Impressive and captivating, this young multi-talented pianist/composer is blazing his way to fame. Recipient of many awards and prizes, which keep on coming, Albright has collaborated on several occasions with Yo-Yo Ma. A decidedly distinctive debut.
“Albright is among the most gifted musicians of his generation.” – The Washington Post
Program
Schubert
Impromptus, Op. 90
No. 1 in C minor
No. 2 in E-flat major
No. 3 in G-flat major
No. 4 in A-flat major
Janáček
Sonata, 1.X.1905
The Presentiment
The Death
Schulz-Evler
Concert Arabesques on Themes from “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”
Charlie Albright
Improvisation
Chopin
Etudes, Op. 25
Étude Op. 25, No. 1 in A-flat major
Étude Op. 25, No. 2 in F minor
Étude Op. 25, No. 3 in F major
Étude Op. 25, No. 4 in A minor
Étude Op. 25, No. 5 in E minor
Étude Op. 25, No. 6 in G-sharp minor
Étude Op. 25, No. 7 in C-sharp minor
Étude Op. 25, No. 8 in D-flat major
Étude Op. 25, No. 9 in G-flat major
Étude Op. 25, No. 10 in B minor
Étude Op. 25, No. 11 in A minor (“Winter Wind”)
Étude Op. 25, No. 12 in C minor (“Ocean”)
Links
Learn more about Charlie Albright.
Biography
Winner of the prestigious 2010 Gilmore Young Artist Award and the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, pianist Charlie Albright concluded the 2010-2011 season of debuts to critical acclaim, hailed as being “among the most gifted musicians of his generation” (Washington Post) whose “impressive range of differently colored sounds at the keyboard was matched by overwhelming virtuosity” while “musical shape was never sacrificed to showmanship.” The New York Times praised his “jaw-dropping technique,” “intelligently wrought interpretation” and “virtuosity meshed with a distinctive musicality.” Mr. Albright made his New York and Kennedy Center recital debuts on the Young Concert Artists Series and at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Orchestral debuts included the San Francisco Symphony with conductor Alondra de la Parra, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra with conductor Gerard Schwarz, and the Boston Pops with conductor Keith Lockhart.
Highlights of Mr. Albright’s busy 2011-2012 season included a fourth concert with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, an appearance as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony performing Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat minor, Op. 23, solo recitals at the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, the Morgan Library and Museum, the Friends of Music Concerts (NY), and at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts (MI), the Palladium Theater at St. Petersburg (FL), and Missouri State University, among others.
At the age of 18, Mr. Albright performed with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at a ceremony at which Senator Ted Kennedy received an honorary degree from Harvard University, and again performed with Mr. Ma in a program commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, featuring Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. He has given concerto performances with the Seattle Philharmonic and the Olympia, Port Angeles, and Northwest Wind symphonies in Washington State.
Winner of the 2011 Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts from Harvard University, Mr. Albright has also been named the Artist in Residence for Harvard University’s Leverett House for 2011-2012, a position last filled by Yo-Yo Ma. His debut recording Vivace was released in February 2011 with works by Haydn, Menotti, Schumann-Liszt, Janácek, Chopin and Albright.
Mr. Albright won the Paul A. Fish First Prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions as well as the Ronald A. Asherson Prize, Summis Auspiciis Prize, the John Browning Prize, the Sander Buchman Prize, the Ruth Laredo Award, and four performance prizes: the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Prize, the Friends of Music Concerts Prize for an engagement in Sleepy Hollow, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival Prize, and the Embassy Series Prize for a concert in Washington, DC. Other awards include a Vendome Virtuoso Prize and the Elizabeth Leonskaya Special Award at the 2009 Vendome Prize International Piano Competition in Lisbon, Portugal. Mr. Albright won the 2008 Harvard Bach Society Orchestra’s competition to perform the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto, Third Prize as the youngest competitor at the 2007 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and First Prizes in the 2006 Eastman Piano Competition, the 2006 Stecher and Horowitz Foundation’s New York Piano Competition and the 2005 IIYM International Competition in Lawrence, Kansas.
Born in Centralia, Washington, Mr. Albright began piano lessons at the age of three. He has studied with Nancy Adsit and has participated in master classes with Richard Goode, Leif Ove Andsnes and Abbey Simon. Mr. Albright earned an Associate of Science degree at Centralia College while he was also in high school, and was accepted to the Harvard College/New England Conservatory of Music joint program, where he completed his Bachelor’s degree as a Pre-med and Economics major at Harvard in 2011 and is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music, with Wha-Kyung Byun. Mr. Albright is a Steinway Artist.