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Iestyn Davies

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Iestyn Davies’ unique sound and refined artistry have made him the countertenor of choice for everyone from Baroque specialists to Thomas Adès. This young artist has been described by The New York Times as having “one of the most glorious countertenor voices in the world today.”

Twenty-five-year-old Thomas Dunford discovered the lute at the age of 9. He is a graduate of Conservatoire Supérior de Paris (with honours and the First Prize), and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at many prestigious festivals across Europe and Asia.

“Nothing could match the pure, unaffected simplicity of countertenor Iestyn Davies. [He is] as good as you are likely to hear, ever.” – The Observer

Program

Flow My Tears – Songs for Lute and Voice

Robert Johnson (c.1582?-1633)
Have you seen the bright lily grow?
Care-Charming Sleep
From the Famous Peak of Derby

John Danyel (1565-c.1625)     
Grief Keep Within – (Mrs M.E. her Funerall teares for the death of her husband)
Why Canst Thou Not?
Can Doelful Notes?

Thomas Campion (c.1567-1620)
Never Weather Beaten Sail

Nico Muhly
Old Bones (new commission)

John Dowland (1563-1626)
Come Again
In Darkness Let Me Dwell
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
Can She Excuse My Wrongs
Flow My Tears
Frog Galliard (Instrumental)
Now, O Now My Needs Must Part


Links

Learn more about Iestyn Davies.

Biography

After graduating in Archaeology and Anthropology from St John’s College, Cambridge Iestyn Davies studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

His operatic engagements have included Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea/Monteverdi) for Zürich Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Arsace (Partenope/Handel) for New York City Opera; Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream/Britten) for Houston Grand Opera and English National Opera; Apollo (Death in Venice/Britten) for English National Opera and in his house debut at La Scala, Milan; Hamor (Jephtha/Handel) for Welsh National Opera and Opera National de Bordeaux, Steffani’s Niobe at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; his debut at The Metropolitan Opera, New York Unulfo (Rodelinda/Handel) where he has also appeared as Trinculo The Tempest and the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Rinaldo/Handel).

His concert engagements have included performances at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan with Dudamel, the Concertgebouw and Tonhalle with Koopman and at the Barbican, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Lincoln Centre and at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall with orchestras that include the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia, Concerto Köln, Concerto Copenhagen, Ensemble Matheus, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He recently made his debut, in recital, at Carnegie Hall, New York.

Future engagements include returns to The Metropolitan Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera and his debuts at the Munich and Vienna Festivals, as well as the Opéra Comique in Paris, for George Benjamin’s Written on Skin. He continues to enjoy a successful relationship with the Wigmore Hall, where, in the 2012/13 season, he curates his own Residency.

His recordings include two versions of Handel’s Messiah (New College Oxford, AAM/Naxos) and (Polyphony, Britten Sinfonia/Hyperion), Handel’s Chandos Anthems on Hyperion, Handel’s Flavio for Chandos with The Early Opera Company and Christian Curnyn, Bach’s Easter Oratorio with Retrospect Ensemble, his debut solo recording Live at the Wigmore Hall with his own Ensemble Guadagni and a disc of Porpora Cantatas with Jonathan Cohen and Arcangelo for Hyperion. His most recent recording is a CD of arias written for Guadagni, also for Hyperion. DVD recordings include Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea) for Glyndebourne Festival Opera under Emmanuelle Haïm on DECCA, the Spirit in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas for the Royal Opera House with Hogwood on Opus Arte and Unulfo (Rodelinda) for the Metropolitan Opera under Harry Bicket on DECCA.

He is the recipient of the 2010 Royal Philharmonic Young Artist of the Year Award and the 2012 Gramophone Recital Award.

Doric String Quartet

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Described by Gramophone Magazine as “one of the finest young string quartets”, whose members are “musicians with fascinating things to say”. Powerful and passionate, the Doric offers precise performances of terrific panache and perception.

“The Doric String Quartet perform Haydn’s music with spirit, wit and sophistication at Wigmore Hall. Rating: *****

Haydn and the Doric are a perfect match. This is an ensemble, young but mature of insight, that plays Haydn’s music with spirit, illuminating its blend of wit and sophistication, grace and vivacity, cunning and seemingly effortless spontaneity…. The Doric’s performances, without exaggeration but with just the right degree of elucidation, revealed the music’s extraordinary originality and the way that Haydn can explore the potential of his thematic material so thoroughly yet so artlessly…. Unequivocally, these were performances of terrific panache and perception, seeming to get right under the skin of Haydn’s creative genius.” The Sunday Telegraph

Program

Haydn
String Quartet Op 20 No 3

Korngold
String Quartet No 3

Schubert
String Quartet No 14 (Death and the Maiden)

Links

Watch the Doric String Quartet on the Vanouver Recital Society YouTube Channel.
Visit the Doric String Quartets website.

Biography

Alex Redington violin
Jonathan Stone violin
Simon Tandree viola
John Myerscough cello

Described by Gramophone Magazine as ‘one of the finest young string quartets’, whose members are ‘musicians with fascinating things to say’ the Doric String Quartet has received glowing responses from audiences and critics across the globe. In 2008 the Quartet won 1st prize in the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, 2nd prize at the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition in Italy and the Ensemble Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany. The Quartet was represented by Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT) from 2006-2010.

Since its formation in 1998 the Quartet has performed across the world and collaborated with artists including Ian Bostridge, Philip Langridge, Mark Padmore, Piers Lane, Kathryn Stott, Chen Halevi and the Florestan Trio. In autumn 2010 the Quartet made their highly acclaimed American debut with recitals at the Frick Museum in New York and Library of Congress in Washington. Other recent highlights include recitals at the Berlin Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Hamburg Laeiszhalle and in Brussels, Frankfurt, Lucerne, Milan and Paris. In addition to their regular appearances at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern they have performed at the Carinthischer Sommer, Incontri inTerra di Siena, East Neuk, Isle of Man, I Soloisti del Vento and Schwetzinger Festivals. Further afield they have toured to Japan, Israel, Australia and New Zealand.

Highlights of the 2011/12 season include the Quartet’s debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus, return tours to the USA, including a residency in Augusta, Georgia, and to Denmark and Israel. The Quartet will also give recitals in Hannover, Geneva and Prague. UK engagements this season include concerts at Wigmore Hall, a “Music in the Round” tour and performances in Manchester and York as well a continuation of their long-term residency at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford-upon-Avon.

In 2009 the Doric String Quartet’s first CD was released to critical acclaim on the Wigmore Live label and was chosen as Editor’s Choice in Gramophone “The Doric’s Haydn sparkles with wit on their impressive [and] very auspicious recording debut”. Since 2010 the Quartet has recorded exclusively for Chandos Records. The first CD, the complete Korngold String Quartets, was released in September 2010 and featured as one of the 2010 Critic’s Choice discs in Gramophone, followed by string quartets by Walton in spring 2011 which was similarly enthusiastically received by the press. The Quartet’s next release will be the Schumann String Quartets (autumn 2011). Future releases will include works by Schubert, Chausson, Bartók and Haydn.

Formed in 1998 at Pro Corda, The National School for Young Chamber Music Players, from 2002 the Doric String Quartet studied on the Paris-based ProQuartet Professional Training Program, where they worked with members of the Alban Berg, Artemis, Hagen and LaSalle Quartets and with György Kurtag. The Quartet continues to work with Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet).

Augustin Hadelich

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Consistently cited in the press for his “gorgeous tone” (The New York Times), “poetic communication” (The Washington Post), and “fast-fingered brilliance” (The New Yorker), Augustin Hadelich is well placed in the top echelon of young violinists. He is joined by pianist Joyce Yang, “a wonderful player with the accuracy of a surgeon and the heart of an artist” (Naples News).

“The essence of Hadelich’s playing is beauty: reveling in the myriad ways of making a phrase come alive on the violin, delivering the musical message with no technical impediments whatsoever, and thereby revealing something from a plane beyond ours.” Washington Post

Program

Schumann
Sonata No. 1 in A Minor Op. 105

Takemitsu
From Far Beyond Chrysanthemums and November Fog (1983)

Ravel
Tzigane

Janáček
Sonata

Previn
Tango Song and Dance (1997)

 Links

Visit Augustin Hadelich’s website.
Watch Augustin Hadelich on the VRS YouTube Channel.

Biography

Consistently cited in the press for his “gorgeous tone,” “poetic communication” and “fast-fingered brilliance,” Augustin Hadelich has confirmed his place in the top echelon of young violinists.  After a sensational debut with the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert at the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival in 2010, he was immediately re-engaged to play in Vail in 2011 and at the Caramoor Festival in New York.

Mr. Hadelich makes his debut with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood in August 2012, playing the Barber Violin Concerto, and his New York Philharmonic subscription debut in October, playing Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole.  Other upcoming debuts include Buffalo Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony and the Toronto Symphony, as well as re-invitations to the Houston Symphony and to the New York Philharmonic at Vail in the summer of 2013.  Among his worldwide engagements next season are the BBC Philharmonic, SWR Orchestra/Stuttgart, Tampere Philharmonic and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival.

In the United States, Augustin Hadelich has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Alabama, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Colorado, Columbus, Florida, Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Syracuse, Utah, Vancouver and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Festival appearances include Aspen, Blossom, Bravo! Vail Valley, Chautauqua (where he made his American debut in 2001), Hollywood Bowl and Tanglewood.

Worldwide appearances include the Badische Staatskapelle/Karlsruhe, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie/Saarbrücken-Kaiserslautern, Dresden Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, RTE National Symphony Orchestra/Dublin, Tokyo Symphony, and chamber orchestras in Budapest, Cologne, Hamburg, Lucerne and Stuttgart, among others.  He has collaborated with such renowned conductors as Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Lionel Bringuier, Justin Brown, Alan Gilbert, Hans Graf, Giancarlo Guerrero, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Hannu Lintu, Fabio Mechetti, Juanjo Mena, Kazushi Ono, Peter Oundjian, Vasily Petrenko, Christoph Poppen, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Larry Rachleff, Stefan Sanderling, Michael Stern, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Bramwell Tovey, Mario Venzago and Kazuki Yamada.

Also an enthusiastic recitalist, Mr. Hadelich  has appeared at Carnegie Hall, The Frick Collection (New York), Kennedy Center, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, Kioi Hall (Tokyo), the Louvre, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and the Vancouver Recital Society, to name a few. As chamber musician, he has been a participant at the La Jolla, Marlboro, Ravinia, and Seattle festivals, and has collaborated with Midori at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater.

Mr. Hadelich has recorded two CDs for AVIE: Flying Solo, a CD of masterworks for solo violin (including the Bartók solo sonata); and Echoes of Paris, which features French and Russian repertoire influenced by Parisian culture in the early 20th century.  For Naxos, he has recorded Haydn’s complete violin concerti with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra and Telemann’s complete Fantasies for Solo Violin.

The 2006 Gold medalist of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Mr. Hadelich is the recipient of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award (2012), an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2009) and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in the UK (2011).

Born in Italy in 1984, the son of German parents, Augustin Hadelich holds an artist diploma from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Joel Smirnoff.  He plays on the 1723 “Ex-Kiesewetter” Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society.

Stephen Hough

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With a singular artistic vision that transcends musical fashions and trends, Stephen Hough is widely regarded for his supreme mastery of his instrument. A unique presence on the international concert scene, Hough combines the imagination and pianistic colour of the past with the scholarship of the present to illuminate the very essence of the music he plays.

“Hough’s playing has such authority and panache, its balance between virtuosity and vividly communicated expression so finely judged, that every perfectly scaled moment is as intensely realised as every other. Few other pianists around today play Chopin with as much understanding and poised mastery as this.” The Guardian

Links

Stephen Hough’s official website
Stephen Hough talks about composition
Stephen Hough on the VRS YouTube Channel

Program

Chopin
Two Nocturnes, Op. 27, Nos. 1 and 2

Brahms
Sonata No. 3 in F minor, op. 5

Hough
Piano Sonata No. 2 (notturno luminoso)*

Schumann
Carnaval Op. 9

Stephen Hough’s Piano Sonata No. 2 (notturno luminoso) is a joint commission with funds generously supplied by the Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham, The Schubert Club, Swansea Festival of Music and the Arts and the Vancouver Recital Society.

Biography

“The most perfect piano playing conceivable” – The Guardian

“A virtuoso who begins where others leave off” – Washington Post

With a singular artistic vision that transcends musical fashions and trends, Stephen Hough is widely regarded as one of the most important and distinctive pianists of his generation. In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2001, joining prominent scientists, writers and others who have made unique contributions to contemporary life.

Stephen Hough has appeared with most of the major European and American orchestras and plays recitals regularly in the major halls and concert series around the world. He is also a guest at festivals such as Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Blossom, Hollywood Bowl, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh and the BBC Proms, where he has made over 15 concerto appearances. Recent engagements include performances with the New York and London Philharmonics, the London and San Francisco Symphonies, a US tour with the Russian National Orchestra led by Vladimir Jurowski, and a worldwide televised performance with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle.

 In 2009 Hough played recitals in the Royal Festival Hall as well as becoming the first British instrumentalist to give a solo recital on the main stage of Carnegie Hall in nearly 20 years.  He also performed all of the works for piano and orchestra of Tchaikovsky over four BBC Proms and will return to the Chicago Symphony in 2010/11 to play the same Tchaikovsky cycle over six concerts.  Other engagements include appearances with the orchestras of Pittsburgh, Madrid, Los Angeles, Budapest, Montreal, Houston, Gothenberg, Cleveland and Philadelphia, amongst others.

An exclusive Hyperion recording artist, many of Stephen Hough’s catalogue of over 50 CDs have garnered international prizes, including the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, Diapason d’or, Monde de la musique, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Magazine Awards, including ‘Record of the Year’ in 1996 and 2003, and the Gramophone ‘Gold Disc’ Award in 2008, which named his complete Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos as the best recording of the past 30 years. His 2005 live recording of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos became the fastest selling recording in Hyperion’s history, while his 1987 recording of Hummel concertos is Chandos’ best-selling disc to date. His most recent releases are the Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra by Tchaikovsky with the Minnesota Orchestra led by Osmo Vänskä, and a Chopin recital: ‘Late Masterpieces’.

Stephen Hough is also an avid writer and composer. In addition to scholarly and critically-acclaimed CD liner notes and articles for music publications, he has written for The Guardian, The Times, and was invited by the Telegraph Media Group in December 2008 to start a cultural blog. Hough has written extensively about theology for the print media and has been interviewed on two special guest-edited episodes of BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and Baroness Shirley Williams. Hough’s book, The Bible as Prayer, was published by Continuum and Paulist Press in 2007.

Earlier in 2007, Hough’s cello concerto ‘The Loneliest Wilderness’ was premiered by Steven Isserlis and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and two choral works – Mass of Innocence and Experience and Missa Mirabilis – were performed at London’s Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral respectively. In January 2009, Hough’s trio, Was mit den Tränen geschieht, commissioned by members of the Berlin Philharmonic, received its world premiere at the Berlin Philharmonie. A string sextet, Requiem Aeternum: after Victoria, was commissioned by the National Gallery for their major autumn 2009 exhibition, The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture 1600-1700. Hough has also published numerous compositions with Josef Weinberger Ltd.

A resident of London, Stephen Hough is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in Manchester. In 2011 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the University of Liverpool.

 

Marc-André Hamelin

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Every era has had a few performers whose unimaginable virtuosity places them in a category unto themselves. Described as a “super virtuoso” by Harold Schonberg in The New York Times, Marc-André Hamelin is such a performer. His incredible mastery, infused with an impression of spontaneity, makes Hamelin one of the stand-out pianists of the present day.

“Hamelin’s performance was unassumingly formidable, profound, superbly paced, the melodic line not just effectively distinct from the eddies of accompaniment, but seeming to well up from within… Hamelin’s pianism is deep enough to let the strongest currents course under the surface.”   The Boston Globe

Program

Alban Berg: Piano Sonata, Op.1
Gabriel Fauré: Impromptu No. 2 in F minor and Barcarolle No. 3 in G-flat major, Op. 42
Claude Debussy: Images, Book I and L’Isle joyeuse
Marc-André Hamelin: Variations on a theme by Paganini (2011)
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Sonata No. 2, Op. 36 (1931 version)

Links

Hear Marc-André Hamelin on VRS’s YouTube Channel.
Visit Marc-André Hamelin’s website.

 Biography

Pianist Marc-André Hamelin’s unique blend of musicianship and virtuosity brings forth interpretations remarkable for their freedom, originality, and prodigious mastery of the piano’s resources.  A musician of broad musical interests and curiosity, Hamelin is renowned in equal measure for his fresh readings of the established repertoire and for his exploration of lesser known works of the 19th and 20th century, both in the recording studio and in the concert hall.

This season Mr. Hamelin performs Haydn piano concerti with Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie in a performance that will be recorded for release on Hyperion. He also performs Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and David Zinman, with the Atlanta Symphony and Hugh Wolff, and with the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Ainars Rubikis. He joins the National Philharmonic of Russia and Vladimir Spivakov for concerti by Rubinstein and Medtner and appears with the San Francisco Symphony with David Robertson in the Ravel Left Hand Piano Concerto and Gershwin’s  Rhapsody in Blue, as was well as the Columbus Symphony and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.

Mr. Hamelin tours the Shostakovich Piano Quintet with the Takacs String Quartet to Great Performers at Lincoln Center, Royal Conservatory of Music – Toronto, the Library of Congress, Celebrity Series of Boston, San Francisco Performances, the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia Chamber Music Societies, and the University of Florida.

He will appear in recital at the 92nd Street Y for the New York premiere of his Variations on a Theme by Paganini, and is presented in recital by the Chicago Symphony. Other recital engagements include Baltimore’s Shriver Hall, Detroit Chamber Music Society, Music Toronto, Vancouver Recital Society, Edmonton Chamber Music Society, Portland Ovations (Maine) and Portland Piano (Oregon), Wigmore Hall, Berlin Piano Festival, and in Libson, Munich, Stuttgart, Moscow, and Antwerp.

During the summer of 2012 Mr. Hamelin appeared at the Ojai Music Festival, opened the Aspen Music Festival season with Robert Spano leading the orchestra in Gershwin’s Rhapsody and Blue and returned in recital.  He joined the Seattle Chamber Music Society, the International Keyboard Festival, a recital and Mozart concerto the the Sao Paolo Symphony, recitals for the Montreal Symphony as part of their day long music marathon, Festival International de Piano La Roque d’Athéron in Aix-en-Provence, and  the Helsingborg Piano Festival. In coordination with serving on the jury of the Edvard Grieg Piano Competition, he performed a recital at Grieg’s home, Troldhaugen.

In 2011/2012, Hamelin opened the season at the BBC Proms with a late night recital of Liszt works and with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales performing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paginini.  He debuted with Berliner Philharmoniker in performances of Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 4, and appeared with the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Danish Radio Orchestra and the Helsingborg Symphony.  In North America, he performed with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Montreal, Quebec and Seattle; he also performs the epic Busoni Piano Concerto throughout the season, in dates with the Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, the Orchestra Symphonique de Trois-Rivieres, and the New Jersey Symphony and Jacques Lacombe at Carnegie Hall for the Spring for Music Festival.

He also performed in recital throughout North America and internationally at London’s Wigmore Hall and at the Lucerne Piano Festival, and in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia and Sweden. Hamelin returned to Asia for appearances with the Singapore Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic, and recitals in Hong Kong and Seoul.

In recent seasons, Hamelin has performed with orchestra and in solo recital at New York City’s Lincoln Center; in recital and in chamber music on the various stages of Carnegie Hall; and on an international tour of the Schumann Piano Quintet with the Takács Quartet. The Pro Musica Society of Montreal paid tribute to Hamelin with a six-concert series, “The Art of Marc-André Hamelin.”

Marc-André Hamelin records exclusively for Hyperion Records. His most recent releases include Reger and Strauss concerti with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and a solo disc of works by Liszt that was selected by Bryce Morrison for Gramophone’s 2011 “Critic’s Choice” feature.  An album of his own compositions, Hamelin: Ètudes, received a 2010 Grammy nomination (his ninth) and a first prize from the German Record Critic’s Association; the works are published by Edition Peters. His complete Hyperion discography includes concertos and works for solo piano by composers such as Alkan, Busoni, Godowsky, and Medtner, as well as brilliantly received performances of Brahms, Chopin, Haydn, Liszt and Schumann.

A resident of Boston, Marc-André Hamelin is the recipient of a lifetime achievement prize by the German Record Critic’s Association, and is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.

Tara Erraught

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A star is born. It started with an unexpected debut, replacing an ailing colleague and scoring great acclaim as Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. The rest is history. Tara Erraught is now slated to make her sparkling debuts with the Vienna State Opera (Rosina), Hamburg State Opera (Cenerentola), and, as Octavian in a new production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival.

Not to be missed.

Program

Johannes Brahms

Gypsy Songs

Ottorino Respighi

O falce di luna

Nebbie

Notte

Antonin Dvorak

Four Songs op. 82

“Na to bych se podivala” from The stubborn lovers op. 17

Hugo Wolf

From Mörick Songs

Er ist’s

Das verlassene Mägdlein

Begegnung

Lied eines Verliebten

Verborgenheit

Nixe Binsefuß

Georg Friedrich Händel

‘Dopo notte’ from Ariodante

‘Lascia chi’io pianga” from Rinaldo

Rossini

“Una voce poco fa” from Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Links

Watch Tara Erraught on the Vancouver Recital Society YouTube Channel.

 Biography

Born in Dundalk, Ireland, Tara Erraught graduated from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. She was a member of the opera studio at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich from 2008 to 2010. From the 2010-11 season she became an ensemble member of the Bavarian State Opera where in early 2011, she scored great acclaim the title role in a new production of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges conducted by Maestro Kent Nagano. A month later, she made her unexpected debut as Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi replacing an ailing colleague and garnering brilliant national attention.

The 2011-12 season began with a sparkling debut at the Hamburg State Opera in La Cenerentola. Thereafter, she returned to the Bavarian State Opera – her home company – to sing Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L’enfant et les Sortilèges and Così fan tutte (an opera which she will also perform with the Company on tour in Hong Kong). Her early-season success with Hamburg State Opera led to a subsequent invitation from the company; this time as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  In her native land, she takes part in two gala concerts: the first of which celebrates the 30th anniversary of Dublin’s National Concert Hall while the second rings in the New Year with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. Come springtime, she appears in concert at the Rudolfinum in Prague with the Prague Philharmonia conducted by Marco Armiliato.

Ms. Erraught’s makes her Vienna State Opera debut as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and performs in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s The Harlot’s Progress at the Theater an der Wien; and the title role of a new production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival.

In May of 2008, Ms. Erraught won First Prize in the Jackub Pustine International Singing Competition along with the Zdar nad Sazavou Audience Prize in the Czech Republic. That same year she was awarded both the Houston Grand Opera Prize and Washington National Opera Prize at the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna. In 2010 she was named Dublin’s National Concert Hall’s Rising Star Prize.

Simon Trpčeski

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Simon Trpčeski’s playing is something to be savoured—it lingers in the memory long after the performance. Whether playing at a finger-blurring speed, or caressing tender, lyrical phrases, Trpčeski infuses his music with a spellbinding quality of musicianship that transcends mere bedazzlement. Simply put, Simon Trpčeski makes music.

“At a time when a new virtuoso of the decade seems to emerge every season, Trpčeski is a genuinely unusual talent. His tone at the keyboard is uniquely his own, assured and articulate, yet with a velvety touch that takes on the most difficult, rapid flights of virtuosity without a trace of brittleness. His technique was top-notch, effortless yet without the feeling of detachment that comes from some performers who have mastered their instrument.” South Florida Classical Review

Program

Liszt
Prelude and Fugue in A Minor (after J.S. Bach)
Soirees de Vienna, Valses caprices d’après Schubert, S. 427
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp Minor

Schubert
16 German Dances, D.783
Fantasy in C Major, D.760 “Wanderer Fantasy”

Links

Watch Simon Trpčeski on Vancouver Recital Society’s YouTube Channel.
Visit Simon Trpčeski’s website.

Biography

Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski has established himself as one of the most remarkable young musicians to have emerged in recent years, performing with many of the world’s greatest orchestras and captivating audiences worldwide. Mr. Trpčeski is praised not only for his impeccable technique and delicate expression, but also for his warm personality and commitment to strengthening Macedonia’s cultural image. The New York Times’ Anthony Tommasini praises Trpčeski’s dazzling musicianship, saying “He tore through the double-octave outbursts with arm-blurring speed and no sense of strain. Yet in tenderly lyrical moments he caressed the phrases, playing with naturalness, never milking anything.”

Mr. Trpčeski has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras. He is a frequent soloist with the London Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, the Philharmonia and Halle Orchestras and the London Philharmonic.  Other engagements with major European ensembles include the Royal Concertgebouw, Russian National and Bolshoi Theatre Orchestras, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Rotterdam, Strasbourg, Royal Stockholm, Royal Flanders and St. Petersburg Philharmonics. In North America, he has performed with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, The Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras and the Symphony Orchestras of Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Toronto and Baltimore, among others. Elsewhere he has performed with the New Japan, Seoul and Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, and has toured with the New Zealand Symphony. Mr. Trpčeski has worked with a prominent list of conductors, including Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lionel Bringuier, Andrew Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Jurowski, Lorin Maazel, Antonio Pappano, Vasily Petrenko, Robin Ticciati, Yan Pascal Tortelier and David Zinman.

Mr. Trpčeski’s 2011-2012 season features a robust schedule of orchestral and recital performances. Worldwide orchestral highlights include engagements with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Bamberg Symphony and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras as well as the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, and the Philharmonia Orchestra.  He will complete a Rachmaninov Piano Concerto cycle with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and make his debut with the China Philharmonic and Guangzhou Philharmonic Orchestras.  Mr. Trpčeski will also make his Carnegie Hall recital debut, and gives recitals in Paris, Hong Kong, London, Milan and Florence.

March 2010 saw Mr. Trpčeski’s concerto recording debut on the Avie label, showcasing Rachmaninov’s notoriously challenging Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The album was positioned in the Top 10 of both the Billboard Classical Chart and the UK’s specialist classical chart, and additionally won Diapason d’Or de l’année and Classic FM’s “Editor’s Choice” Awards. In June 2011, the Avie label released the second concerto album from Trpčeski, Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; the completion of Rachmaninov piano concerti, Nos. 1 and 4 alongside Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Geoffrey Norris, for Gramophone Magazine remarked, “This is a riveting disc, another major landmark for Trpčeski and one on which Rachmaninov finds interpreters thoroughly attuned to his emotional world. It was clear that Trpčeski was put on this earth to play this music and Petrenko to conduct it.” The second disc has been recognized with Classic FM, Gramophone “Editor’s Choice” and Diapason d’Or distinctions.

In December 2009, the President of Macedonia H.E. Gjorge Ivanov honored Simon Trpčeski with the Presidential Order of Merit for Macedonia. This decoration is given to foreign and domestic dignitaries responsible for the affirmation of Macedonia abroad.  Upon awarding Mr. Trpčeski with this honor, The President stated “By bringing his artistic talent to classical music halls around the world, Simon Trpčeski is among the greatest ambassadors of the Republic of Macedonia, demonstrating to the world that Macedonia is a land of exceptional artists. Through his subtle mission he has confirmed that, although the Republic of Macedonia is geographically small, it is a spiritually and artistically great country, with inexhaustible creativity to offer the cultures of the world.” Mr. Trpčeski is the youngest recipient of a medal of any kind in Macedonian history. Most recently in September 2011 he was awarded the first-ever title “National Artist of the Republic of Macedonia”.

A superb recitalist, Simon Trpčeski has given solo performances in such cultural capitals as New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Munich, Prague, Hamburg, Bilbao, Dublin and Tokyo. He has performed on the main stage of the Concertgebouw, as well as at the United Nations headquarters on the occasion of the closing of the sixty-second session of the U.N. General Assembly, at the invitation of the session’s President, H.E. Srgjan Kerim. Simon also performs chamber music as often as he can, having performed at such festivals as Aspen, Verbier and Risor, and in Summer 2011, Simon Trpčeski and cellist Nina Kotova preformed works by Chopin for a theatrical event based on the life of Frédéric Chopin featuring renowned actors Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack at the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy. With the special support of KulturOp—Macedonia’s leading cultural and arts organization—and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Trpčeski works regularly with young musicians in Macedonia in order to cultivate the talent of the country’s next generation of artists.

Simon has received widespread acclaim for his recital recordings on the EMI label.  His first recording, released in 2002, featured works by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, and received both the “Editor’s Choice” and “Debut Album” awards at the Gramophone Awards. His 2005 Rachmaninoff and 2007 Chopin discs both received extensive praise from critics. In 2008, he released an all-Debussy disc entitled Debussy: Images, which was equally applauded.  London’s Independent on Sunday described Trpčeski’s interpretations as “subtle, clever, imaginative pianism of the very highest quality.”

Born in the Republic of Macedonia in 1979, Simon Trpčeski has won prizes in international piano competitions in the United Kingdom, Italy and the Czech Republic.  From 2001 to 2003, he was a member of the BBC New Generation Scheme, and in May 2003, he was honored with the Young Artist Award by the Royal Philharmonic Society.  Mr. Trpčeski is a graduate of the School of Music at the University of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Skopje, where he studied with Professor Boris Romanov. In addition to his international engagements, he currently teaches as a faculty member at his alma mater. Simon Trpčeski makes him home in Skopje with his family.

 

Anthony Roth Costanzo

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Some artists show promise, and some are stars in the making. Such is the case with the powerful and stunning countertenor, Anthony Roth Costanzo. Seen around the world in the Met Opera broadcast of The Enchanted Island, this powerfully alluring male alto won instant recognition for his assured musicality and dramatic sense. Such is his destiny.

“This was not just perfectly place vocalism, it was edge-of-your-seat drama, the kind of high-voltage, high-register male singing that comes once in a generation.” Musical America

“The star of the evening, however, was Anthony Roth Costanzo. The gifted countertenor brought the sold-out house down with his extraordinary colors, and literally had audience members in tears, including this writer. The glaringly bright reviews this young man is gathering everywhere he sings are well deserved. His instrument produces sounds so unbelievably beautiful, that they cause shivers and goosebumps throughout the public, resulting in the unusual event of *standing* ovation after each number, not only at the end. His infectious smile during the uplifting duos and his poignant facial expression in the dramatic moments bear witness to his acting abilities. This is a major artist with a brilliant career ahead of him, and seeing him on stage a few yards from us was a joy and a privilege.” OperaLively.com

Program

Henri Duparc
Chanson triste
L’invitation au voyage
Phidylé

Benjamin Britten
The Plough Boy
The Ash Grove
The Foggy, Foggy Dew

Franz Liszt
Im Rhein, im schöen Strome, S. 272
In Liebeslust, S. 318
Über allen Gipflen is Ruh, S. 306
Hohe Liebe, S. 307
Ihr Glocken von Marling, S. 328

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Venga pur minacci e frema” (Mitridate)

Georg Friedrich Handel
“Aure deh per pietà” (Guilio Cesare)
“Rompo i lacci” (Flavio)
“Pena tiranna” (Amadigi di Gaula)

George Gershwin
I Got Rhythm
Embraceable You
Sam and Delilah
Summertime

Links

Visit Anthony Roth Costanzo’s website.
Hear Anthony Roth Costanzo on the VRS YouTube Channel.
Watch a video interview with Opera News.
Read Opera News feature article on Anthony Roth Costanzo.
Read an interview with Anthony Roth Costanzo on OperaLively.com

Biography

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo continues to build his reputation as one of the rising stars of the next generation of singers.

This season, Mr. Costanzo made his debuts at the Metropolitan Opera  in Rodelinda and in the company’s new Baroque opera pastiche, The Enchanted Island and at the Canadian Opera Company in Semele.  This summer he makes his debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival, and next season he makes his debut at the Michigan Opera Theater, appears in concert with the National Symphony Orchestra, and makes his recital debut in Vancouver at the Chan Center. He recently made his debuts at the Boston Lyric Opera as Ottone in Agrippina, the Palm Beach Opera as the title role in Orfeo ed Euridice, and  the Opera Company of Philadelphia in the US premiere of Henze’s Phaedre.

Mr. Constanzo’s other opera engagements have included the title role in Tolomeo, the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aenea  and Nireno in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto at the Glimmerglass Opera, Armindo in Partenope at the New York City Opera, a guest appearance as Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program, the First Witch and the Second Woman in  Dido and Aeneas at the Spoleto Festival USA, Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Santa Barbara Opera Company, and the title role in Manhattan School of Music’s main stage production of Lucas Foss’ Griffelkin. In 1994, he performed in Amahl and the Night Visitors at Lincoln Center and with the Opera Company of North Carolina, made a critically acclaimed debut with the New Jersey Opera Festival as Miles in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and appeared with Luciano Pavarotti in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music’s Opera Extravaganza.

On the concert and recital platforms, Mr. Costanzo most recently appeared as Prince Go-Go in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre with the New York Philharmonic, and sang Handel’s Messiah with the Cleveland Orchestra and in Carnegie Hall. He has been a featured soloist with the orchestras of Indianapolis, Alabama, Detroit, Denver, Seattle, and was the soloist in the premiere of John Corigliano’s A Dylan Thomas Trilogy with the National Symphony Orchestra at both the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. He has sung Debussy’s Ariettes Oubliées in a theater piece at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, performed Stefan Weisman’s From Frankenstein at Merkin Concert Hall, and premiered composer Gregory Spears’s hour-long piece 6 Owen Songs. Additional New York City appearances include Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall, performances at the Asia Society, Simon Hammerstein’s The Box and at prominent art gallery Deitch Projects. Internationally, Mr. Costanzo has performed the title role in Balletto Teatro di Torino’s ballet Caravaggio with original music by Giovanni Solima and toured Italy as the Master of Ceremonies in Karole Armitage’s Casanova.

Mr. Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of 11 when he appeared in the Broadway touring production of Falsettos. He continued to work for several years in musical theater, touring in The Sound of Music and appearing on Broadway in the Paramount Theater production of A Christmas Carol. He made his film debut in the role of Francis in the Merchant Ivory film, A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, earning international critical acclaim as well as a nomination for Best Debut Performance from the Independent Spirit Awards. He also appeared as Simon in Brice Cauvin’s film De Particulier à Particulier and can be heard singing in M Blash’s film Lying, and James Ivory’s film The City of Your Final Destination.

While studying at Princeton University, Mr. Costanzo co-wrote, produced and starred in a narrative pasticcio about the life of a fictional 18th-Century Castrato entitled The Double Life of Zefirino. The work was directed by Karole Armitage, with costumes by James Ivory and sets by Andrea Branzi. A documentary about the creation of the piece was directed by filmmaker Gerardo Puglia and was subsequently selected for the Cannes Film Festival and qualified for an Academy Award. It will air on PBS in the near future.

Mr. Costanzo recently won 1st Prize at the 2012 Operalia competition. He is also the winner of a 2010 George London Foundation Award, a 2010 Richard Tucker Career Grant, and First Place and Audience Choice winner of the 2010 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. In 2009 he was of the winners of the Grand Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Other awards include the Sullivan Foundation Award , a grant from the GiulioGari Foundation, encouragement awards the George London Foundation Competition, the Jensen Foundation, and the Mario Lanza Foundation, and First Place winner in the National Opera Association Vocal Competition, Vocal Division. He also has the honor of being the first countertenor ever to win First Place in the Opera Index Competition.

Mr. Costanzo graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University where he was awarded the Lewis Sudler Prize for extraordinary achievement in the arts. He received his Masters of Music at Manhattan School of Music and was awarded the Hugh Ross Award for a singer of unusual promise.

Paul Lewis

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Delving into music with passionate spontaneity and heart-wrenching intimacy, Paul Lewis has scaled the heights to sit among the legendary interpreters of Beethoven and Schubert. With luminosity, clarity and poetic insight, Lewis reveals Schubert’s heart-stopping emotional world, where the simplest things seem most profound.

From the New York Times: “ ‘When Schubert wants to tell you something important,” Paul Lewis says, “he will usually lower his voice rather than raise it — he draws you into the message, rather than projects it out to you.’ “

“Mr. Lewis similarly drew in the audience with the intimacy of his interpretations, the resigned melodies unfolding with a sorrowful glow. Mr. Lewis played with a warm, inviting sound and heartfelt commitment throughout…”

Program

Franz Schubert: three last piano sonatas
Sonata in C minor D.958
Sonata in A major D.959
Sonata in Bb major D.960

Links

Hear Paul Lewis on Vancouver Recital Society’s YouTube Channel
Visit Paul Lewis’ website

Biography

Paul Lewis is internationally recognised as one of the leading pianists of his generation. His many awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year Award, the South Bank Show Classical Music Award, the Diapason d’or de l’annee, two successive Edison awards, the 25th Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, the “Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik”, a Limelight Award in Australia, and three Gramophone awards, including Record of the Year in 2008. In 2009 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Southampton. His concert performances and Harmonia Mundi recordings of the complete Beethoven Sonatas, Concertos and the Diabelli Variations have earned him unanimous acclaim from all over the world, culminating in 2010 with the honour of becoming the first pianist in the history of the BBC Proms to perform all five Beethoven Concertos in a single Proms season.

Paul Lewis is a guest at many prestigious venues and festivals including the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Lucerne Piano Festival, La Roque d’Antheron, Rheingau, and London’s Wigmore Hall where he has appeared on more than fifty occasions. He has performed with many of the world’s leading conductors including Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Charles Mackerras, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Daniel Harding, Sir Andrew Davis, Andris Nelsons, Emmanuel Krivine, and Armin Jordan.

Recent and forthcoming highlights include concerto performances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Philharmonic, Phiharmonia, New Japan Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Boston Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Tonhalle Orchestra, and Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Solo recitals have taken him to such major venues as London’s Royal Festival Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Toppan Hall Tokyo, Orchestra Hall Chicago, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, KKL Luzern, Tonhalle Zurich, Festspielhaus Baden Baden, and the Auditorio Nacional Madrid.

At the beginning of 2011, Paul Lewis embarked upon a two year project to perform all the mature piano works from the last six years of Schubert’s life. This series is being presented in London, New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Melbourne, Rotterdam, Bologna, Florence, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, and at other major venues worldwide. Future recording plans for Harmonia Mundi include two double CDs of Schubert solo works, Mozart concertos with Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Daniel Harding, and solo works by Schumann and Mussorgsky.

Paul Lewis studied with Ryszard Bakst at Chethams School of Music and Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. Along with his wife the Norwegian cellist Bjørg Lewis, he is artistic director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK.

Benjamin Grosvenor

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Benjamin Grosvenor’s exhilarating displays of technical prowess, overlaid with a formidable depth of intelligence and humour, have not only captured international attention, but also an exclusive recording contract with Decca… all by the age of 18! As described by the press, he is “one in a million – several million”, and “a keyboard visionary who knows no bounds”.

“…a formidable technician and a thoughtful, coolly assured interpreter” New York Times

“…a skill and talent not heard since Kissin’s teenage Russian debut” Gramophone Magazine

Program

Bach-Kempff
Siciliano in G minor from Flute Sonata No. 2 in E-flat major BWV 1031

Bach-Rummel
Ertödt’ uns durch dein’ Güte (Movement 5 of ‘Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe’, BWV 22) 

Bach-Siloti
Prelude in E Minor BWV 555

Bach-Saint-Saens
Largo from the Sonata No. 3 in C Major for solo violin BWV 1005
Sinfonia from Cantata ‘Wir Danken Dir, Gott, Wir Danken Dir’, BWV 29

Beethoven
Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 7

Scriabin
Mazurkas Op. 3 (selections)

Scriabin
Valse, Op. 38

Chopin
Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44

Strauss/Schulz-Evler
Blue Danube

Links

Watch Benjamin Grosvenor on the Vancouver Recital Society YouTube Channel.
Visit Benjamin Grosvenor’s website.
Listen to Benjamin Growvenor’s New York recital debut, recorded by WQXR.

Biography

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his electrifying performances and penetrating interpretations. An exquisite technique and ingenious flair for tonal colour are the hallmarks which make Benjamin Grosvenor one of the most sought-after young pianists in the world. His virtuosic command over the most strenuous technical complexities never compromises the formidable depth and intelligence of his interpretations. Described by some as a ‘Golden Age’ pianist (American Record Guide) and one ‘almost from another age’ (The Times), Benjamin is renowned for his distinctive sound, described as ‘poetic and gently ironic, brilliant yet clear-minded, intelligent but not without humour, all translated through a beautifully clear and singing touch’ (The Independent).

Benjamin first came to prominence as the outstanding winner of the Keyboard Final of the 2004 BBC Young Musician Competition at the age of eleven. Since then, he has become an internationally regarded pianist performing with orchestras including the London Philharmonic, RAI Torino, New York Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Tokyo Symphony, and in venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Centre, Singapore’s Victoria Hall, The Frick Collection and Carnegie Hall (at the age of thirteen). In 2011, having just turned nineteen, Benjamin performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on the First Night of the BBC Proms to a sold-out Royal Albert Hall. His performance of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 dazzled critics, with The Times commenting on ‘the clarity and poetry of his panache, the airy grace of his arpeggios, the lack of flash buckles and bows’. Benjamin has worked with numerous esteemed conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jiří Bělohlávek, Semyon Bychkov and Vladimir Jurowski.

Recent and future highlights include a BBC Prom with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Charles Dutoit, engagements with the New York Philharmonic and Andrey Boreyko, the Minnesota Orchestra and Andrew Litton, and recital debuts at the Sydney Opera House, Concertgebouw, Festival de La Roque d’Anthéron, Salle Gaveau, Piano aux Jacobins, National Concert Hall Dublin and the South Bank Centre, London. Benjamin recently gave a highly successful North American tour, including appearances in Vancouver, Washington and New York, where he was labelled a ‘formidable technician and a thoughtful, coolly assured interpreter’ by the New York Times. Benjamin continues to incorporate chamber music collaborations into his schedule, including performances with the Elias String Quartet, Escher String Quartet and Endellion String Quartet. Benjamin has enjoyed working with other members of the BBC New Generation Artists scheme, of which he was a member during 2010-2012.

In 2011 Benjamin signed to Decca Classics, and in doing so has become the youngest British musician ever to sign to the label, and the first British pianist to sign to the label in almost 60 years. His first recording for Decca includes Chopin’s Four Scherzi and Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit. Critics have marvelled at Benjamin’s musical character as displayed in this recording; ‘Grosvenor, you can tell, is a Romantic pianist, almost from another age. He doesn’t deconstruct, or stand at a distance. He jumps inside the music’s soul’ (The Times) and ‘Grosvenor’s balance of oratory and ornament, gesture and poetry – evident, too, in Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit – are moving as well as impressive’ (The Observer). Benjamin’s previous recordings include Chopin rarities for the 200th anniversary edition of Chopin’s complete works (EMI, 2010) in which he was lauded for his ‘sensitivity of touch, general musicality and affection for the music’ (BBC Music Magazine) and a debut solo recording ‘This and That’ (Bowers & Wilkins Society of Sound/EMI, 2008), in response to which Bryce Morrison remarked that ‘even the most outlandish difficulties are tossed aside not just as child’s play but with a seemingly endless poetic finesse and resource’ (Gramophone).  During his brief but sensational career to date, Benjamin has been featured in two BBC television documentaries, The Andrew Marr Show and his performances have been broadcast widely across the world.

The youngest of five brothers, Benjamin Grosvenor began playing the piano aged 6. He recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded the ‘The Queen’s commendation for excellence’. Benjamin continues to study with Christopher Elton and has also had lessons with Leif Ove Andsnes, Stephen Hough, and Arnaldo Cohen amongst others.

 

 

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