Piano Recital by Sergei Babayan

The Pharos Arts Foundation continues its Concert and Recital Series with a recital by Sergei Babayan – a pianist who is internationally acclaimed for the immediacy, sensitivity and depth of his interpretations, the rare emotional intensity and bold energy of his performances and his extraordinary mastery in exploring a stylistically diverse repertoire.

The recital will take place on Tuesday 16 October 2012, at The Shoe Factory Nicosia / 8:30pm.

Babayan will perform works by J.S Bach, Sergei Rachmaninov, Olivier Messiaen and Vladimir Ryabov.

Acclaimed for the immediacy, sensitivity and depth of his interpretations, the rare emotional intensity and bold energy of his performances and his extraordinary mastery in exploring stylistically diverse repertoire, Sergei Babayan is one of the most interesting new names of the great Russian piano school.

Student of such legendary musicians and teachers as Gornostayeva, Naumov, Pletnev and Vlasenko in the Moscow Conservatory, he was, however, not permitted to leave the country and be free to compete and study in the West. He was the first pianist from the former USSR who was able to compete without government sponsorship after the collapse of the system.

Immediately after his first trip outside of the USSR, he won consecutive first prizes in several major international competitions including the Cleveland International Piano Competition (still named Robert Casadesus Competition) and the Palm Beach Piano Competition in 1990, the Hamamatsu Piano Competition in 1991, the Scottish International Piano Competition in 1992, and was laureate in the Queen Elizabeth Piano Competition, the Busoni International Piano Competition, and the Esther Honens International Competition Calgary. Since that time, he has had major engagements and concert tours throughout Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, South America and the USA.

He appeared with recitals in important venues, among them Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg, Tchaikovsky Conservatory Bolshoi Zal in Moscow, Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, and countless others. His New York recitals at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and at the 92nd Y, as his performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and his many subsequent recital and concerto performances throughout all North America, met with huge critical acclaim. His concert schedule has included performances and broadcasts throughout major European venues and extensive tours of Japan, and he has appeared in numerous major music festivals in France, Germany, UK, Poland, Spain, and US.

Mr. Babayan has appeared with many major orchestras throughout the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Orchestre Nationale de Lille, Warsaw Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, New World Symphony. He has collaborated with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Neeme Jarvi, Hans Graf, Kazimierz Kord, David Robertson, Michael Christi. In recent seasons he performed recitals in New York City, London, Hannover, Manchester, Bruxelles, Glasgow, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Grenoble, Tours, Warsaw, Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Seattle, Atlanta, Miami, and New Orleans.

In May of 2006, Sergei Babayan was invited by Valery Gergiev to perform the Lutoslawsky piano concerto in the XIV International Festival “Stars of the White Nights” in St. Petersburg with the orchestra of Mariinsky Theatre: the performance was highly praised in major Russian publications and was enthusiastically received by the audience. Many other invitations came from Gergiev, to perform Prokofiev‘s Third Piano Concerto in his Easter Festival, in London Barbican in 2010 with the LSO, and again in St Petersburg with the Mariinsky Orchestra in 2011 playing Mozart and the Rachmaninov Third Piano concerto.

His repertoire is constantly growing – already having performed 51 different concertos! He is highly acclaimed in the mainstream repertoire, excelling in Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann as much as the Russian heritage of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Prokofiev. But he is known also for his innovative programming, often including contemporary works by composers such as Lutoslawsky, Ligeti and Arvo Pärt, Schnittke, Vasks and Shchedrin…

His imaginative recital programming has always elicited interest and praise. Mr. Babayan is an enthusiastic advocate of new music and has an immense repertoire; his philosophy that a recital should reveal a spiritual dimension, results in a performance which sustains an intensity that never fails to captivate. His love for J S Bach, as evidenced by his studies with Helmuth Rilling, has always gained him both public and critical acclaim, and he firmly believes that the natural evolution of the keyboard instrument has led to today's modern piano which allows the music to be fully expressed in this modern incarnation.

Sergei Babayan’s concerts have been broadcast by WQXR, WCLV, Radio France, Polish Radio and Television, BBC-TV and NHK Satellite Television. He has made highly praised recordings for EMC, Connoisseur Society and Pro Piano labels.

Programme:

Vladimir Ryabov (b. 1950)
Fantasia in C minor, Op.21, in memory of Maria Yudina

Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992)
Première communion de la Vierge from Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus

J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750)
Preludes from the Klavierbüchlein for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

Interval

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 – 1943)
Prelude in D major Op. 23, No. 4
Etude tableau in E-flat minor Op. 39, No. 5
'Andante', From the Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19 (transcribed by A. Volodos)
Etude tableau in C minor Op. 39, No.1
Etude tableau in A minor Op. 39, No.2
Melodia, Op. 21, No. 9 (song transcribed by A. Volodos)
Moment musical in E-flat minor Op. 16, No. 2
Moment musical in C major Op.16, No. 6

Ticket Prices
Adults: EUR25
Friends and Supporters of the Pharos Arts Foundation / Concessions: EUR20

Box Office: Tel: 7000 9304 - opening hours: 9.30 am - 11.30 am / www.pharostickets.org