Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung release first duo CD Nov 19
Pianist Alessio Bax is joined by his partner in music and life, pianist Lucille Chung, for a dance-themed album, Bax & Chung, to be released on November 19 by Signum Classics. Bax and Chung’s musical partnership has been described by the UK’s Music and Arts as “a marriage of wondrous colours and dextrous aplomb, subtly balanced to make a musical performance sound as one,” and Musical Toronto noted their “uncanny way of staying in perfect lock-step with each other.” Fresh from a Canadian tour and Hong Kong’s Premiere Performances series, the couple will perform a Lincoln Center Great Performers recital (Dec 15), and at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC (March 9-10). They are also scheduled to appear as a duo in Salon de Virtuosi’s special celebration concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall (May 7), and close the season with double concertos by Mozart and Poulenc in Texas with the Plano Symphony Orchestra (April 5).
The centerpiece of Signum’s Bax & Chung album is Stravinsky’s original four-hand version of his complete ballet Pétrouchka. Bax fell in love with a recording of the orchestral version and bought the four-hands piano sheet music when he was only eight years old, but it was many years before he found the perfect partner with whom he would perform the piece. Bax met Chung in Japan in 1997 at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition where he took First Prize. They conducted a long-distance courtship during their tours, and just before marrying in 2004 they had the opportunity to play Pétrouchka together for the first time at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. In a blog for Huffington Post, Bax wrote:
In the years since those first rehearsals, we have played Pétrouchka many times and we still rehearse it with the same excitement and trepidation we had on that first day. We also keep finding new amazing details, the unmistakable trait of a great score. Pétrouchka, Ballerina and Blackamoor, the three main characters of the ballet, have been our companions on winter tours across Russia and the Canadian Prairies. They have walked with us on stage as actual puppets in Guatemala, and have come to life in our imaginations in concert halls around the world. From eastern Siberia to the Yukon, audiences are touched by this beautiful and colorful story the same way an eight year old in Southern Italy was held spellbound listening to an LP.
The new album also features Sixteen Waltzes, Op. 39 by Johannes Brahms. Bax’s previous Signum Classics release, Alessio Bax plays Brahms, was a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice” and proved him “an ideal Brahmsian” (Fanfare). Continuing the dance theme, the Bax & Chung recording also includes a selection of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla’s tangos –
Lo que vendrá, Milonga del angel, Tango No. 2 and Libertango. The tangos are Bax and Chung’s own original arrangements, which also include some improvisation. Bax says, “Every new performance of these tangos is different from the previous one, and to us this is a very unique and exciting experience.” Chung adds, “I think our love for each other comes through with these tangos, and people have said that it really looks like we’re dancing together.”
A YouTube video from Bax and Chung’s recent studio session for American Public Media’s nationally syndicated radio show Performance Today features the couple’s unique take on Piazzolla’s Libertango. It may be viewed here.
“Playing piano four hands is really special because it’s incredibly intimate,” says Bax in a promo video for the album on YouTube. “If you can imagine, it’s the only forum where you are actually sharing the same instrument. So you have to know each other so well, and each other’s intention.”
A complete list of Alessio Bax’s upcoming engagements follows. Engagements with Lucille Chung are in bold type, and additional information may be found at the websites below.
Alessio Bax’s 2013-14 upcoming engagements
(Duo dates with Lucille Chung in bold type)
Nov 16
Glendale, CA
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra / Hans Graf
Alex Theatre
Mozart: Piano Concerto in C minor KV 491
Nov 17
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra / Hans Graf
Royce Hall
Mozart: Piano Concerto in C minor KV 491
Nov 19
Bax & Chung CD release
Signum Classics – SIGCD365
Stravinsky: original four-hand version of Pétrouchka
Brahms: Waltzes, Op. 39
Piazzolla: Tangos – Lo que vendrá, Milonga del angel, Tango No. 2 and Libertango
With Lucille Chung
Nov 22
Fairfield, CT
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Brahms: Schumann Variations (with Soyeon Lee, piano)
Liszt: Dante Sonata
Nov 24
New York, NY
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Alice Tully Hall
Brahms: Schumann Variations (with Soyeon Lee, piano)
Liszt: Dante Sonata
Nov 28
Kuopio, Finland
Kuopio Symphony Orchestra / Pietro Rizzo
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat
Dec 7-10
Seoul, Korea
Chamber Music Today
Tchaikovsky: Andante Cantabile from String Quartet No. 1
Davidoff: At the Fountain, Op. 20 No. 2
Arensky: Trio No. 1
Rachmaninov: Trio in D minor
With Elmar Oliveira, violin and Jan Vogler, cello
Dec 15
New York, NY
Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series
Walter Reade Theater
Stravinsky: original four-hand version of Pétrouchka
Piazzolla: Tangos
With Lucille Chung, piano
Jan 7
Tokyo, Japan
Private Chamber Music Concert
With David Finckel, cello; Wu Han, piano
Jan 11
Columbia, SC
South Carolina Symphony / Morihiko Nakahara
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
Jan 17-19
UK recording sessions
Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, UK
Wyastone Concert Hall
Signum Classics CD
All Beethoven
Jan 22
Bari, Italy
EurOrchestra da camera
Schubert: Trio No. 1
Rachmaninov: Trio No. 2
Jan 30
London, UK
Southbank Sinfonia / Simon Over
St. John’s Waterloo
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
Feb 1
Kingston, UK
Southbank Sinfonia / Simon Over
Rose Theatre
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
Feb 2
Marlborough, UK
Southbank Sinfonia / Simon Over
Marlborough College
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
Feb 7
New York, NY
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Alice Tully Hall
Beethoven: Sonata No. 31 in A-flat, Op. 110
Schubert: Sonata “Arpeggione” (with Andreas Brantelid, cello)
Feb 9
Boston, MA
Gardner Museum
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on Tour
Feb 13
Monterrey, Mexico
Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León / Jesús Medina
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
Feb 17
St. Paul, MN
Schubert Club
Accordo Series
Beethoven: “Archduke” Trio
Taneyev: Piano Quintet
With Steven Copes and Erin Keefe, violins; Rebecca Albers, viola; Ronald Thomas, cello
March 1
Minot, ND
Minot Symphony Orchestra / Scott Seaton
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
March 6
New York, NY
New York University
Masterclass
March 9-10
Washington, DC
Dumbarton Oaks
Recital with Lucille Chung
Stravinsky: original four-hand version of Pétrouchka
March 14
Hiroshima, Japan
Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra / Kazuyoshi Akiyama
Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
March 16
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Spring Festival Recital
Metropolitan Museum
Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
March 21
Orono, ME
University of Maine
Beethoven: “Hammerklavier” Sonata, Op. 106
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
March 23
Dallas, TX
Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University
Beethoven: “Hammerklavier” Sonata, Op. 106
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
March 27
New York, NY
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Solo Recital
Rose Studio
Beethoven: “Hammerklavier” Sonata, Op. 106
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
March 30
Ridgewood, NJ
Parlance Chamber Concerts
Ravel: Tzigane for violin & piano
Mendelssohn: Sonata No. 2 in D, Op. 58 for cello & piano
Brahms/Cziffra/Bax: Hungarian Dance No. 5 for solo piano
Arensky: Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32 for violin, cello, and piano
With Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Nicholas Canellakis, cello
April 5
Plano, TX
Plano Symphony Orchestra / Hector Guzman
Mozart: Double Concerto
Poulenc: Double Concerto
With Lucille Chung, piano
April 28
Dallas, TX
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Chamber Concert
City Performance Hall
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 8 and 3
Haydn: Gypsy Trio
With Nathan Olson, violin; Christopher Adkins, cello
May 3
Dallas, TX
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Chamber Concert
City Performance Hall
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 2 and 6
Haydn: Andante e Variazioni in F minor
With Chee-Yun, violin
May 6
Dallax, TX
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Chamber Concert
City Performance Hall
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 4 and 10
Schubert: Notturno
With Alexander Kerr, violin; Christopher Adkins, cello
May 7
New York, NY
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
Birthday Celebration Concert for Charlotte White, Salon de Virtuosi
With Lucille Chung, piano
May 10
Dallas, TX
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Chamber Concert
City Performance Hall
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 7 and 9
With Alexander Kerr & Nathan Olson, violins
May 11
Palo Alto, CA
Music@Menlo Winter Series Recital
Beethoven: “Hammerklavier” Sonata, Op. 106
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
May 18
Rockville, MD
Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington
With Chee-Yun, violin
May 20
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra / Heiichiro Ohyama
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
Bax & Chung promo video on YouTube
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© 21C Media Group, November 2013