Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki has won acclaim for his extraordinary interpretive maturity, distinctive sound, and poetic sensibility. The New York Times has called him “a pianist who makes every note count”. Lisiecki’s insightful interpretations, refined technique, and natural affinity for art give him a musical voice that belies his age. The concert halls in Germany opened their doors during difficult times: Jan Lisiecki played a classic-romantic program on June 9th, 2020 in the Philharmonie Essen at the Ruhr Piano Festival with sensitivity and strength. “Perhaps the most ‘complete’ pianist of his age” BBC Music Magazine
Moment Musical – Avi Avital
As concert halls are silent and theatres dark during the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic, bringing performers and audiences together demands creative solutions. C Major Entertainment, in collaboration with Arte Concert and DG, is set to launch a series of professional live relays of concerts given by artists at Berlin’s legendary Meistersaal. The programmes focus on solo or duo works. This approach limit the number of artists, technicians and backstage staff involved, in compliance with government regulations, while drawing on the endlessly rich repertoire of chamber pieces past and present. Using remote cameras, members of the audio and video crew are safely dispersed in different rooms. The fourth episode featuring Berlin-based mandolin soloist Avi Avital and pianist Ohad Ben-Ari.
LSO: Antonio Pappano and Seong-Jin Cho
Beethoven’s defiant Symphony No 5 meets the sneering mockery of Shostakovich and Prokofiev in exhilarating mood. In 1945, Soviet authorities expected Shostakovich to use his Ninth Symphony to celebrate Soviet military might. What they got was a subversive, mischievous work that thumbed its nose at Stalin. Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 2 is one of the most powerful and technically challenging of all. Listen out for moments in the opening movement that test the soloist’s stamina to its limits, and a helter-skelter finale that never lets up. Fate rules over Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, a revolutionary work that grows to dramatic, sublime heights from the simple germ of its opening four notes. The LSO is joined by South Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho, Sir Antonio Pappano, LSO Chief Conductor, conducts. PROGRAM Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9; Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2; Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
LSO: Michael Tilson Thomas & Yuja Wang at Barbican
Yuja Wang and Michael Tilson Thomas perform Rachmaninoff’s popular Second Piano Concerto. Rachmaninoff, destined to be a legendary pianist, found this piece challenging, yet Yuja Wang makes it sound effortless, explaining her global concert success. Michael Tilson Thomas complements her inspiring performance with two heartfelt pieces: a beautiful miniature by Edvard Grieg and the famous Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, promising a remarkable musical experience. PROGRAM Grieg: The Last Spring; Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No 2; Beethoven: Symphony No 5
Happy Birthday, Lucerne! Anniversary Season Opening Concert conducted by Claudio Abbado
2013 marked the 75th birthday of Lucerne Festival. Additionally, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra celebrates its 10th anniversary, and its founder, Claudio Abbado, celebrates his 80th birthday! For the anniversary season opening concert in 2013 Abbado gathers world-famous soloists, who are willing to ‘do the craziest things I ask of them in the interest of the compositions: to fly or to go through the fire.’ The maestro spans a wide and quite contrasting range, from the romantic sounds of BRAHMS’ Tragic Overture to the orchestral interlude and the Song of the Wood-Dove from SCHOENBERG’s Gurrelieder, back to BEETHOVEN’s Eroica. —– PROGRAM: Johannes Brahms: Tragic Overture, Op. 81 / Arnold Schoenberg: Orchestral Interlude and Song of the Wood-Dove from ‘Gurrelieder’ (with Mihoko Fujimura, Mezzo-soprano) / Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 ‘EROICA’