Kosciuszko Foundation in Washington DC - Past Events

Brian Ganz New Year Chopin Concert

Saturday, January 2, 2016, at 2:00pm

PROGRAM:

Cantabile in B-flat major, Op. Posth.                                                     
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
Impromptu No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 29 
Nocturne in C minor, Op. Posth.
Nocturne in F major, Op. 15, No. 1                                                         
Excerpts from the Songs, Op. 74
Excerpts from the Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58
About the artists:
BRIAN GANZ:
A laureate of the Marguerite Long Jacques Thibaud and the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Piano Competitions, Mr. Ganz has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the St. Louis Symphony, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony, the National Philharmonic, the National Symphony and the City of London Sinfonia, and has performed with such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Mstislav Rostropovich and Piotr Gajewski.
 
 
The Washington Post has written: "One comes away from a recital by pianist Brian Ganz not only exhilarated by the power of the performance but also moved by his search for artistic truth." For many years Mr. Ganz has made it his mission to join vivid music making with warmth and intimacy onstage to produce a new kind of listening experience, in which great works come to life with authentic emotional power. As one of Belgium's leading newspapers, La Libre Belgique, put it, "We don't have the words to speak of this fabulous musician who lives music with a generous urgency and brings his public into a state of intense joy."
 
 
 In January of 2011 Mr. Ganz began a multi-year project in partnership with the National Philharmonic in which he will perform the complete works of Chopin at the Music Center at Strathmore outside of Washington D.C.. After the inaugural recital, The Washington Post wrote: "Brian Ganz was masterly in his first installment of the complete works [of Chopin]." The sixth recital in the series, scheduled for January 9, 2016, will feature the theme "Chopin: Bel Canto of the Piano." The following month, on February 6 and 7, Ganz and the National Philharmonic will join forces for the third time in the project with Chopin's rarely heard Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni," Op. 2. Ganz and the orchestra will also perform Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466.
 
 
Mr. Ganz is on the piano faculty of St. Mary's College of Maryland, where he is artist-in-residence, and is also a member of the piano faculty of the Peabody Conservatory. He is the artist-editor of the Schirmer Performance Edition of Chopin's Preludes (2005).

IWONA SOBOTKA:
Iwona Sobotka achieved instant international acclaim as the Grand Prix winner of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium in 2004. The renowned soprano has performed all over Europe, in the Americas and Japan, in such prestigious venues as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Royal Albert Hall in London and and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Equally at home on the concert and the opera stage, Sobotka also is widely acknowledged for her interpretations of Polish vocal repertoire - in particular the works of Karol Szymanowski. In 2004, she contributed to a complete collection of his songs released by the Dutch label Channel Classics and was distinguished by National Academy of Recording Arts in Poland with the Fryderyk Award, named for Frederic Chopin and comparable to the American Grammys, for the most outstanding recording of Polish music.

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