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Alexander
GAVRYLYUK
‘blow-your-socks-off virtuosity’’ Gramophone
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‘blow-your-socks-off virtuosity’’ Gramophone
The sensational young Ukrainian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk will open the series in spectacular style, once again enthralling the audience with his ‘blow-your-socks-off-virtuosity.’ He has won first prize in many of the world’s top international piano competitions, including the prestigious Horowitz, Rubinstein and Hamamatsu Competitions.
Gavrylyuk is in constant demand with many of the world’s top orchestras including the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics. His ‘thrilling pianism...astounding keyboard technique’ are universally admired by audiences and critics alike.
Alexander Gavrylyuk is a great virtuoso pianist some critics have called ‘another Horowitz’ - high praise indeed for such a young artist. His thrilling pianism and dazzling fingerwork are allied to an intense musicality and command of instrumental colour rarely heard today.
This beautifully crafted concert programme begins with Beethoven’s sublime Pathétique Sonata and ends with the Bizet/ Horowitz Carmen Variations, a tour de force of piano colouration and orchestral sound not to be missed.
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‘One of the finest young pianists in the world’ Gramophone
The meteoric success of the young British pianist Freddy Kempf is no surprise to those who have heard him play. Critics have raved about his ‘fearsome technique...unleashing cascades of notes which left the audience gasping.’
In 1998 Kempf was the toast of the prestigious Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. His performance was ‘an event of seismic proportions...the piano sounded as if transformed into a giant carillon pealing forth huge, descending clusters of sound.’
The rapturous adulation the Russian public showered on Kempf had not been seen since the great American pianist Van Cliburn won the competition in 1958. Tickets for Kempf’s concerts sold out immediately, with audiences refusing to leave even after the lights were turned off.
Freddy Kempf’s technical brilliance will shine in Beethoven’s great masterpiece, the Waldstein Sonata; his gift for lyricism and poetry will illuminate Chopin’s glorious Polonaises.
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‘breathtaking virtuosity’ Washington Post
Sensational French-Cypriot pianist Cyprien Katsaris is considered one of the world's great virtuoso pianists. Critics and audiences alike marvel at his virtuosity, ‘a staggering tour de force of sensational pianism and interpretative insight, reminiscent of the golden age...Katsaris just has to be heard to be believed… a masterly recital.’ (Birmingham Post)
Cyprien Katsaris has been called the ‘lyrical tenor of the piano’ and compared to Liszt. He is one of the greatest living exponents of Liszt’s music and is renowned for his bravura performances of Liszt’s masterly transcriptions. His programme will showcase his phenomenal technique with transcriptions from two of the greatest Symphonies ever composed, Mahler’s mighty Fifth and Beethoven’s Seventh, as well as Schubert’s monumental B flat Sonata, music of ravishing and visionary beauty.
Katsaris has played with the world’s top orchestras and conductors including the Berlin Philharmonic. His extensive discography for Teldec, Sony, EMI and now his own record label Piano 21 has won him many awards including the prestigious Gramophone Editor’s Choice Award in 2009 for his Piano Rarities CD, ‘pianistic gems in abundance, sparkling waltzes and glorious Lieder transcriptions.’
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‘Achingly beautiful Chopin’ New York Sun
Piers Lane celebrates Chopin’s birthday in grand style with a 200th Anniversary Concert, playing all the Chopin Ballades, and ‘Nocturnes by Candlelight’. The concert will be followed by ‘In Conversation’, an intimate armchair conversation with Piers Lane about music and his life as a pianist.
The Chopin Ballades are masterpieces. Ballade No 1 in G minor has been called ‘the odyssey of Chopin’s soul.’ John Ogdon said the Ballade No 4 in F minor is ‘the most exalted, intense and sublimely powerful of all Chopin’s compositions.’ Chopin’s beautiful nocturnes are universally loved. These atmospheric dreamlike works with hauntingly beautiful melodies transport the listener back to the salons of Paris of the early nineteenth century.
Piers Lane has a busy international concert career and is Artistic Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music.