21C welcomes Armenian American pianist Sergei Babayan
(June 2024) — 21C Media Group is thrilled to announce that it now represents Sergei Babayan, long venerated as a “pianist’s pianist” whose interpretations combine “quiet beauty and emotional fire” (The Times of London). Having devoted decades to his distinguished teaching career, the Armenian American pianist is now expanding his own presence on the international
stage. Over the coming months, he performs concertos by Brahms and Rachmaninoff with the orchestras of three continents, including the São Paulo Symphony, Royal Bangkok Symphony, and Antwerp Symphony. He previews “Songs,” an imaginatively curated new solo recital program, in England, South Korea, and China, before touring it extensively next season. Meanwhile, his summer festival lineup includes returns to Aspen and Bravo! Vail for Rachmaninoff duo recitals with his former student Daniil Trifonov, as on their recent Deutsche Grammophon release, just named among the “Best Classical Music Albums of 2024 (So Far)” by BBC Music magazine.
Classics Today reports, “Keyboard connoisseurs have revered Sergei Babayan for decades.” The New York Times praises his “consummate technique and insight,” France’s Le Figaro wonders at his “unequaled touch, perfectly harmonious phrasing and breathtaking virtuosity,” and Bachtrack calls him “one of the greatest pianists of our time.” “This is piano playing of the very highest echelon,” agrees MusicWeb International. As Canada’s Le devoir concludes, “Babayan is a genius. Period.”
Summer festivals: Aspen, Vail, Vancouver, and more
Babayan is active in the States this summer. He performs Mozart’s Ninth Piano Concerto, the “Jeunehomme,” at Maine’s Bowdoin International Music Festival (Aug 2) and gives solo recitals at Colorado’s International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival (Aug 6) and Canada’s Vancouver Piano Sessions (Aug 9). These August engagements follow returns to two more Colorado festivals: Bravo! Vail, where his residency combines a solo recital (June 27) with a program of Rachmaninoff piano duos, performed with his former student and frequent duo partner Daniil Trifonov (June 24), and the Aspen Music Festival, where he and Trifonov reprise their program (June 29). “The firepower they achieved together is rare among piano duos,”writes the New York Times of their partnership, while BBC Music magazine hails their recent recording of Rachmaninoff’s duos as “a winning mix of limitless pianism, deep knowledge and visionary boldness.”
Solo recitals: “Songs,” Bach, and more
Babayan believes that every recital should offer a spiritual dimension. Combining solo works with piano transcriptions of songs by composers from Schubert, Schumann, and Rachmaninoff to Harold Arlen, Charles Trenet, and Armenian folk hero Komitas, his thoughtfully curated new solo program will explore the evolution of lieder, folksong, and the elusive art of melody. Babayan says: “How to write a good melody is something one cannot learn. It is a gift one either has or has not. In all study of the art of composition, melody remains the ultimate mysterium.”
“Songs” will figure prominently in his 2024-25 lineup. By way of a preview, this summer he gives solo recitals of Liszt’s solo piano transcriptions of Schubert lieder, together with music by Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Grieg, Kreisler, Hahn, Fauré, Mompou, Bizet, Poulenc, Gershwin, and others, in Oxford, UK (July 30), Shanghai (Aug 28), and Seoul (Aug 30).
Babayan’s fall recital schedule also takes him to Dortmund, Germany, for a performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (Oct 31). The UK’s Independent praises the pianist’s “compelling authority” in Bach; after a previous account of the Goldbergs, the Chicago Classical Review observed: “Babayan seems so at home with this music that he really does sound as if he could be spontaneously creating it. The music sounded organic and inevitable.” Click here to see Babayan perform the Aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the 2023 Verbier Festival.
Concerto collaborations: Brahms, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff
Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto is a profound and monumental work that dates from the composer’s maturity. This is the vehicle for Babayan’s upcoming debut with Brazil’s São Paulo Symphony, under the baton of Xian Zhang, Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony (June 13–15).
Having studied with legendary teachers Lev Naumov, Vera Gornostayeva, and Mikhail Pletnev at the Moscow Conservatory, the pianist is a recognized master of the Russian concerto repertoire. This summer and fall, he performs Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with Thailand’s Royal Bangkok Symphony (Aug 24), France’s Orchestre symphonique de l’Opéra de Toulon (Sep 19), and Belgium’s Antwerp Symphony, led by its Chief Conductor, Elim Chan (Dec 13 & 14). After a performance of the same concerto last fall, the Boston Musical Intelligencer reported that: “Babayan delivered a sensitive, utterly thrilling performance,” in which “his magisterial technique [was] almost as thrilling as his tender musicality.” The review counseled: “Next time he is in Boston, RUN to see him!” Click here to see Babayan perform Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with the Mannheim Philharmonic.
Babayan’s remaining fall dates will be announced shortly.
About Sergei Babayan
Now an American citizen who lives in New York City, Sergei Babayan was born in Armenia during the Soviet occupation. After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory, he made his breakthrough in the West with first-prize wins at the Cleveland, Hamamatsu, and Scottish International Piano Competitions. Since then, he has appeared with some of the foremost orchestras worldwide, including the Cleveland Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France. He also performs at major festivals, including Salzburg and Verbier, and at prestigious venues, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to London’s Wigmore Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Zurich Tonhalle, and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. His chamber music partners include Martha Argerich, Daniil Trifonov, Ivry Gitlis, and the
Borodin Quartet.
As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2018, Babayan has made three recordings for the label. His groundbreaking solo collection, Rachmaninoff, was chosen as BBC Music’s “Recording of the Month,” welcomed as “61 minutes of piano heaven” (Classics Today), and heralded as “a masterclass in how to put the music first” (Ludwig-Van). Recorded with Argerich, Prokofiev for Two captures Babayan’s own two-piano transcriptions, prompting
MusicWeb International to marvel: “World-class playing by both performers and the Babayan transcriptions are destined to be taken up by other pianists and incorporated into the mainstream repertoire. Outstanding.” Most recently, Rachmaninoff for Two was recorded with Trifonov and released this past March to mark the composer’s 150th anniversary (see above).
Having previously taught for many years at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Babayan now serves on the piano faculties of New York’s Juilliard School and Dallas’s SMU Meadows School of the Arts, where he is the Joel Estes Tate Endowed Chair in Piano and Artist in Residence.
High-resolution photos can be downloaded here.
www.sergeibabayan.com/en
www.facebook.com/SergeiBabayan
www.instagram.com/babayansergei
twitter.com/sergeibabayan
Sergei Babayan: upcoming engagements
June 13–15
São Paulo, Brazil
São Paulo Symphony / Xian Zhang
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 2
June 24 & 27
Vail, Colorado
Bravo! Vail
June 24
Duo recital with Daniil Trifonov
RACHMANINOFF: duos
June 27
Solo recital
June 29
Aspen, CO
Aspen Music Festival
Duo recital with Daniil Trifonov
RACHMANINOFF: duos
July 30
Oxford, England
Holywell Music Room
“Songs” recital
SCHUBERT/LISZT: “Erlkönig”, “Auf dem Wasser zu singen” and others
Lieder by SCHUMANN, RACHMANINOFF, GRIEG, KREISLER, HAHN, FAURÉ, MOMPOU, BIZET, POULENC,
GERSHWIN, and others
Aug 2
Brunswick, ME
Bowdoin International Music Festival
Festival Orchestra / Peter Bay
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 9, “Jeunehomme”
Aug 6
Fort Collins, CO
International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival
Solo recital
Aug 9
Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver Piano Sessions
Solo recital
Aug 24
Bangkok, Thailand
Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra / Tomàs Grau
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3
Aug 28
Shanghai, China
Shanghai Oriental Arts Center
“Songs” recital
Aug 30
Seoul, Korea
Seoul Arts Center
“Songs” recital
Sep 19
Toulon, France
Orchestre symphonique de l’Opéra de Toulon
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3
Oct 31
Dortmund, Germany
Konzerthaus Dortmund
Solo recital
BACH: Goldberg Variations
Dec 13 & 14
Antwerp, Belgium
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra / Elim Chan
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3
# # #
© 21C Media Group, June 2024