chapter
(celebrating its 25th season)
(founder/president: Gila Goldstein)

and

Yamaha Artist Services, Inc.

PRESENT:

SOFYA MELIKYAN, piano

“MELIKYAN PLAYED BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTO NO 3 IMPRESSIVELY. HER DEEPLY MOVING PERFORMANCE, FULL OF SUBTLE NUANCE, WAS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY BEAUTY"…

Mundoclasico, Spain

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2016, at 7:30pm

Location:
Yamaha Piano Salon
689 Fifth Avenue (NE corner of 54 street)
Third Floor
(212) 339-9995 ext. 0

Subway lines:
1, A, C, D, B to Columbus Circle
4, 5, 6 to Lexington at 59 st.
4, 6, to Lexington at 51 st.
E, M to Fifth ave. at 53 st.
F to Seventh ave. at 57 st.

General Admission: $20, Seniors & Students: $10

No payment in advance, no Credit Cards.
Cash or checks only, Pay at the door.
To reserve your seats: please email gilagoldstein@aol.com

Recital Program:

Enrique Granados (1867-1916) | Goyescas (complete)
                                                     Los requiebros
                                                     Coloquio en la reja
                                                     El fandango de candil
                                                     Quejas ó la maja y el ruiseñor
                                                     El amor y la muerte
                                                     Serenata del espectro

COMMEMORATING THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF GRANADOS' DEATH

INTERMISSION

Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961) | Nocturne No 5, Op. 55

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) | Nuages Gris
                                           Bagatelles sans tonalité
                                          Jeux d´eau a la villa d´Este
                                          Hungarian Rhapsody no 10

About the Artist
Hailed for her “magnificent singing line and an exquisite artistic sensibility”, Armenian-born pianist Sofya Melikyan toured throughout Europe, USA, Canada, Cuba, China, Japan and Australia with performances at such venues as Carnegie Hall in New York, Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Belgrade Philharmonic Hall, Armenian Philharmonic Hall, Jordan Hall in Boston, Salle Cortot in Paris, among many others. She appeared as a soloist with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra of Spain, Cordoba Symphony Orchestra, Valencia Symphony Orchestra, Master Symphony Orchestra in Valencia, New Europe Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of Andalucía, Spanish National Orchestra.

Ms. Melikyan's performances have been broadcast by the National Radio and Television of Spain, National Radio and Television of Armenia, National Radio of Catalonia, Melbourne ABC Classic FM Radio Station, Chicago WFMT Radio station, Mezzo French Television Station, New York WXQR Radio Station. She has also released two CDs featuring music of Haydn, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Albeniz, Dutilleux and Khachaturian.

Sofya Melikyan has been awarded First Prize and a Prize for outstanding Music Talent at the Marisa Montiel International Piano Competition in Linares, First Prize at the Ibiza International Piano Competition in Spain, First Prize for Music Interpretation awarded by “Amigos del Colegio de España” Association in Paris. She also received top and special prizes at the José Iturbi and Maria Canals International Competitions in Spain. As a member of New York based Sima Trio, Ms. Melikyan was a Gold Medal winner at the New England International Chamber Music Competition in Boston and 2nd Prize winner at J.C. Arriaga International Chamber Music Competition in Stamford, USA.

Recent performance highlights include recitals at the Carnegie’s Weill recital Hall and Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center in New York, Guangzhou Opera House in China, Bulgaria Concert Hall in Sofia, Santiago de Compostela Auditorium in Spain, "Chopin+" Festival in Luxembourg, Return and Aram Khachaturian Festivals in Yerevan, Armenia, Juan March Foundation in Madrid, Spain (live broadcast on Spanish National Radio), Spanish tours with Master Symphony Orchestra, Valencia Chamber Orchestra, debut with National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba in Havana, as well as appearances at Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Detroit, Schloss Wonfurt Musikfest in Germany and Joaquin Turina International Chamber Music Festival in Seville, Spain.

Upcoming engagements include recitals and chamber music concerts in USA, France, Germany, Canada, Spain and Armenia, as well as debuts with the North Shore Symphony Orchestra in Chicago and Vancouver Symphony in USA.

Sofya Melikyan completed her studies at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid with Joaquin Soriano (graduated with Honors), Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot in Paris with Ramzi Yassa (graduated with Honors) and Manhattan School of Music in New York with Solomon Mikowsky. Other pianists who have mentored her are Brigitte Engerer, Horacio Gutierrez and Galina Eguiazarova

http://www.sofyamelikyan.com

http://www.americanlisztsociety.net

http://www.gilagoldstein.com/liszt

Sofya Melikyan

Upcoming performances:

January 14th, 9pm: Angel Brage piano series, Santiago de Compostela Auditorium, Spain
Solo recital with works by Chopin, Mompou and Granados

January 31st, 7.30pm: Palau de la Musica Valenciana, Sala Iturbi, Valence, Spain
Mozart - Piano concerto No 23, K 488

February, 9th, 6pm: Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain
4 hands recital with Luis Fernando Pérez: Mahler Symphony No 8

March 11th, 8pm: Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, New York, USA
Solo with works by Komitas, Granados and Chopin

March 19th, 7.30pm: Walburgissaal Singen, Singen, Germany
Solo recital with works by Komitas, Schumann, Granados, Chopin and Babadjanian

News:
Review of my recital at Rosalia de Castro Theatre in A Coruña
Video: excerpt from the recital at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC
Video: Joaquin Turina Chamber Music Festival in Seville
Video: Juan March Foundation in Madrid performing Liszt

Sofya Melikyan

Chopin, Goya y consecuentes

La Sociedad Filarm'nica de A Coruna ha celebrado su segundo recital de la presente temporada, en el que la pianista Sofya Malikyan se ha presentado con un programa con m'sica de Fryderyk Chopin, Federico Mompou y Enrique Granados. La primera parte tuvo una coherente estructura, como de viaje circular con principio y fin en el pianista polaco (Nocturno en do sostenido menor, op. 48 no 1 y Polonesa-fantas'a en la bemol mayor, op 61) y, engarzadas entre ambas, las Variaciones sobre un tema de Chopin de Mompou. La segunda tuvo como protagonista a Granados en su suite para piano Goyescas.

Melikyan hace un Chopin de fuertes contrastes expresivos. Una especie de amalgama de dulzura y fuerza 'con un aparente predominio de aquella- que destac' ya desde su versi'n del Nocturno con que inici' el recital. Las Variaciones de Mompou son especialmente propicias para ese tipo de contrastes t'mbricos. En ellas, mostr' Melikyan el aspecto m's impresionista de la obra, con un sonido en ocasiones cercano a lo nebuloso y que en otras, por su dureza y brillo, parec'a querer recordar lo que el autor llamaba 'el acorde met'lico'. La Polonesa-fantas'a trajo de vuelta al auditorio al Chopin m's 'pico, aunque con una cierta brusquedad de pulsaci'n que se tradujo en ocasiones en un desagradable eco de sonido a madera de algunos staccati, tal vez atribuible a las condiciones mec'nicas del piano utilizado.

La versi'n de Goyescas por Melikyan fue una acertada muestra de los caracteres cambiantes de las seis piezas que la componen y de su inspiraci'n en sendas obras de Goya. La gracia con que interpret' los requiebros se benefici'n de una notable soltura mec'nica, aspecto t'cnico que se pudo valorar a lo largo de la suite: Coloquio en la Reja fue una sucesi'n de ternura, picard'a y un cierto arrebato; hubo vuelo danzante en el Fandango.

Si hubo Quejas en La maja y el ruisenor fueron de airosa levedad; se libr' batalla entre agudos tiernos y graves de oscura dureza en El amor y la muerte. Y en el Ep'logo: Serenata del espectro lo burlesco de sus staccati hubo de competir con la llamada de un m'vil y las sonoras sonrisas de quienes no lo apagaron a tiempo. El gesto de agrado casi permanente de la pianista pareci' demostrar su satisfacci'n por el trabajo realizado.

Sofya Melikyan

Dear Friends,

I hope this email finds you well and you are having a wonderful month of September!
I would like to update you on my upcoming performances during next two months in case you are able and interested to attend any.
Very happy about making my Kennedy Center debut in November!
By clicking on the venue you can get more detailed information about each event.

October 4th - South Huntington Public Library, Huntington, New York
Solo recital

October 8th - Zinc Bar, Manhattan, New York
Solo recital featuring bassist Pascal Niggenkemper

October 21st - Khachaturian International Festival, Yerevan, Armenia
Violin and piano duo recital
Live stream on khachaturianfestival.com

November 10th - Philharmonic Society of La Coruna, Spain
Solo recital, Granados celebration (entire Goyescas cycle)

November 15th - Dweck Center for Contemporary Arts, Brooklyn, New York
Solo Recital - dedicated to the 100 years commemoration of the Armenian genocide

November 24th - Kennedy Center, Millenium Stage, Washington DC
Solo Recital - dedicated to the 100 years commemoration of the Armenian genocide
Live stream on http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/

Thank you for your attention and support.

Wishing you a beautiful and enjoyable Autumn,
Sincerely yours,
Sofya

Sofya Melikyan

- 22 febrero a las 19:00h - Caixa Forum Zaragoza
- 24 de febrero a las 20:00h - Caixa Forum Madrid
- 1 de marzo a las 19:00h - Caixa Forum Barcelona
- 17 de marzo a las 19:00h - Caixa Forum Palma de Mallorca

informaci'n del pormamme:

Aleksandr Scriabin: D'sir, op. 57 n'm. 1
Caresse dans'e, op. 57 n'm. 2
Deux Poemes, op. 63
Robert Schumann: Davidsb'ndlert'nze, op. 6

_________

Robert Schumann: Kreisleriana, op. 16
Aleksandr Scriabin: Vers la flamme, op. 72

Sofya Melikyan

Dame Myra Hess Concerts
Chicago Cultural Center

Wednesday, June 26, 2013, 12:15 p.m.

Sarah Crocker Vonsattel, violin
Ani Kalayjian, cello
Sofya Melikyan, piano

LIVE RADIO BROADCAST on WFMT 98.7 FM

www.simatrio.com || watch a video of the SIMA TRIO || visit SIMA TRIO on Facebook

admission is free

Program:

Adagio Adagio for Violin, Cello, and Piano (5')
Hans Werner Henze (1926 ' 2012)

Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87 for Violin, Cello, and Piano (30')
I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo: Presto
IV. Finale: Allegro giocoso
Johannes Brahms (1833 ' 1897)

Directions:
El: Pink, Orange, Green, Brown, Purple to Randolph; Blue to Washington; Red to Lake
Bus: 3, 4, 6, 10, 14, 26, 143, 144, 146, 147, 151, 157
Metra and South Shore to Millennium Station
For more travel information, visit www.transitchicago.com

Praised for their "powerful" and "heartfelt" interpretations of classical and ethnic repertoire, Sima Trio is quickly becoming one of the leading, young trios of its generation. Connected by their Armenian heritage, the members of this NY based ensemble have studied with such teachers as Dorothy Delay, Peter Oundjian, Joaquin Soriano, Solomon Mikowksy, Timothy Eddy, and Ralph Kirshbaum at Juilliard, Yale, Real Conservatorio Superior de Madrid, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes, and the Royal Northern College of Music respectively. Winners of international competitions,violinist SAMI MERDINIAN, cellist ANI KALAYJIAN, and pianist SOFYA MELIKYAN, are highly sought after soloists and chamber musicians who have performed at such major venues as Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colon, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, Concertgebauw, Seoul Arts Center, Shanghai Theatre, Salle Cortot, La Jolla Sherwood auditorium, Orange County Performing Arts Center, and Yerevan Philharmonic Hall, among others.

Sima Trio's group mission is to bring music to life, engage and educate communities, and create cross-cultural awareness. Performing as much as they can in diverse settings, they strive to bring music to life for people. Their musical focus is on exploring the abundant standard and forgotten repertoire, discovering new and old works from their unique cultural backgrounds and worldwide travels, and contributing to the repertoire by commissioning new trio works. As modern musicians, they each are passionate and dedicated to community engagement and education. These two are easily intertwined in the form of university or school residences, master classes, lessons, and community outreach concerts.

Sima Trio has recently won the second prize at J.C. Arriaga chamber music competition, as well as performed at Rutgers Zimmerli Arts Museum in New Brunswick, St. Gregory church in White Plains, Dweck Center in New York, Avalon Theater in Easton, Parish Hall in Wye Mills, and Ridotto series in Huntington, NY. Upcoming engagements include a South American tour in Frutillar, Chile, Cordoba & Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as recitals at the Little Rock Chamber Music Society, Fortuna Music Club and Fort Bragg Arts Center in California, Saugerties ProMusica Series in NY, Treetops Chamber Society, Weill Recital Hall, Freeport and Huntington Libraries, Myra Hess Series in Chicago, and a tour of Florida including performances at the Broward Center.

Jose Ramon Mendez

Klara Min

Listen to the sample on SoundCloud: Click here

Coming up soon:

SCRIABIN album on Steinway & Sons Label

Op 2 (Prelude & Etude), Op 11 (24 Preludes), Op 14 (Two Impromptus),
Op 32-1(Poem) Op 45 (Three Pieces), Op 57 (Desir, Caresse dansee)

Release date: January 8, 2016
Pre-order now available on Amazon.com
available on iTunes and more in December 2015

Release concert: January 12, 2016 at 8pm
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Tickets: $50,$40,$20

Highlights of Performance:

November 28, 2015
Concerto appearance - Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra
Vladimir Fedoseyev, Conductor
Musikverein Kaernten
Klagenfuert, Austria

December 4, 2015
Concerto appearance - Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1
Sochi Symphony Orchestra
Jesus Medina, Conductor
Sochi, Russia

Spring 2016:
Recitals in Berlin, Hamburg, London
Concerto appearance with Orquesta Sinfonica OSUANL, Mexico
Concerto appearance/recording with Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Warsaw (Cond. Augustin Dumay)

SIMA Trio

About SIMA Trio and the players

Winners of the First Prize and Gold Medal of 2012 New England International Chamber Music Competition, Sima Trio is quickly becoming one of the leading, young trios of its generation. Praised for their "powerful" and "heartfelt" interpretations of classical and ethnic repertoire, and connected by their Armenian heritage, the members of this NY based ensemble are highly sought after soloists and chamber musicians who have performed at such major venues as Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colon, Palau de la Musica de Barcelona ,Concertgebauw, Seoul Arts Center,Shanghai Theatre, Salle Cortot, La Jolla Sherwood auditorium, Orange County Performing Arts Center, and Yerevan Philharmonic Hall, among others. International award winning violinist Sami Merdinian, cellist Ani Kalayjian, and pianist Sofya Melikyan have studied with Dorothy Delay, Peter Oundjian, Joaquin Soriano , Solomon Mikowsky, Timothy Eddy, and Ralph Kirshbaum.

Performing as much as they can in diverse settings, Sima sets out to convey the musical beauty and uniqueness of their Armenian roots through a repertoire rich with traditional discoveries as well as fresh new works. As modern musicians, they each are passionate and dedicated to community engagement and education. These two are easily intertwined in the form of university or school residences, master classes, lessons,and community outreach concerts. Sima Trio has recently won a top prize at J.C. Arriaga chambermusic competition in Stamford. Highlights for the past season include tours in USA, Japan, Australia and Canada, appearances at Monteleon Chamber Music Festival in Leon and Palace of Festivals of Santander in Spain, collaborations with Kim Kashkashian, Australian premiere of Lera Auerbach's piano trio, as well as 2011 and 2012 residency as Shouse Artists at Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Michigan. Upcoming engagements include concerts in USA: Red Bank Chamber Music Society in NJ,Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago, Cranbrook Concert Guild series in Michigan, Argentina and Spain.

Sami Merdinian, violin
Ani Kalayjian, cello
Sofya Melikyan, piano

"...Sima thrilled the audience with its artistry, sensitivity, phrasing and versatility. The performers received a spontaneous standing ovation..."
Armenian reporter newspaper

"One of the greatest trios of their generation"
Andres Diaz

"...The Sima Trio's reading of Mozart's G minor Piano Quartet, with illustrious violist Kim Kashkashian, was wonderfully sonorous and surpassingly lyrical, even in the dramatic opening Allegro..."
James Leonard, Ann Arbor Observer

"The Sima Trio is a wonderfully energetic, intensely musical group of young musicians that define the words "Play from your hearts". They do that and more!"
Ani Kavafian

Sima Trio performs Josef Haydn's 'gypsy' trio mov3 at Festival Monteleon

Sima Trio plays A. Babadjanian: Trio in f# minor mov III allegro vivace (newly posted video)

Misha Namirovsky

Edward Neeman

About the Performers and Composers

Edward Neeman studied piano with Larry Sitsky at the Australian National University, where he received his Bachelor's Degree in music in 2005. He moved to the United States to study with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music, where he received his Masters Degree. Other teachers have included Geoffrey Lancaster at the ANU, Roger Woodward, Irena Orlov, and Santiago Rodriguez. He is currently a DMA candidate at the Juilliard School, studying with Jerome Lowenthal. Edward has won first prizes in the Rodrigo International Piano Competition, the Carlet International Piano Competition, and the Kawai Australasian Concerto Competition among others. He has performed with the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Queensland Symphony, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Madrid under conductors such as Andrey Boreyko, G'rard Korsten and Vladimir Verbitsky. He has been featured on ABC television and radio programs in Australia. In the 2009/10 season, Edward has played concerts across the United States and toured Spain, London, and the Czech Republic. His performance of the Concierto para piano by Joaquin Rodrigo with the Prague Philharmonic will be released on CD by the Rodrigo Foundation later this year. Other highlights include performances with Juilliard's new music ensemble Axiom, and a world premiere of the piano sonata 'Retirer d'en bas de l'eau' by Larry Sitsky in April 2010.

Visit Edward's Website

Edward Neeman

Anticipation accompanies the end of Round Two at the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition
Published: Sunday, August 02, 2009, 11:20 PM Updated: Sunday, August 02, 2009, 11:36 PM
By Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer

No one has leaped far ahead of the pack at the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition, as Alexander Ghindin did almost a week before he won first prize two years ago. There's a closer degree of artistic ability among the best of this year's contestants, which makes choosing from among them for the semi-finals, not to mention the finals, a greater challenge. The final recitals in Round Two on Sunday at the Cleveland Play House's Bolton Theatre didn't do much to change the impressions that the last 10 of the 32 contestants had made in the first round. Those who stood out did so again. The others made every effort to build on what they had offered when they introduced themselves.

Aside from several exceptional performances Sunday, the thing that many people are likely to remember was the sound of a cell phone ringing during the first movement of Brahms' Sonata No. 1 in C major, Op. 1. Certainly American pianist Michael Neeman, 25, won't forget it: he was playing the piece, beautifully, at the time.

But Neeman didn't flinch when the nuisance reared its ugly sound. He proceeded to shape the Brahms with forceful and poetic maturity, propelling and hugging phrases, making sure that sonorities always maintained grandeur, even in the fiercest passages. The young Brahms emerged as the passionate and tender rebel he would always be.

Neeman's artistry also served the aristocratic demands of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, which benefited from the pianist's subtle shadings and elastic tempos.

For sheer, captivating music-making, few contestants this year were more persuasive than South Korea's Soo-Yeon Ham, 23, who wound up the Round Two recitals with a radiant account of Chopin's 12 Etudes, Op. 25. Many of the pieces in this collection were played singly during the first two rounds. Ham's way of floating sonorities and imbuing each etude with fluency and feeling made her approach to Chopin a series of special occasions.

Marina Radiushina, a 29-year-old Urkaine-born American, was the essence of expressive fervor and discipline in her recital. She treated the angry rhetoric and motoric aspects of Kenneth Leighton's Fantasia Contrappuntistica (Homage to Bach), Op. 24, with superb command of color and rhythm. She had a slight mishap in Handel's Chaconne in G major, but the rapt stateliness of her playing won the day. And Radiushina was master of the rapturous lines, soft dynamics and sweeping gestures in Schumann's Variations on a Theme of Clara Wieck from the Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 14.

No one else Sunday was as consistent as these pianists, but there were fine performances amid stressed-out competition readings. Polish-born American pianist Martin Labazevitch, 29, was bright and affecting in three Scarlatti sonatas, which emerged with jewel-like clarity. His Chopin (Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 55, No. 2; Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52) were intimate and a bit prosaic.

Venezuela's Kristhyan Benitez, 25, veered toward willful, idiosyncratic and noisy shaping in Schumann's Kreisleriana, Op. 16. His approach was far more suited to Federico Ruiz's "Merengue" (1994), whose explosive rhythms and vital folk elements he set in vivid motion.

South Korea's Sangyoung Kim, 25, was cogent and stately in Bach's Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor, though prone toward rigidity and rushing in Schumann's Carnaval, Op. 9, among the composer's most beguiling collections.

Another performance of the Schumann was offered by Russia's Alexander Osminin, 27, who played with robotic precision and found little charm in the music (and barely acknowledged the presence of the audience). He energized the rollicking pungencies in Alemdar Karamanov's Rondo in E minor, but was nondescript in two Scarlatti sonatas.

By contrast, South Korea's William Youn, 26, was expressive and exuberant in two different Scarlatti sonatas. When he turned to Brahms' Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 2, his sound turned brittle, his shaping short of breath and his pacing too hyper to allow Brahms to speak with anything resembling grandeur.

Three Scarlatti sonatas sounded alternately buoyant and pensive in the hands of South Korea's Ju-Eun Lee, 28, who turned to the silent audience at the end of the last sonata with an adorable smile, as if to say, "That's all folks." She wasn't quite done, however: she moved on to Chopin's Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35, which was rough-hewn and unfocused, some sensitive lyrical shaping aside.

Works by Beethoven and Chopin received facile, unsettled performances by Russia's Anna Bulkina, 23. But she gave a powerful and ominous account of Sofia Gubaidulina's Chaconne, which - a testament to the piece's modern strength - was played by two pianists during the early rounds.

Now we wait for the jury to send eight of the contestants to the semi-finals, which are held Tuesday and Wednesday.

Edward Neeman

Ups and downs prevail as Round One ends at the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition
ublished: Thursday, July 30, 2009, 11:23 PM Updated: Thursday, July 30, 2009, 11:38 PM
By Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer

The roller coaster that is the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition continued Thursday with the remaining 10 contestants playing their Round One recitals. Of the competition's 32 participants, about half have demonstrated enough artistic substance to warrant possible advancement to the semi-finals, though only eight will have the good fortune to do so after Round Two ends Sunday. The third and final day of Round One on Thursday at the Cleveland Play House's Bolton Theatre yielded four contestants who went beyond piano playing to offer compelling music-making. Technically, the overall level was high, but nerves, willfulness and other intrusions kept many of the performances from entering the realm of satisfaction. The day's most individual pianist was Michael Neeman, 25, who holds citizenships in the United States and Australia. Neeman is a true artist who isn't afraid to put a distinctive stamp on whatever he touches, without resorting to mannerism.

In Beethoven's Sonata in C major, Op. 2, No. 3, he tapped into the composer's early radicalism, pointing out rule-breaking matters of form and harmony. Neeman was incisive and insightful, modifying tempos to subtle effect and finding all sorts of inflections to convey the varied emotional states. He gave a fascinating account of Chopin's octave-laden Etude in B minor, Op. 25, No. 10, breathing inventively with the music, and braved the 12-tone jazziness of Milton Babbitt's brief "It Takes Twelve to Tango."

Ukraine-born American pianist Marina Radiushina, 29, also contributed a fine traversal of Beethoven, here the Sonata in A-flat major, Op. 110. Deeply felt, urgent and dramatic, the performance was marked by sophisticated shaping and sonic splendor. Radiushina made an explosive thing of the chromatic challenges in Chopin's Etude in A minor, Op. 25, No. 11 ("Winter Wind").

The day included three accounts of Haydn's Sonata in C major, whose most persuasive interpreter was Martin Labazevitch, a 29-year-old Polish-born American. His Haydn was a thing of articulate and delightful beauty, full of nuanced details and rollicking motion. He gave dynamic thrust to Radzynski's Mazurka (2008), but found Chopin's Etude in B minor, Op. 25, No. 10, to be a bit of a weighty challenge.

Another captivating advocate for the Haydn sonata was South Korea's Soo-Yeon Ham, 23, who emphasized crisp attack, purity of sound and delicate phrasing. She was poised and bright in two Scarlatti sonatas and mustered powerful and otherworldly intensity in Ligeti's Etude No. 6, Book I ("Automne a Varsovie").

Three other South Korean pianists were variable. Sangyoung Kim, 26, took hold of the angry chords and floated the ethereal statements in Dutilleux's Choral et Variations. But she clipped phrases and lost tension in Haydn's Sonata in G major and tossed off Chopin's Etude in G-sharp minor, Op. 25, No. 6, at too brisk a pace for details to register.

William Youn, 26, was bold and often fluent in his repertoire, but also reckless in Haydn's Sonata in C major, noisy in Chopin's Etude in B minor, Op. 25, No.10, and indistinct in the quirky leaps and fragmented bursts in Yun's 5 Klavierstucke.

His compatriot, 28-year-old Ju-Eun Lee, was more controlled in the Yun collection, and she brought lilting agility to Chopin's Etude in A-flat major, Op. 10, No. 10. Still, she had little luck in Beethoven's Sonata in E major, Op. 109, which sounded capricious and coarse, and she lost her way briefly in one of the final variations.

Russia's Anna Bulkina, 23, was crisp if not entirely accurate in two Scarlatti sonatas. She presented Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 35, mostly as a technical showpiece, minus much phrasing or atmosphere. Some sonorities became harsh.

Another Russian pianist, 27-year-old Alexander Osminin, has technique to spare, though he appeared reticent to use these gifts to bring expressive depth to the music in his head. Beethoven's Sonata in C major, Op. 2, No. 3, unfolded with machine-like efficiency. The performance hardly took a breath. His fingers did his bidding in Chopin's Etude in A minor, Op. 25, No. 11 ("Winter Wind"), without capturing the music's swirling, icy aura.

There were moments during the recital by Venezuela's Kristhyan Benitez, 25, when you could hear the musical intelligence behind the unsettled playing. More often than not, Benitez sounded bland in pieces by Bach, Chopin and Beethoven, which lacked clarity and presence. Things, of course, could change during Round Two, when the contestants play longer recitals and try to show more facets of their artistry. Surprises are always welcome, like twists in a good thriller.

Edward Neeman

In Cleveland International Piano Competition, winner is only part of the story
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Donald Rosenberg
Plain Dealer Reporter
The artistic dust has settled -- or has it? -- from the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition, which provided enough suspense for several sonic thrillers.

As always, the outcome of musical competitions leaves observers believing the jurors are wise, mad or a bit of both. Listeners hear different things in pianists, choose their favorites and hope the jury will agree with them.

It rarely happens, of course. The nature of these events almost demands that debates will ensue, which is healthy. This year's Cleveland competition continued the traditions of ecstasy, agony and surprise that are inevitable contest accompaniments.

The faithful may still be arguing about the ranking of the top two finalists -- Croatia's Martina Filjak (first) and Canada's Dmitri Levkovich -- but no one can deny that both are superb, charismatic artists poised for flourishing careers.

Still, it is inevitable that a number of pianists who make outstanding impressions in the early rounds will fall by the wayside because they're deemed too striking or somehow short of virtuoso character. Memory and technical lapses don't help.

Juries at big musical competitions lean toward contestants who are polished, confident and promising, if not likely to go to extremes. Among the pianists this year who fit into that category were Filjak and Levkovich, intensely musical performers who brought seasoned and sensitive shaping to the repertoire they played.

Fine, but to my ears, American pianist Edward Neeman was the competition's most audacious artist, which may have sealed his fate after the first two rounds.

The listeners who found Neeman's performance of Beethoven's Sonata in C major, Op. 2, No. 3 to be a bold elucidation of radical music evidently didn't include the jury. In works by Bach, Babbitt, Brahms and Chopin, Neeman also found individual answers to phrasing and shading that heightened each score's expressive aspects....

Edward Neeman wins First Prize in the 2008 Joaquín Rodrigo International Competition, Madrid

Ana Queiros

Elina Christova

Beethoven Violin Sonatas

Yuan Sheng

New Isler's Insights Interview With Yuan Sheng

Although Yuan Sheng is now a professor at the Central Conservatory of Beijing, where he was once a student, he lived in the United States long enough that he began to forget some of his Chinese, he told me with a laugh.

China has produced a number of pianists who have become celebrities, like Lang Lang, Yuja Wang and Yundi Li. But Sheng is the Chinese pianist whose concerts I try not to miss. Since first hearing him about 15 years ago his musicianship has continued to impress me. His playing is elegant though not flamboyant, and intellectual but never dry. To say that he excels in two composers as different as Bach and Chopin gives an idea of his range. He is also a wonderful Debussy pianist, and, in fact, was playing an early ballade by the French master as I arrived for an interview. So beautiful and evocative was it that I became aware of the inadequacy of words to describe color in music.

The son of a violinist father and a pianist mother he began piano lessons at age five "because I had nothing much else to do" he says. He studied till age nine with his mother, though he was not very serious about it at first. He was well taught by his mother but became a bit rebellious by the age of ten, so she sent him to study with her friend and Shanghai Conservatory classmate, Qifang Li. Ms. Li was very strict, and he sometimes cried at lessons, but he increased his practicing time, and they did a lot of work on technique. When he was thirteen he was accepted into the Central Conservatory, and he studied there till he was 19.

He then came to New York to study with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music. "How did that come about?" I asked.

"My father had a friend who knew Dr. Mikowsky, and gave him a tape of my playing" he told me. "I was accepted, and received an almost full scholarship."

"What did you learn from Dr. Mikowsky during your six years with him?" I asked.

"He is very good at identifying a student's strengths and weaknesses" he told me. "His students don't fit a mold because he respects peoples' individuality, and works with your character. He also considers the size and shape of your hand, and your technique."

"Did he play for you often at lessons?" I asked.

"Not often, but always very beautifully when he did."

Another important thing Mikowsky did was to take Yuan Sheng to performances of Shura Cherkassky. "Cherkassky gave me new understanding about playing the piano, not just with his sound, which was gorgeous, but also with his phrasing, freedom, imagination, charisma and technical control."

His next teacher was Rosalyn Tureck, who then lived in London.

"Did you move to London?" I asked.

"No, I stayed in New York and flew there every other month and had lessons for several days, or a week."

Why did he go to Tureck at that point?

"I wanted to work on more Bach and Beethoven, and in a very intellectual way" he said.

What was Tureck like as a teacher?

"She was very strict and demanding" he said. "Everything had to be done her way. One could spend half an hour on one or two bars of a Bach work" he said, and then demonstrated parts of two pieces in which she had figured out how every single note should be played, re phrasing, accents, and relationships within the measure. Although he does not do everything in Bach exactly the way she taught him, he was inspired by her thoroughness and attention to detail.

Also, because of Tureck, he became interested in the harpsichord, and period instruments. In fact, he has now recorded the Goldberg Variations of Bach on both the modern piano, and the harpsichord! "And this coming year I will perform it twice in one day, first on the harpsichord, in the afternoon, and on the piano in the evening." As he plays every single repeat (which makes the work about 77 minutes long) that will be a feat!

We discussed at some length his ideas about the importance of introducing pianists to historical instruments. He told me he believes every conservatory should have electives on period instruments, and that at the Central Conservatory in Beijing they now have a harpsichord, a clavichord, a piano from Beethoven's time, and and two pianos from the era of Chopin. He wants to make more recordings on the harpsichord, and even some on the clavichord, which, he believes, is a very expressive instrument. "These older instruments give one a better idea of what the composers heard and felt" he said.

Sheng also believes that the Romantic habit of rolling chords emanated from the earlier instruments. "The harpsichord was inspired by the organ, as it has a keyboard, and the lute, on which notes are plucked. "And not only Bach, but Mozart and Haydn, too, were well acquainted with the harpsichord." He says that there was much more rhythmic freedom in playing long ago compared to now, and also that the softer sound of these instruments, and the shorter duration of their notes, affected tempi.

"Playing period instruments brings you into a whole other culture from that of the pianist" he added. Whereas pianists focus great importance on the sound produced, players of the older instruments devote great care to ornaments, articulation and the expressive use of rhythm. "If a pianist changes one note of the score it's almost a 'sin' whereas on the older instruments one is expected to elaborate on what's written."

Yuan Sheng prefers to perform as much as possible these days, and not teach too much, though he does teach full-time at the conservatory, and has some private students. Perhaps he'll change this balance when he's older, he says.

What career plans does he have at this point?

He plans to record:

1) Almost all the major non-organ keyboard works of Bach on the piano, plus some pieces on the harpsichord and clavichord,

2) All the Chopin works,

3) All the Beethoven piano sonatas, and

4) All the piano works of Debussy.

If that sounds like a lot, I should add that he's already more than half way through the Bach and Chopin projects, and has learned all the Beethoven sonatas, too.

Yuan Sheng is a wonderful artist whom you should go to hear, if you have the chance!

Donald Isler

Yuan Sheng

The Classical Music Guide Forums

IKIF

16th International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College
July 22nd, 2014

Gao Ping: Autumn Pond (2012)
Debussy: Twelve Preludes, Book 1
CPE Bach: Fantasie in F-Sharp Minor, H. 300, Wq. 67
Beethoven: Andante Favori, WoO 57
Beethoven: Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53 ('Waldstein')

Yuan Sheng is a musician's musician. He always plays with taste, power and refinement, a beautiful tone and an excellent understanding of the style of each composer. Though he is particularly well known for his playing of the music of JS Bach and Chopin he included neither of them on this concert, offering, instead, an interesting combination of standard and little-known repertoire.

Gao Ping's Autumn Pond, the first work he played, is a lovely eight minute piece, reflective and nostalgic, with an 'impressionistic' feeling. Despite the extensive use of fourths, and other harmonies that go rather far afield from where it starts, much of the work seems to be based in, or near, G Major.

Mr. Sheng's playing of the Debussy Preludes was wonderful! Not just beautiful and sensuous, as one would expect, but deeply thoughtful as well. Among other qualities he excels at is very fine control of the lower end of the dynamic range. One noticed this particularly in the incredibly soft but controlled final chord of Voiles (Veils), and the way Le vent dans la plaine (The Wind on the Plain) simply evaporated at the end. He handled beautifully the contrast of the exuberance, and longing of Les collines d'Anacapri (the Hills of Anacapri) leading into the desolation of Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps In the Snow), which led, in turn, to the menacing Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest (What the West Wind Saw). And La cath'drale engloutie (The Engulfed Cathedral) was glorious, when it arose out of the deep.

The CPE Bach Fantasie includes some showy passagework, interesting modulations and declamatory gestures. Though Yuan Sheng played it very well I was not overwhelmed by the music.

By contrast, I was very taken with Mr. Sheng's performance of Beethoven's Andante Favori. Of course, there is much that is subjective, but when you hear someone play a piece and you get the feeling 'That's exactly how this should sound!' it means you're really impressed! Lyrical, gracious, not metronomic but with subtle shifts in tempo (one was reminded of David Dubal's comment the other night 'Rhythm is respiration') and a beautiful change in color where the piece briefly visits D-Flat Major, this interpretation was a happy experience for this listener. Plus, in the extended right hand octave section, which I heard no less a pianist than Bruce Hungerford play over and over and over, to achieve a perfect take for his recording, Mr. Sheng hit not a wrong note.

One had the sense that he might have been a bit tired by the time he got to the Waldstein Sonata, where he experienced some memory problems in the outer movements. And yet, it contained a lot of fine playing, with thoughtful tone and tempo adjustments in the first movement, an expressive second movement, and much lovely playing in the last movement, the final page of which went out in a blaze of glory.

Yuan Sheng played one encore, Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3. It was brilliantly executed, and exquisite.

Donald Isler

Yuan Sheng

Ana Queir's as pianist of the Doppio Ensemble (Portugal)

www.instantencore.com

Yuan Sheng

The Classical Music Guide Forums

Post subject: Yuan Sheng Recital - IKIF (PostPosted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 10:44 am )

Yuan Sheng Recital
15th International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College
New York City
July 17th, 2013

All Bach Program
In Memory of Rosalyn Tureck
Partita No. 1 in B-Flat Major, BWV 825
Partita No. 3 in A Minor, BWV 827
Toccata in C Minor, BWV 911
Overture in B Minor in the French Style, BWV 831

Which model should one use for playing Bach on the piano? Edwin Fischer? Samuel Feinberg? Dinu Lipatti? Glenn Gould? Rosalyn Tureck? How about Yuan Sheng?

Yuan Sheng is a young Chinese and American trained artist whose annual recitals at the Festival I never miss. One of the impressive aspects about him is his versatility. Last year he gave a ravishing program of Debussy and Ravel. In other years he has played excellent recitals dedicated to the music of Chopin. And his program two years ago, consisting of the Bach Goldberg Variations, has to count as one of THE memorable experiences in my many years of attending concerts.

He has technique, he always produces a good tone (and he makes one think that this music was written for the modern piano), he has ideas and he has ears, so that the music always has motion and direction, even when he's playing very slowly. These days he's playing some movements without any pedal, and doing a bit more ornamentation than before. Some people may prefer a bit less of the latter, though I enjoyed it. Perhaps the most striking example of his creative ornamentation was in the return to Menuet I of Partita No. 1, where he changed to a triplet rhythm. Like the fine musician he is, any repeat always included some slight, interesting shift, in dynamics, expression or even phrasing. His daring was made clear in the wicked speed at which he played the concluding Gigue.

Partita No. 3, perhaps less known to some people than Partita No. 1, featured a beautifully played Sarabande (actually that could be said of how he played all the Sarabandes). He notched up the speed in each of the last three movements, from the rollicking Burlesca, through the spirited Scherzo, and finally in the Gigue, which was played with wonderful clarity.

Mr. Sheng held one's attention throughout the C Minor Toccata from the declamatory opening through the countless, though never boring repetitions of the fugue motive (he used an especially lovely sound color when it went into E-Flat Major), to the shocking F Minor chord on the last page, and then to the brilliant ending.

Mr. Sheng fought his way through some slight memory problems in the first movement of the Overture in the French Style, despite which it came off as an invigorating romp. The rest of this work was wonderfully played. Especially notable was the charm of the Gavottes, his presentation of the contrasting Passepieds, the expansiveness of the Sarabande and the last movement, the Echo, in which he would switch back and forth between two different levels of sound, sometimes in mid-melody, but always in a logical manner.

Mr. Sheng's encore was the theme of the Goldberg Variations. Played with seemingly spontaneous pacing (probably achieved by having practiced it a million times), every nuance filled with color and deep expression, it left nothing to be desired.

One must assume that Rosalyn Tureck, with whom Mr. Sheng studied, would be proud.

Donald Isler

Yuan Sheng

Yuan Sheng Recital - IKIF

14th International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College
New York City
July 25th, 2012

Program

Debussy ' Suite Bergamasque
Debussy ' Estampes
Debussy ' L'isle joyeuse
Ravel ' Sonatine
Ravel ' Le Tombeau de Couperin

On arrival at Mannes College this evening I learned that two upcoming recitals this week are already sold out. This one should have been, too.

I first heard Yuan Sheng about nine years ago, playing an all-Chopin recital. I subsequently heard him play an all- Bach recital, and several programs with mixed repertoire. He returned to Bach at his IKIF recital last year with a performance of the Goldberg Variations which made a profound impression on his audience.

This year, perhaps with the 150th anniversary of the birth of Debussy and the 75th anniversary of the death of Ravel in mind, he turned to French repertoire. And, as usual, his interpretations were convincing and impressive.

Why?

Because, I think, he has the sensitivity and sophistication to get into the sound world of whatever music he's playing and, without imposing himself in an egotistical way, make his conception of it work. That doesn't mean it couldn't be played differently. But one doesn't argue with him. One readily accepts the way he plays the music.

Having heard David Dubal's program on Debussy a few nights ago, which included voluptuous and overwhelming recorded performances by Gieseking and Michelangeli, I was nevertheless reminded of yet another aspect of music of this genre by Yuan Sheng this evening, namely an almost classical quiet and restraint that can sometimes tug at the heartstrings. One heard this often, as well as the great swirls of sound in other places, ie. the whirlwind in the last movement of the Ravel Sonatine, and the frenzy, and huge sustained sound at the end of the Toccata from Le Tombeau. And everything in between.

Mr. Sheng has a very big dynamic range, and the musicianship to hold one's attention, either through the senses or the intellect, or both. He will not, for instance, play a phrase with rubato without subtly altering the rubato when it comes around again. Not surprisingly, when he played an encore, Debussy's The Girl With the Flaxen Hair, it was more interestingly and expressively played than usual. And, with no trouble at all, he went from a quasi-religious Japanese sensibility in Pagodes to a longing, romantic Spanish atmosphere in La soir'e dans Grenade.

This is an artist who seems to play everything well, and certainly deserves greater recognition.

Donald Isler

Review of Yuan Sheng's performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations at the Mannes Festival in New York City, July 2011.

On one of the hottest nights of the summer, Yuan Sheng, professor of the piano at the Central Conservatory in Beijing was in New York to perform at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival. His appearance brought forth a large and knowledgeable crowd at the Mannes College. Mr. Sheng played but one composition, the monumental Goldberg Variations. For 70 minutes you could not hear a sound, the audience was about as concentrated as Mr. Sheng. In his performance there was not a shred of fake spirituality, nor any influences of Gould or Mr. Sheng's mentor Rosalyn Tureck. This was a highly pianistic rendering; full throttle piano playing. The Goldbergs are Bach's most worldly keyboard work and Mr. Sheng brought flesh, the devil and humor to the long but tightly knit score, certainly the greatest set of Variations of the Baroque period. Mr. Sheng's preparation was strong, and his fingers never faltered. He seems to conceive the work, one may perhaps say, as a non-verbal play - each Variation bringing its own cast of characters. I do not know if such a Stage Conception was in Mr. Sheng's mind, but for this listener I saw one character after another jumping and bouncing from the keyboard - I kept thinking of the Commedia dell'arte. Of course I don't mean this in a literal sense, only that tonight's conception was so graphic that the Goldbergs had a new vibrancy. As I left the concert, a young pianist exclaimed, 'This was the best hour of my life.' Mr. Sheng is becoming well known, and his Goldbergs have been heard in many venues, but let's not typecast him, as his repertoire is vast.

Chinese magazine containing an article about Xu Han and Yuan Sheng

Musica di Pianoforte (Korea), May 1997 Article about Yuan Sheng and Gustavo Díaz, two top prize winners at the Jaén International Competition, Spain

Chinese pianist Yuan Sheng, 1st prize winner of the Ignacio Cervantes International Piano Competition after a performance of the Chopin Concerto No. 1 with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional,
Havana, Cuba

Yehong Shi

Meet Chinese Pianist Yehong Shi

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Amy Munice

Piano Music Born of Plague…

If it weren’t for the piano, Yehong Shi might have been #775 in 2003…

His loving parents, whom today he chats with several times a day via the Internet, certainly weren’t going to allow him to become that number victim of the plague. It was the year of the SARS epidemic. He was forbidden to leave the house.

Yehong Shi, just like any 10 year-old, would have much preferred to be at school with his playmates. But even if his parents had been more lax, the schools were closed. Chinese TV at the time was 24/7 news of the state-sponsored variety. Not much there to amuse or distract young Yehong.

Neither of Yehong’s parents were musicians nor knew how to play a piano. But his mom especially just loved a piano’s sound. That’s why she had bought a piano and put it in their home years before. Yehong had grown up with it there, not paying it much mind. A bored SARS prisoner in his own home, Yehong started experimenting on how he might make a tune on it.

That was when Yehong’s parents got an inkling of his preternatural musical talents. Soon after the epidemic scare lifted, his mother brought Yehong to a music teacher.

Yehong’s late start at the piano, compared to the typical Chinese child pianist who is started at the age of only 3 or 4, quickly proved inconsequential. Within a year he was performing Beethoven concertos. When he was 12 Yehong competed against 20-somethings and in addition to reaping prize after prize, he also was able to expand his repertoire with rapid speed.

His performances in and around Beijing gained the attention of a leading Chinese musician, Professor Zhou Guang Ren, who encouraged him to pursue a career as a concert pianist. That in turn led to a family decision for Yehong to come to America to pursue greater opportunities for advancing a musical career.

First stop was a bachelors degree at the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Dr. Solomon Mikowsky and Dr. Marc Silverman. Currently he is attending Roosevelt University’s College of Performing Arts, studying for his masters with Dr. Wael Farouk.

Taking a break from his studies, Yehong Shi performed the day before Thanksgiving, 2016, in the weekly Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series that is simulcast via WFMT and then available worldwide via the Internet. Click (Listen to the performance here.)

Shi’s program included: Debussy’s Selections from Préludes Book 1; Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 19; and Liszt’s Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418.

Explaining his program choices, Yehong says, “My thought was to put something in the first part that will get the audience’s attention right away. Debussy’s is a piece of impressionism and fantasy with many colors and contrasts, even though it is a very short piece…

“Then, I chose this early Scriabin work not only because it is so beautiful with powerful tones, but also because the second movement is very difficult technically and a challenge for myself…

“Finally, this last piece by Liszt is considered by many the most difficult piano piece or one of the ten most difficult pieces in the piano repertoire. Liszt wrote it when he was young. He was said to be such a magical pianist—perhaps the best in history—and able to do anything on the piano. It’s difficult to combine Mozart with Liszt, actually. I want the audience to know it is Liszt but to also feel that it is Mozart.”

If you are listening to Yehong Shi’s performance via WFMT podcast now, do know that as your heart swells as you listen you are not alone. Performing that same Scriabin work, for example, had won Yehong Shi 2nd Prize in the prestigious 2016 BMC Zimmerli piano competition.

It strikes this writer that in his very first notes we catch a glimpse of that same Yehong Shi bored and dreaming in his housebound days caused by SARS. This is a pianist who can infuse his performances with introspection that he seems to summon at will from his core. Though happy to be studying in America and advancing his career, he does confess to having no small homesickness and nostalgic longing for family and friends back in China. When not performing, Yehong likes to lose himself in books‑reading mainly in English and Chinese. This year his focus has been on English novels, with the exception of The Dream of the Red Mansion, a metaphor-rich Chinese classic that Yehong Shi has returned to read with satisfaction more than twenty times.

In fact, being a writer is something that also calls to Yehong Shi. Busy as he is pursuing his dream to become a concert pianist traveling the world, Yehong often finds time here or there to makes notes for a someday novel or other literary contribution. Having spoken with Yehong Shi and sensing the depth that informs his piano perfromance, that too—even with the demands of a concert pianist career—strikes this writer as not only possible, but probable.

First things first. In fall of 2017, Yehong Shi is taking his concert pianist plans to the next step at the Cincinnati Conservatory, where he has been accepted for an Artist Diploma program and will study with Mr. Awadagin Pratt.

Weekly performances by other rising star musicians hosted by the International Music Foundation are held every Wednesday in the beautiful Preston Bradley Hall of the Chicago Cultural Center. For a full schedule visit their website.

Photos courtesy of Yehong Shi and his family, unless otherwise indicated.

Minja Shin

Inesa Sinkevych

Memorable Inesa Sinkevych en La Habana
Por: Juan Pinera

15/ 06/ 2014

Este 13 de junio el Segundo Encuentro de J'venes Pianistas acogi' en la Sala Ignacio Cervantes, del Prado habanero, a la pianista ucraniana Inesa Sinkevych. Como si fuera una muestra de la pl'stica, la organizaci'n del material expuesto, sonoro en este caso, condujo al receptor hacia el hecho art'stico para lograr uno de esos recitales que pueden llamarse memorables.

La int'rprete inici' su presentaci'n con dos sonatas, de Domenico Scarlatti, que mostraron la excelencia de su sonido, pleno de sutilezas.

M's adelante, se le escuch' la monumental Sonata No. 3 en fa menor, Opus 5, de Johannes Brahms, donde confirm' su profundidad de pensamiento.

Mantuvo a todo el p'blico en la m's completa y plena atenci'n durante el largo y sinuoso discurso sonoro de la partitura, tenida como uno de los grandes retos del repertorio pian'stico de todos los tiempos.

Ante esa p'gina, que pocas veces se escucha, Inesa Sinkevych asumi' el reto y sali' m's que airosa del mismo, logrando una interpretaci'n de referencia.

Despu's de un intermedio necesario, present' dos preludios de Claude Debussy que hicieron resaltar otra cualidad de la artista: la gran gama, dir'amos que casi infinita, de matices y timbres que supo obtener de estas piezas con el piano.

Por 'ltimo, interpret' la Sonata No. 6 en La Mayor, Opus 82, de Serge Prokofiev, donde brill' de manera especial; como si la partitura hubiera sido escrita para su esp'ritu, tan cercana a la personalidad de Sinkevych.

Sin embargo, volvi' a sorprender por su capacidad de desdoblamiento con dos hermosas obras fuera de programa, de Fr'd'ric Chopin y Alexander Scriabin. En ellas, brillaron a'n m's las sutilezas interpretativas de la pianista.

*El autor es compositor e int'rprete, profesor del Instituto Superior de Arte y realizador de programas en CMBF, Radio Musical Nacional.

Inesa Sinkevych

THE SOUL OF EL'GIAQUE - NOVEMBER 6, 2014

(Presented by InterHarmony International Music Festival)

Graphic Design: Abby Gaudette

The Soul of El'giaque: Opening Concert of the InterHarmony' International Music Festival Series

AUTHOR: Noah WillumsenTAGS: Weill Recital Hall, InterHarmony, Soloists, Chamber Music

InterHarmony' International Music Festival presents the first in a series of three concerts on November 6, 2014 at 8PM at the Weill Recital Hall. Cellist Misha Quint, founder of IIMF, and other distinguished artists perform works spanning two centuries and three continents on the theme of musical immortality with works by Dominick Argento, Mikhail Glinka, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Eugene Ysaye. The InterHarmony Concert Series continues in the spring with performances on February 6 (Misha Quint, cello) and May 7, 2015 (Rite of String Part II).

About the Program

THE SOUL OF 'L'GIAQUE: RESURRECTION IN MUSIC

In music, nothing is ever really lost. Within its bounds, great composers and great performers live on forever. On November 6, the anniversary of Tchaikovsky's death, IIMF musicians take up the impossible battle that music has waged against death since Orpheus picked up the harp. In an unusual program of elegies and laments, including some of the most heart-rending and beautiful music ever committed to paper, the elegiac soul goes beyond mere grief: it promises resurrection.

Tchaikovsky's first and only "Piano Trio in a minor, Op. 50," subtitled In memory of a great artist, was his monument to the memory of his friend and mentor, Nikolai Rubinstein. When Tchaikovsky died, this piece would become his own elegy, and was performed at his funeral. The trio itself has enjoyed a distinguished afterlife in the elegiac trios of Arensky, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich. Despite what Tchaikovsky called the "funereal and mournful tone" of the piece, it is never more than a cadence away from pure joy, as the composers loses himself in recollections of his lost friend, triumphing over time and basking in ecstatic harmony. He rushes back and forth through the stages of grief, from sorrow to nostalgia, from crushing despair to the promise of reconciliation.
Performers: Qian Zhou (violin), Misha Quint (cello) and Inesa Sinkevych (piano)

Ysaye's searching "Poeme 'l'giaque, Op. 12" is one of the absolute high points of the violin repertoire. Building on the virtuoso pieces of the 19th century, the so-called 'Tsar of Violin' used devices like scordatura, tuning down the violin's lowest string to give it a darker, warmer timbre, to stunning emotional effect, elevating them above mere bravura techniques. The 'poem' provided Ysaye with a new freedom of expression, beyond the strictures of the sonata or concerto form. This new form of elegy would live on in the "Poeme" of Ysaye's friend, Chausson.
Performers: Qian Zhou (violin) and Inesa Sinkevych (piano)

Ysaye's searching "Poeme 'l'giaque, Op. 12" is one of the absolute high points of the violin repertoire. Building on the virtuoso pieces of the 19th century, the so-called 'Tsar of Violin' used devices like scordatura, tuning down the violin's lowest string to give it a darker, warmer timbre, to stunning emotional effect, elevating them above mere bravura techniques. The 'poem' provided Ysaye with a new freedom of expression, beyond the strictures of the sonata or concerto form. This new form of elegy would live on in the "Poeme" of Ysaye's friend, Chausson.
Performers: Qian Zhou (violin) and Inesa Sinkevych (piano)

The "Trio path'tique," an early work by Mikhail Glinka, is surely a forerunner of Tchaikovsky's "Piano trio," with its plaintive melodies and unreserved romanticism. Under the influence of Bellini, the father of Russian classical music turns the melancholy folk songs of his homeland into a work of operatic lyricism. Heartbroken and desperately ill during a long stay in Italy, Glinka inscribed the manuscript: "I have known love only by the pains that it causes." But the work is anything but despairing, as if Glinka's afflictions could not quite suppress the spirit of playfulness and delight that animates his music. He, too, feels the curious joy of contemplating and, in the beauty of his music, overcoming suffering and loss.
Performers: Howard Klug (clarinet), Misha Quint (cello) and Inesa Sinkevyh (piano)

Dominick Argento's song cycle, "To be Sung upon the Water," for voice, clarinet and piano, brings these meditations up to the 20th century. America's leading composer of lyric opera and art song, Pulitzer Prize winner Dominick Argento descries the voice as "our representation of humanity." In this work, Argento, a "true American romantic," grapples with the memory of the great Austrian romantic, Franz Schubert, the so-called "Prince of Song". Combining subtle musical homage with a profound reflection on Schubert's themes of ambiguity, love and mortality, "To be Sung upon the Water" balances the inevitability of life's passing against its indelible moments of beauty. The songs and sonnets of Wordsworth provide the texts for this cycle. Standing on the shores of Lake Como, where Glinka wrote his trio, Wordsworth's narrator looks out beyond the water's edge, where speech stops ' and all music begins.
Performers: Stephen Ng (tenor), Howard Klug (clarinet) and Inesa Sinkevych (piano)

PERFORMER BIOGRAPHIES

Ukrainian-born pianist INESA SINKEVYCH has risen rapidly into the musical spotlight, captivating audiences around the world as recitalist, chamber musician and orchestral soloist, in venues such as the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, the Purcell Room at the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Palau de la M'sica Catalana in Barcelona, and the Hong Kong City Hall, as well as performing as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, the Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon, and the Gran Canaria Philharmonic of Spain, among others. A laureate of the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Inesa has also won first prizes in the Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona and at the Concurso Internacional de Piano Premio "Ja'n" in Spain, as well as awards in the Minnesota International Yamaha Piano-e-Competition, the Vianna da Motta and the Porto international competitions in Portugal, the Casagrande International Competition in Italy, the Panama International Competition and the the Cidade del Ferrol and the Spanish Composers competitions in Spain. Ms. Sinkevych has recently received her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Solomon Mikowsky. She has been a member of the Manhattan School of Music piano faculties of the College Division since 2014 and the Precollege Division since 2008.

Program

Glinka: Trio pathetique for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano
Howard Klug, clarinet
Misha Quint, cello
Inesa Sinkevych, piano

Eugene Ysaye: Poeme 'l'giaque, Op.12
Qian Zhou, violin
Insea Sinkevych, piano

Domenick Argento: To be Sung upon the Water
Stephen Ng, tenor
Howard Klug, clarinet/bass clarinet
Inesa Sinkevych, piano

Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in a minor, Op.50
Qian Zhou, violin
Misha Quint, cello
Inesa Sinkevych, piano

Where to Go
Tickets for all three performances are $35, and can be purchased by calling CarnegieCharge at 212- 247-7800; at the Carnegie Hall box office located at West 57th and Seventh Avenue or online at www.carnegiehall.org.

Inesa Sinkevych

Review by Blair Sanderson

http://www.allmusic.com/album/schubert-piano-works-mw0002403980#

Even though Franz Schubert is among the most beloved of all composers, that doesn't mean that all of his works are equally well-known or firmly established in the repertoire. Schubert's symphonic, chamber, and vocal works are decidedly the most frequently performed and recorded, but his keyboard music has almost become an area of specialized interest for pianists and connoisseurs, and somewhat less widely played than the music of the great Romantic pianist composers, Beethoven, Chopin, and Liszt. Inesa Sinkevych attempts to redress this imbalance with this 2012 album of various solo piano pieces, including the 12 German Dances, D. 790, the Hungarian Melody in B minor, D. 817, the Adagio in E major, D. 612, the Impromptu in F minor, Op. 142/4, and the late Sonata in A major, D. 959. The sonata has enjoyed the most popularity, and even though Sinkevych's performance is less a revelation than an affirmation of this piece's beauty and charm, it gives the program a sufficiently weighty last half to balance the shorter selections before it. In these tracks Sinkevych shows that even slight pieces have their value, and Schubert's have more than many. The style is Classical and unassuming, and the nuances of phrasing, the deceptive cadences, and unexpected key changes are fully Schubert's, but to the casual listener, the music often veers into unexpected places, sounding rather like Chopin avant la lettre. Sinkevych's refined playing and restrained use of rubato contribute to that illusion, and while her interpretations might be a little too free in expression, they add a Romantic coloration and tender expressions that are welcome.

Music & Vision
http://www.mvdaily.com/2013/03/sinkevych.htm

Musical Pointers
http://www.musicalpointers.co.uk/reviews/cddvd13/inesa-1.html

Inesa Sinkevych

James Wegg - The Promise of greatness to come

http://www.jamesweggreview.org/Articles.aspx?ID=1624

Every time a new artist comes my way either by CD or in person, there is an extraordinary feeling of anticipation: will she/he be a work in progress, not-quite-ready-for-prime-time, mature beyond his/her years or a burgeoning master-in-waiting? From this disc of delectable Schubert works, Inesa Sinkevych serves notice that she may well qualify for the last category: greedily, I most certainly hope that this early promise will be fulfilled.

The Twelve German Dances reveal much. A special affection for the composer is demonstrated by including these miniature gems in the program. In the early going there is a slight affectation in the delicate lines that, hopefully, will prove to be just a passing phase of expression. By the third dance, the ear is rewarded with a wonderfully woven texture and a vrai pianissimo: less is always so much more. Many more times, Sinkevych mines the details and subtext through understatement in ways that few others dare.

From the eighth (with its oh-so-inviting magical lines) through the triumphant finish, the sense of flow, inevitability and upper register ring whet the appetite for more.

Immediately there is a marvellous feeling of push- and-pull in Hungarian Melody which has a lot to do with the pianist's realization that changes of mode require a special treatment and touch. Indeed, Sinkevych brings an all-too-rare variety of weight/wait to the key harmonic shifts, be they driven by true leading notes or wonderfully unexpected excursions to nearly related tonalities. Merci mille fois.

Trusting the art to speak more for itself rather than forcing it into garments that don't quite fit would improve the Adagio in E Major. Yet the beautifully rendered changes of register more than make up for that slight blemish and the final measures readily slip away into contented memory.

The ever-familiar F Minor Impromptu found the magical tempo, was delightfully coy and infused with a compelling variety of touch, coming as a heady breath of fresh air before the major offering of the set.

In many components of the Sonata In A Major, Schubert appears to be paying homage to Mozart (deceptive simplicity in line and ornamentation), Haydn (masterful use of silence for extraordinary dramatic/harmonic effects) and Beethoven (the first theme of the "Andantino" threatens to blossom into the "Allegretto" from Symphony No. 7'also centring on "A").

Sinkevych brings a valid interpretation to the extended work and is particularly effective in the full-throttle segments that find their way into every movement. Quibbles are few and far between. Nonetheless, when the balancing element of arid staccato finds its way into the mix (e.g., in the transition to the legato second subject of the "Allegro"), she will have a vital arrow in her quiver of style, bridging the gap between the Classical and Romantic palettes of texture and tone. As well, when the exposition repeat of the "Allegro" is taken, listeners will be treated to all of the composer's ideas (the transition back is a wee marvel all to itself) and better set the stage for one of Schubert's most inventive developments.

Grasping the overarching structure and purpose (that so much music could be built from "just" an octave') is Sinkevych's strength, allowing the music to move steadily forward'readily erasing barlines in favour of deeply personal expressions of rarefied art.

On to the next! The next recording from this talented performer eagerly awaited. JWR

All Music:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/schubert-piano-works-mw0002403980

Inesa Sinkevych

Music Web International

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/May13/Schubert_Sinkevych.htm

Review: Recording of the Month
Occasionally artists come along who play with a maturity that belies their age. Yehudi Menuhin was one example. His original recording of the Elgar concerto, which was made while he was still in his teens, shows an understanding that someone of his age could not be expected to have. I would put Inesa Sinkevych in the same category.

Sinkevych studied in her native Ukraine, Tel Aviv, Chicago and New York with pianists such as Alexander Volkov and Solomon Mikowsky. Judging from the cover photograph, she looks still to be in her twenties, but has found time for the usual competition awards and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music. Her choice of repertoire goes against the stereotype; one might expect a young pianist to be more interested in showing off her virtuoso chops with Rachmaninov and Liszt. In this case, however, one would be quite wrong, because this disc shows her to be a Schubertian of real distinction. The selection makes a well-planned recital, starting with the charming Twelve German dances, and ending with the great A major Sonata, D. 959.

Let me start with a cavil: some of the Twelve German dances, D. 790, had a bit too much rubato for my taste. These brief pieces are only about a minute in duration, and some feel a bit over-cooked. The Hungarian Melody, D. 817, made a great impression at one of Paul Lewis' Schubert recitals in Melbourne last year. Sinkevych is steadier, and brings out the work's quasi-Oriental character with her wide and attractive range of tone colours. The Adagio, D. 612, is an early, rather Mozartean piece showing the young Schubert's skill at elaborating a melody. The Impromptu, Op. 142, No.4, is much more familiar. The trills are played with great clarity, and the long crescendo powerfully shaped; the return of the main melody brings a sense of a journey renewing itself. Sinkevych gives all these works a full-blooded treatment, with nothing tentative about her playing. She combines a crystalline tonal range in her right hand with quite a firm line in the left; the latter is always applied with restraint.

The main event is the Sonata which I felt was quite outstanding. This piece has perhaps the widest emotional compass of any of Schubert's sonatas, by turns playful, vehement, bitter and radiant. Sinkevych really finds her range in this work; like Sviatoslav Richter, everything she does relates to the whole. Along with her wide tonal palette, she brings just the right combination of momentum and relaxation to Schubert's long paragraphs. In this I feel she shades Paul Lewis, whose playing in this repertoire I find lacks expansiveness. The strength of her left hand pays dividends in the Andantino. This opens in a desolate mood which gives way to a towering central episode: a fit of cosmic rage that casts a shadow over the whole work. The genie is right out of the bottle here and Sinkevych does not short-change us on the work's emotional depths. Schubert follows this devastating movement with a jaunty scherzo and an expansive sonata-rondo, both richly characterised.

The great Russian pianist Elisabeth Leonskaya is frequently illuminating in Schubert; her understated manner has great naturalness and humility. After Sinkevych, however, her D.959 seemed rather plain, and failed to hold my attention. As one would expect, Sinkevych's technique is well up to all the demands that this sonata poses. What is more unusual - and more moving - is the sureness of her interpretation; she seems to be allowing the music to speak through her.

Inesa Sinkevych has issued this disc on her own label. Listeners who are reluctant to buy such releases will miss out on something really special. It contains extremely fine Schubert playing, and the piano sound is just as good, clear and with excellent colour and dynamic range.

Guy Aron

Inesa Sinkevych

Audiophile Audition

http://audaud.com/2013/07/schubert-12-german-dances-hungarian-melody-in-b-minor-adagio-in-e-major-impromptu-in-f-minor-piano-sonata-in-a-major-d-inesa-sinkevych-p-joe-patrych-studio/

Ukrainian-born Israeli pianist Inesa Sinkevych is a laureate of the Artur Rubinstein Competition who sports a big tone and a sweet cantabile. These attributes serve her well in the selected music of Franz Schubert (rec. November 2011), whose Viennese charm often approaches Beethoven in power and the Polish master Chopin for melodic invention. In the tradition of legendary Schubert players like Brendel, Schnabel, and Kempff, Ms. Sinkevych opts for a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar opera, the latter coming from the numerous sets of dances and individual laendler forms Schubert composed 1818-1828.

The opening set of German Dances (1823) are known to those of us who recall collections of them by Jorg Demus, Alfred Brendel, and Leon Fleisher. The plastic and harmonically 'and enharmonically ' rich set flows and canters with facile grace and finesse, their melodic richness transcending the Beidermeier, "home-spun" practicality of their digital demands. More often than not, they suggest a direct lineage to the later, often melancholy Brahms waltzes of his Op. 39. Schubert's compelling Hungarian Melody in B Minor(1824) possesses a compelling impulse derived from a Magyar folk dance cross-fertilized by gypsy colors, likely from the Zseliz region of the Esterhazy estate where Schubert taught the Count's two daughters. The 1818 Adagio in E Major juxtaposes a tenderly simple melody against some luxuriant, even aviary, decorative devices, which Sinkevych performs with studied sympathy, realizing the whole as a song without words. The most dazzling entry of this first set, the F Minor Impromptu from Op. 142, displays Sinkevych in broken and unison scales, brisk runs in thirds, and flashy trills. She plays the piece a bit marcato for my taste, but the effect proves potent and leisurely without having sacrificed the sense of triumph in its chromatic cross-currents.

For the 1828 A Major Sonata, Sinkevych musters up both grand passion and elegiac lyricism rendered without fuss or mannered rubato. Like her spiritual ancestor Artur Rubinstein ' who unfortunately did not record this sonata ' Sinkevych seems content to let the music "play itself" without the "intrusion of virtuoso personality." The six-bar figure (in fleeting triplets) that opens the work Sinkevych seizes as a leitmotif to bind the work as a whole. The emergent drama proceeds as Schubert's waywardly chromatic treatment of the themes contrasts with the simple diatonism of the secondary tune. The octave leap in the left hand, too, later assumes a guileless presence, as if all inner demons of the declamatory Allegro have been temporarily quelled. The disarming beauty of the Andantino has the mesmeric aura that Rudolf Serkin imparted to this uncanny movement, though despite her obvious fluency Sinkevych lacks his manic power in the polyphonic middle section.

Articulate and breezy, the ensuing Scherzo moves, Allegro vivace, in sparkling periods; at least until Schubert interjects those ominous quarter notes from the opening movement to impose a gravitas or momento mori on even the most buoyant moment in Breughel. The slow movement of Schubert's earlier Sonata in A Minor, D. 537 provides the main theme for the Rondo: Allegretto of D. 959. Sinkevych wants the nostalgia of this movement to reign as it undergoes transformations that combine rondo, sonata-allegro, and variations procedures. Again, towards the coda, Schubert re-introduces his ominous octave descent, but the gesture has been appropriated into a joyous acceptance of fate met head-on, accepted, and affirmed. I found Sinkevych in this movement thoroughly apt in the articulation of emotional nuance and elasticity of line, elements of a convincing performance by a newcomer to my Schubertiad precincts.

'Gary Lemco

Inesa Sinkevych

Ukrainian Pianist Inesa Sinkevych, 1st prize winner of Maria Canals
International Piano Competition in Barcelona, Spain

Natalia Suriano

Dear Maestro:
I want to tell you that yesterday's concert was very successful. I played with this argentinean tenor at the argentinean consulate. The first part was filled with classical music composers, then some musicals songs and finally argentinean folk songs. In the middle of the concert I played as soloist the three first Granados pieces you heard me last week. I want to share with you a review that appeared today:
''Lerner and Loew's "On the Street Where You Live" was given a charming introduction and gave the superb collaborative pianist Natalia Suriano an elaborate piano arrangement into which she could sink her teeth, or rather her fingers.
It was no small delight that Ms. Suriano provided a piano solo of great distinction--selections from Enrique Granados' Escenas rom'nticas. Our favorite of the three was the "Mazurca". Perhaps it was only the rhythm that evoked our feeling but we would be surprised if Granados had not learned a great deal from Chopin's music.
Her playing of this melodic music was highly expressive and her fleet fingers met all the technical demands of the devilishly difficult "Lento con 'xtasis"''

Regards and see you next week!
Natalia Suriano.

MORE FROM ARGENTINA

Having just reviewed a recital of young singers from Argentina, we were very much in the mood to hear even more Argentinean music; so last night we showed up at the Consulate General of Argentina for a recital by two young artists from Argentina. This pair, unlike the visiting artists of the prior evening, are studying here in New York at the Manhattan School of Music.

The program was not operatic but rather composed of art songs and the audience comprised mainly Argentineans who were over the moon hearing songs of their homeland. If anyone but us was troubled by the singer's use of a music stand, one would never have known about it.

When the otherwise engaging tenor Gonzalo Llanes Mena looked at the audience we felt the connection that we so enjoy that makes a song come to life. But every time he looked down at his score, that connection was broken. It was a short recital, just an hour, and we couldn't understand the reason for not memorizing the songs, since none of the works were modern or esoteric. Just sayin'!

Mr. LLanes Mena engaged the audience by explaining each song in his own inimitable and humorous style in charmingly accented English; this served to include audience members whose Spanish is less than fluent.

His sound is a sweet one but not a slight one, and he had the "garlic" to get across Tosti's "A vucchella", after explaining that Tosti loved all kind of women and this song about a dried-up flower was written about an elderly woman!

His German diction was fine in "Bist du bei mir", attributed to Bach but likely written by St'lzel; he certainly did not neglect the correct pronunciation of the "ch" sound. We wish we could say the same thing about his French diction in Reynaldo Hahn's "A Chloris" but we cannot; the even French line was nowhere to be found and several nasal vowels were mispronounced.

One cannot blame singers not born and raised in the USA for wanting to sing Broadway songs but they just sound peculiar to our ears when sung with a foreign accent. We wonder what the native born French think of our American singers when they sing in French! Actually, we don't wonder; we've been told that the French singing that we found acceptable was NOT music to French ears!

In any case, "Be My Love" (Brodzsky/Cahn) was on the program and our game tenor was joined by an excellent soprano, Anna Mayo, and they gave it their all. We do love good harmony and enjoyed the performance. Ms. Mayo has a brilliant voice and a smooth portamento that we admired.

Lerner and Loew's "On the Street Where You Live" was given a charming introduction and gave the superb collaborative pianist Natalia Suriano an elaborate piano arrangement into which she could sink her teeth, or rather her fingers.

It was no small delight that Ms. Suriano provided a piano solo of great distinction--selections from Enrique Granados' Escenas rom'nticas. Our favorite of the three was the "Mazurca". Perhaps it was only the rhythm that evoked our feeling but we would be surprised if Granados had not learned a great deal from Chopin's music.

Her playing of this melodic music was highly expressive and her fleet fingers met all the technical demands of the devilishly difficult "Lento con 'xtasis".

The remainder of the program comprised popular songs of Argentina, likely from the 20th c. Our tenor sported a handsome poncho and ingratiatingly explained its usefulness. We particularly liked "Cuesta abajo" (Gardel/LePera), a tango from a film of the 1930's with the same title.

Suitable for this pre-Halloween week was "Zamba para la viuda", a ghost story which Mr. Llanes Mena explained for the audience.

We were fortunate to hear more from the songwriting team of Carlos Gardel and Alfredo Le Pera--the encore piece "Mi Buenos Aires Querido" in the tango rhythm for which that song writing team is famous. It was at this point that the packed house went wild with enthusiasm. We tried to imagine being an expat and hearing singers from the USA singing Broadway numbers.

No, there were no zarzuela arias but we left satisfied that we learned more about Argentinean song.

Martin Soderberg

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/martinsoderberg17

Martin Soderberg

Piano Music from Latin America, just released, is the first of several volumes featuring piano music of Latin American composers. Volume 1 includes music by Luis A. Calvo (Colombia), Ernesto Lecuona (Cuba), Moises Moleiro (Venezuela), Heitor Villa-Lobos (Brazil) and Alberto Ginastera (Argentina).

This entire collection is one of a kind, and it will include works by well known as well as lesser known composers. To hear samples or to buy tracks click on the picture. Volume II is currently in the works and ready for recording.

Martin Soderberg

Dear friends, colleagues:

I am thrilled to share this exciting news with all of you. As many of you know, I was recently offered a weekly radio show on the Omacmusic.com radio station. The show is called:

MARTIN SODERBERG, THE MUSICAL JOURNEY

Week after week we look at the piano music of one composer from a different country. I perform 3 pieces either live or from one of my recorded tracks and we talk about the composer, the music and the folklore of that particular country. So far, the show has enjoyed a great success and listeners are tuning in from all over the world by the thousands!!! Last week, which was our third week, we had close to 11,000 listeners worldwide (SEE COMMENTS BELOW)

The idea is to make classical music more understandable, accessible and enjoyable to more audiences and to invite our listeners to take this journey with us week after week.

So far we have featured music by Luis A.Calvo (Colombia), Ernesto Lecuona (Cuba), Rafael Landestoy (Dominican Republic) and tomorrow, March 25th at 11:00 am we will be featuring piano music by George Gershwin (USA)

I invite all of you to tune in as follows:

TUNE IN Clicking on this linkand/or through SKYPE adding: omacmusicalex.

COMMENTS FROM TO WEEKS AGO:

Michael from London: what a show, details, inside information, musical comments just amazing

Gloria from London: Mr. Feo never ever heard a show like this, would love to see Martin live in London

Jessica from Michigan USA: first time listener and loving it

Carl S from London: enjoying your show

Louis from Paris France: My favorite show already

Giancarlo from Rome Italy: Caro Alex and Martin, bravo

Lisa from Indiana USA: You guys are unique

Paul from London: deep analysis and entertainment, amazing show

Ray from London: this final track is just superb

Tina from London: best classical music show ever

Mary from London: what a pianist, just love it

Cara from Las Vegas USA: Loving this Latin Music joropo

Rolando from Paris France: interesting repertoire

Carlo from Rome Italy: lovely musica

LatinSC: I'm already a regular listener and I love it

Stefan from South Africa: loving this show

Caroline from London: your latin american repertoire is lovely

Katy from London: give us more

Peter from Las Vegas USA: fun show

Kyle from Indiana USA: Alex, you and Martin Soderberg are doing something really different

COMMENTS FROM LAST WEEK'S SHOW

Yu Namikoshe from Tokyo Japan: Very well show, love empaliza sound

K Hiroshi from Tokyo Japan: come to Japan

Marcelo from Paris: My favorite classical show

Teresa from Indiana, USA: bring your show to Indiana

Kelo from South Africa: want more landestoy

Caterina from Rome: Empaliza bravo

Jessica from Indiana, USA: are you guys coming to Indiana?

Lombardo from Paris: we need that empaliza here in Paris

Kenny from Las Vegas, USA: you guys are crazy..and I love it, wtf empaliza and that piano version, what a great mix

Keith from Indiana: Alex your artist is one of the best pianists ever. His Latin music performance is just thrilling.

Sam from Los Angeles: I love hip hop, now I love you both, keep it up

Mary from Toronto, Canada: Alex and Martin, nobody like you

Kevin from Los Angeles: could we work on a rap version of empaliza?

Marlo from South Africa: your Landestoy sounds like G gershwin, great

Lany from Paris: Come to Paris

Brenda from Indiana, USA: guys you are rocking

Kenny from Montreal, CANADA: what a classical music show

Martin Soderberg

I am happy to announce that my CD entitled "Piano Music of Spain" is now downloadable at CD Baby.com (see link).

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/martinsoderberg

The CD features music by the greatest Spanish Composers such as Enrique Granados, Manuel de Falla, Isaac Albeniz, Federico Mompou, Antonio Soler and others. Spanish Piano Music is very special to me, as I grew up listening to and playing this music. It is very colorful and soulful music, sometimes exuberant, sometimes melancholic, poetic. It is very rhythmical most of the time, as it is inspired in the Spanish Folklore.

You can purchase the entire CD for $10.99 or each individual track for $0.99. If you prefer a hard copy of the CD, you can purchase it at:

CDs (click on album cover)

It will be mailed to your address.

I hope to be able to share this beautiful music with you and your family.

Thank you!

Martin Soderberg
Concert Pianist

Enriqueta Somarriba

Tatiana Tessman

Tatiana Tessman Pianist in Review

Tatiana Tessman, Piano
Winner of the World Piano Competition
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
November 30, 2012

Tatiana Tessman's November 30th Tully Hall recital presented the latest winner of the World Piano Competition'an artist of technical brilliance, interpretive authority along with a comforting aura of authority and dependability. Ms. Tessman, was who was born in Russia, studied at the Gnessin School in Moscow with a series of excellent teachers and has concertized and won several prizes in her native land. Later, she came to New York to polish and complete her training at the Manhattan School of Music with Solomon Mikowsky. She is a recipient of the Elda van Gelder Memorial Foundation.

Her program began with three Chopin Mazurkas, Op. 50 which commanded attention with a bold rubato and extroverted, rhetorically flexible rhythmic drive. For some, her 'in your face' feistiness may have seemed overly flamboyant. But quibbles aside her style, proved justifiably idiomatic.

Six additional Mazurkas by Karol Szymanowski, (also Op. 50) and still another two by Thomas Ades, beautifully complemented the Chopin group and in fact proved to be even more delicate and whimsical, more colored and intimate, too, than what Ms. Tessman's extroverted style brought to the Chopin.

Chopin's imposing Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49 brought the first half of the concerto to a close, and her memorable, masterfully held together interpretation was, for this writer, the highpoint of the evening. Every crucial detail made a fine impression: the rock solid rhythmic underpinning of the alla Marcia introduction; the long lined harmonic shaping of the second subject: the superbly judged timing and pacing of the central Trio (which coincidentally bears a striking resemblance to the analogous middle Trio of the Schubert Klavierstuck No.1 in E flat Minor, D. 946); and the towering climactic drama at the very end proved unusually effective and convincing.

Prokofiev's Eighth Piano Sonata, the penultimate of his works in that genre, and the last of the three great 'War Sonatas' (Nos. 6-8), is extremely passionate, nostalgic and imposing (the Ninth Sonata, the contemporaneous Cello Sonata and Seventh Symphony, all showed the composer to be depleted and spiritually threadbare, a depressing decline). Ms. Tessman's interpretation was heartwarming, excitable and charged with virtuoso brilliance. Her version was also happily tempered with generosity and lyrical warmth.

The rapturous response of the audience was rewarded with a lovely, communicative reading of Rachmaninoff's Prelude Op. 32, No. 5.

Tatiana Tessman is an emotionally outgoing but formidably controlled virtuoso. I look forward to hearing much more of her playing.

-Harris Goldsmith for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Tatiana Tessman

Pianist Tatiana Tessman in Solo Recital

Concert to be held November 30, 2012 at Alice Tully Hall

New York, NY: Performing works by Chopin, Szymanowski, Ades, and Prokofiev, pianist Tatiana Tessman makes her debut at Alice Tully Hall on Friday, November 30th at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $20 ($10 for students) and are available at www.lincolncenter.org, at the box office on 1941 Broadway (65th street between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave) or by calling 212.671.4050

This concert features The Lincoln Center Debut of the World Piano Competition's 2006 Gold Medalist Tatiana Tessman

The Program includes:
- Chopin Mazurkas op.50
- Szymanowski Mazurkas op.50 (Selected)
- Ades Mazurkas op.27
- Chopin Fantasy op.49
------------
- Prokofiev Sonata No.8

"'an exceptionally gifted pianist' [Tatiana Tessman] possesses a strong artistry and personality'" writes the German Bayern of the Russian-born pianist Tatiana Tessman whose career is studded with accomplishments and awards that firmly distinguish her as an artist of international stature. Multiple prizewinner, Tatiana Tessman has performed as soloist with orchestras across three continents, including the World Symphony in Cincinnati, Shreveport Symphony, Bach's Festival Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Philarmonia, Uruguay Philharmonic Symphony, Panama Philharmonic Symphony, Korea W. Philharmonic the Russian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra upon a personal invitation from Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich.

On the competition front, Ms. Tessman has had overwhelming success as she claimed First Prizes at the Glenn Gould International Piano Competition in Ostra (Italy), Santorini International Piano Competition (Greece), 55th Wideman International Piano Competition, the Missouri International Piano Competition and the 50th Cincinnati World Piano Competition, in addition to multiple other awards at the Panama International Piano Competition, the Florida International Piano competition and the Eisenberg-Fried Manhattan School of Music Concerto competition in New York.

Fueled by her victories on the grueling international competition circuit, Tatiana Tessman's reputation as an outstanding pianist of exceptional value expanded rapidly, leading to engagements throughout Russia, Europe, Latin America, Asia and the United States. Her artistry has taken her to many of the world's leading venues including The Big Hall of Moscow Conservatory, The Seoul Arts Center in Korea, Italy's La Scala and Carnegie's Weill Hall, where her performance was recorded and broadcast by New York's WQXR Classical Music Station.

In 2003, Ms. Tessman's career marked a milestone when the Russian pianist was invited by Mstislav Rostropovich to perform under the maestro's baton with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at the "Klassik am Odeons platz" in Munich. The concert took place at the central square in front of an astonishing 7000 people. Ms. Tessman's debut with Maestro Rostropovich was followed by an appearance at the "Summer Concerts" Festival in Ingolstadt. It was at these concerts where Tatiana Tessman's much-acclaimed performance of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto led to other concerts at the series "La Scala presents"

Ms. Tessman's public concert career began at the age of four in Omsk, Russia. A year later she entered the Gnessins School of Music in Moscow, where she studied under the direction of Professor Tatiana Zaitzeva. In 1997, after being awarded a scholarship from the "Mstislav Rostropovich" foundation, Ms. Tessman was admitted to the Moscow State Conservatory where she studied with teachers such as Valery Kastelsky, Pavel Nersessian, Nikolai Lugansky, Sergei Dorensky; with whom she pursued her studies as a post-graduate student and Mstislav Rostropovich; Tessman was the maestros last student. After finishing her B.M. and M.M. degrees at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatoire, Ms. Tessman moved to the United States where she is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at Manhattan School of Music under the guidance of Solomon Mikowsky. She is a recipient of the Elda van Gelder Memorial Foundation Scholarship.

Olga Vinokur

Dear friends and colleagues,

I hope you are all doing great!

Please join me in any of these concerts this Spring. I will be very excited to see you! Please check here my spring calendar for more details or go to my website: www.olgavinokur.com My best wishes to all of you,

Sincerely,

Olga

March 24, 2017, Nassau Music Society, Bahamas

Master Class

March 25, 2017, 7:30, Nassau Music Society, Bahamas

Chamber music concert with Anna Tonna, mezzo-soprano; Eva Leon, violin

TBA

March 26, 2017, 5:30, Nassau Music Society, Bahamas

Chamber music concert with Anna Tonna, soprano; Eva Leon, violin

TBA

April 9, 2017, 7 pm, Tel-Aviv, Israel

Solo recital

April 21, 2017, 6 pm, Residence Of US Ambassador, Prague, Czech Republic

Solo recital

here

April 23, 2017, 7:30 pm, Spanish Hall, Prague, Czech Republic

With Prague Castle Guard Orchestra

Gershwin Rhapsody In Blue

here

April 24, 2017, 7:30 pm, Prostejov, Czech Republic

Solo recital

TBA

here

April 26, 2017, 7:30 pm, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

Solo recital

TBA

here

April 28, 2017, 8 pm, Bargemusic, NY

Solo recital

American Favorites

here

April 29, 2017, 8 pm, Bargemusic, NY

Solo recital

here

May 7, 2017, 3 pm, Fort Lee library, NJ

Solo recital

TBA

May 17, 2017, 7 pm, National Sawdust, NY

Chamber music concert

with Eva Leon, violin

CD release on NAXOS

Music by Rodrigo

here

May 20-23, 2017, 7 pm, tour in MA

TBA

June 6, 2017, 7 pm, Piano Festival, Cervantes Hall, Havana, Cuba

Solo recital

TBA

Olga Vinokur

Letting the Piano Find Its Inner Harp

Olga Vinokur in Recital at Bargemusic

By ZACHARY WOOLFE
Published: January 4, 2013

A premium is placed on musicians' constantly showing different sides of themselves and presenting different aspects of their repertories in each recital. But there is something to be said for treading the same ground over and over, for making sure that listeners have certain works, particularly those recently written, firmly in their ears.

During the pianist Olga Vinokur's recital at Bargemusic on Thursday evening, she included composers and even some individual pieces she has played in the last couple of years on the barge. Spiced with some dissonances but essentially accessible, the works on the program were all in a style with which Ms. Vinokur is clearly comfortable. She knows just how to handle composers who surf the line between a Romantic sensibility and a modern sound.

This battle between nostalgia and innovation defined the career of Samuel Barber, and Ms. Vinokur reprised her 2011 Bargemusic performance of his Piano Sonata. In the first movement the tension between tradition and the avant-garde seems to play out explicitly in the solemn, regular chords in the pianist's left hand and the bursts of energy in the right.

Veering from ethereal to vehement, Ms. Vinokur easily handled the sonata's tempestuous challenges. Coming at the close of her well-planned recital, Barber's work seemed to have cast its shadow on what she had already played, from William Bolcom's jovially sinister Garden of Eden rag 'The Serpent's Kiss' to Peter Fribbins's lush, moody 'Nocturne' (an American premiere).

Three selections from Scott Wheeler's ever-expanding series 'Portraits and Tributes' recalled Virgil Thomson's elegant solo-piano portraits. These were the first performances of Mr. Wheeler's 'Island Lullaby' and his 'Firefly Lullaby,' which has uneven, twinkling rhythms that are both unpredictable and serene. The two lullabies framed the 'Cookie Galop With Waltz,' whose dotted rhythms start exuberant and then turn softly elegiac.

George Crumb's dazzling, scintillating music tends to be programming dynamite, blowing neighboring pieces away, or at least making them seem a bit embarrassingly conventional. But it's worth the collateral damage to hear his work, and Ms. Vinokur gave alert, seductively varied performances of six selections from Mr. Crumb's 24-part 'Makrokosmos' for amplified piano, which reflect on the signs of the zodiac. In 'Music of Shadows (for Aeolian Harp),' the pianist strums the piano strings while pressing the keys, creating an eerily harplike wash. This, according to Mr. Crumb, is Libra.

I did not see Ms. Vinokur switch off the speaker afterward, and the halo of amplification that gave the 'Makrokosmos' pieces an aura of mystery unfortunately muffled some of the details in the three works that followed. That the power of the music nevertheless projected with clarity attests to the strength and consistency of her artistry.

Musical Americana Afloat at Bargemusic

By ALLAN KOZINN
Published: July 8, 2011

The pianist Olga Vinokur has become a mainstay at Bargemusic, usually as a chamber player and sometimes as a soloist. She had the stage to herself on Wednesday evening, and she used the opportunity to present a program of American music, mostly by living composers and mostly in a tonal, approachable style.

The thorniest work she played was Samuel Barber's 1949 Piano Sonata, the oldest work on the program and the only score by a composer no longer alive. That makes sense in a way. Barber was a Classicist with a Romantic's heart, but though he wrote unabashedly accessible music, the temper of his time pushed him to harden its edges. The sonata is packed with memorable tunes, but it is also insistently gritty, a quality Ms. Vinokur stressed in the vigorous opening movement and the breakneck closing Fugue.

The other composers she played ' Aaron Jay Kernis, Victoria Bond, Ned Rorem, William Bolcom and Scott Wheeler ' have the luxury of working in a time when painting vivid tone pictures and wrapping hummable themes in comfortably plush harmonies are accepted as legitimate options, with no apologies necessary (although Mr. Rorem, in his early days, faced some of the same criticism as Barber).

Ms. Vinokur began with 'Before Sleep and Dreams' (1990), Mr. Kernis's four-movement suite of warm-hued descriptive pieces that evoke the long process of coaxing a child to go to sleep, ending with a gently chromatic lullaby. There are traces of Debussy here: chordal harmonies that call to mind 'La Cath'drale Engloutie' in the opening movement and sparkling water imagery in 'Play Before Lullaby.'

Ms. Bond's 'Mechanical Dolls,' a movement from her ballet score 'Other Selves' (1979), is as picturesque as Mr. Kernis's work, its mechanistic rhythms evoking both the imagery of its title and a sense of the dance that it must have accompanied. (The work was written for Jacob's Pillow.) As in the Kernis, Ms. Vinokur found a graceful balance between painting the scenes suggested in the titles and attending to the scores' purely musical attractions, which included inventively unfolding themes and harmonies that flirted with light dissonance but remained rooted in tonality.

Much the same can be said of Mr. Rorem's 'Song and Dance' (1986), which had the additional virtues of playfulness and virtuosity, and three appealing character pieces by Mr. Wheeler: 'Cowley Meditation,' 'Cookie Waltz and Galop' and 'Portrait of Shane Crabtree.' Mr. Wheeler's work shared the second half of the program with the Barber sonata, in which Ms. Vinokur's clear-textured, often speedy reading offered several interpretive surprises, including what sounded like a hint of freewheeling ragtime in the fast second movement. Or perhaps that was an illusion, fostered by Ms. Vinokur's deft, energetic rendering of 'Old Adam,' one of Mr. Bolcom's spirited piano rags, at the end of the first half.

Olga Vinokur performs as part of Trio Vela from Thursday through July 17 at Bargemusic, Fulton Ferry Landing next to the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn; (718) 624-2083, bargemusic.org.

Olga Vinokur

New Music, Defined by Time and Tide

Wendy Sutter and Olga Vinokur Perform at Bargemusic

By CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM
Published: July 15, 2013

On Friday evening, the cellist Wendy Sutter and the pianist Olga Vinokur presented a recital at Bargemusic that was part of a series devoted to contemporary works called Here and Now. It's an odd title when you think about it. The concert hall is a barge moored next to the Brooklyn Bridge, where it gently rocks with the motion of the East River. That body of water is itself a tidal strait that changes flow up to four times a day. At Bargemusic, the here and now is always being tugged at by the current.

Then again, new music, too, is in a constant state of flux. With their selection of recent works by Fred Hersch Andy Akiho and Don Byron, alongside pieces by George Crumb and Alfred Schnittke written in the 1970s, Ms. Sutter and Ms. Vinokur showed just how fluidly styles can run into each other.

Ms. Vinokur gave an exquisite performance of selections from Mr. Crumb's painterly 'Makrokosmos Volume I' (1972) for amplified piano, including 'Dream Images (Love-Death Music),' which features quotations from Chopin's 'Fantaisie Impromptu.' In other movements the musical past is not evoked quite as literally, but Mr. Crumb's musical material always appears half remembered, half hallucinated, as the performer creates a series of atmospheric effects through manipulations of the piano's strings and pedals. At certain moments, Ms. Vinokur dropped a necklace onto the exposed strings, where it added a metallic halo to each note. The effect was that of an acoustical hall of mirrors in which the sound was refracted.

In 'Three Shades, Foreshadows' (2012) for cello and stereo digital playback by Mr. Akiho, a percussionist and composer, a similar sense of refraction is created by pitting the live cello against multiple tracks made up of prerecorded cello sounds, some of them distorted almost beyond recognition.

It's a highly rhythmic work, which turns the cello into a percussion instrument through the heavy use of pizzicati ' the sound sometimes further altered by metal clothespins attached to the strings ' as well as the slapping and tapping of the instrument's body and fingerboard. Ms. Sutter played the gritty passages with fierce determination and the mysterious ones with quiet intensity.

Both performers came together in Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 by Schnittke, whose works often show a preoccupation with blending together intensity and lightness. But this sonata, written in 1978, takes expressive tension to neurotic heights, pushing the cello line to near breaking point in the two slow movements that frame a furious scherzo. Ms. Sutter brought out the acute yearning and pathos in those outer movements. The Presto became a breathless contest between two headstrong characters with both performers balancing furious forward motion with uncompromising rhythmic precision.

The recital opened and closed with two works for cello and piano by jazz composers, 'Tango Bittersweet' by Mr. Hersch, a pianist known for his improvisations, and 'Spin' by Mr. Byron, the clarinetist. Ms. Sutter brought warmth to the elegant melancholy of the tango. In 'Spin,' a hyperkinetic, ultra-brief burst of energy, the rhythmic acuity of both performers propelled the piece forward to its sudden, whimsical end.

The next concert in the Here and Now series is a John Cage program on July 26 at Bargemusic, Fulton Ferry Landing next to the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn; bargemusic.org. The New York Times

Chun Wang

Pianist proves great piano art

How much has been written about Ludwig van Beethoven's "Hammerklavier Sonata" in B flat major op. 106? A form-blasting work whose interpretation requires the very high art of design. A young pianist living in New York had taken to the theater's Thürmer Hall over the weekend: Chun Wang, winner of the pianist's very first squad.
On the one hand, Wang approached the Beethoven work coolly intellectually, on the other hand he showed a design depth that almost bordered on Franz Schubert. Of course, his game had no breaks, these show anyway more in the extraordinary formal language of the sonata to suffice.
His powerful, athletic attack and a very fine style also enabled the young pianist to create an irresistible soundtrack of a Maurice Ravel that evening. His "Jeux d'eau" were like glistening light and dreamlike poetry. In contrast, a Chopin fantasy sounded under Wang's hands, although highly flexible-virtuoso, but less expressive. But the pianist scored again, this time with a rarely performed piano work: Béla Bartók's piano piece "Im Freien", which combines folk songs and images of nature with the expression of modernity.
With such a wide stylistic spectrum, we will surely hear a lot from this congenial pianist!
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Pianist Xiayin Wang Celebrating Her New Life

One of the first musicians I am meeting at the Juilliard cafeteria after the long summer months is the young pianist, Xiayin Wang.

It was composer Sean Hickey, who drew my attention to this rising star. 'She is phenomenal, and you ought to meet her', he said when I met him in his role as business development manager for Naxos America (see also: this article).

As I sit down with Wang, we talk about musicians we both know personally. And then it dawns on me: I had actually been present when Manhattan School of Music ' trained Wang gave one of the most memorable performances of her career back in 2006, at Alice Tully Hall in New York City.

Her parents were in town and attending the concert, and so she asked her father, a professional Erhu player, to share the stage with her. 'Celebrating our new life' was the title of a traditional Chinese folksong she performed with him as an encore to her concert program. It was hard to tell who had been more moved by this joint performance ' the audience, or the father-daughter team.

'He was so nervous, and I was on fire', smiles Wang as she remembers that very special evening. 'In fact, at one point I thought I saw smoke coming up from stage, but it was just the dust of the resin that my father had applied too generously to the strings of his instrument, to make

Jing Yang

Dear Friend of Si-Yo Music Society Foundation, Tonight, you can enjoy "Dazzling Strings," featuring Si-Yo Artists™ Virgil Boutellis-Taft (violin) and Jing Yang (piano), either in person or online! The Kennedy Center will be livestreaming the concert on their website, Facebook Live and YouTube. The performance will later be archived. For those who are attending, we look forward to seeing you! Tuesday, December 18 6 p.m. Millennium Stage The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20566 FREE ADMISSION No free parking is provided for this event. For more information about directions and parking, please visit http://www.kennedy-center.org/pages/visitor/directions This performance is featured as part of the Kennedy Center’s free daily performance series.