Alessio Bax caps Rachmaninov season in NYC & Moscow
Pianist Alessio Bax caps a season of Rachmaninov on disc and in the concert hall on April 4 when he performs the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in Moscow for his debut with the famed St. Petersburg Philharmonic under music director Yuri Temirkanov. Presented as part of the International Mstislav Rostropovich Festival, Russia’s oldest orchestra will repeat the program with Bax on April 6 in Nizhni Novgorod. The Leeds and Hamamatsu competition winner warms up for the trip with “Russian Dedications,” a concert on April 1 with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at New York’s Alice Tully Hall, where he will play, among other works, Rachmaninov’s Trio élégiaque in D minor.
In solo piano repertoire, Bax has earned across-the-board raves this season from the international music magazines for his most recent recording, Rachmaninov: Preludes & Melodies, released last summer on Signum Classics. Gramophone praised “the wondrously gifted Alessio Bax,” saying, “You would have to have a heart of stone not to be beguiled by Bax’s romantic warmth.” American Record Guide made the CD a “Critic’s Choice 2011” and proclaimed, “This is an outstanding Rachmaninov program … Bax conquers all with plenty of technique to spare.”
Audiophile Audition predicted, “His traversal of the Op. 23 Preludes seems likely to become a classic rendition.” Fanfare was impressed by the combination of “the virtuosic and the velvet,” and Classic FM Magazine said it was “one of the most intelligent and engrossing Rachmaninov recitals of recent years,” noting that the young pianist has “technique to burn but also has the unteachable ability to tug at the heart strings.”
In addition to the Opus 23 Preludes, the disc features selected early and late pieces, and transcriptions, including Bax’s own arrangement of “Vocalise.” According to Classics Today:
“Rachmaninov’s music fits Alessio Bax’s seemingly boundless technique hand in glove, along with his big, luscious, multi-colored sonority and ardent temperament …There’s always room in the catalog for impassioned, world-class Rachmaninov playing on Bax’s level, and I can’t wait to hear what he might do with the two Sonatas, the Op. 32 Preludes, the Etudes-Tableaux, the four concertos and Paganini Rhapsody, or any other Romantic piano repertoire for that matter!”
Recalling a studio recording session for the nationally syndicated radio show Performance Today, host Fred Child penned a “Favorite Sessions” blog for NPR Music on “The Poetry and Power of Pianist Alessio Bax”:
“He finished with dazzling color and fireworks in a set of three Rachmaninov Preludes — all suffused with the same glow of personal warmth that came through in our conversation.” Click here to listen.
In January, Bax recorded solo piano music by Brahms in the UK for Signum Classics, to be released this fall, and sessions are scheduled in June for Mozart’s Piano Concertos K. 491 and 595 with Simon Over and the Southbank Sinfonia in London. These albums will join an acclaimed discography that includes not only Rachmaninov: Preludes and Melodies, but also Bach Transcribed and Baroque Reflections (Warner Classics, Gramophone “Editor’s Choice).
While the 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient has performed as soloist with over 90 orchestras worldwide, including the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, Dallas and Houston symphonies, NHK Symphony in Japan and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle, April 4 marks Bax’s debut with the esteemed St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and his concerto debut in Moscow.
Alessio Bax: upcoming engagements
March 31
Madison, NJ
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Drew University
Glazunov & Rachmaninov Trio w/Elmar Oliveira, Erin Keefe & Paul Watkins
April 1
New York, NY
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Alice Tully Hall
Glazunov & Rachmaninov Trio w/Elmar Oliveira, Erin Keefe & Paul Watkins
April 4
Moscow, Russia
St. Petersburg Philharmonic/Yuri Temirkanov
Rostropovich Festival
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2
April 6
Nizhni Novgorod, Russia
St. Petersburg Philharmonic/Yuri Temirkanov
Rostropovich Festival
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2
April 12-25
Verbier Festival Cruise on the MS Europa
Recitals & chamber music w/Lucille Chung, Sayaka Shoji, David Aaron Carpenter, Adrian Brendel, Yevgeny Sudbin and Sally Wei
April 27-29
Moncton & St. John, NB; Dartmouth, NS
Canadian Atlantic Encore Tour w/Lucille Chung
May 2
New York, NY
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Gala
Rachmaninov: Suite No. 2 for two pianos w/Inon Barnatan
May 4-5
Lindsay, ON
Lindsay Concert Foundation
Master class; concert w/Lucille Chung
May 6
Haliburton, ON
Recital w/Lucille Chung
May 11-12
San Diego, CA
Mainly Mozart Festival
May 14
New York, NY
The James Beard House
WQXR special event
May 20
Dallas, TX
Meyerson Symphony Center
Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra/Richard Giangiulio
Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1
May 23
Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Recital
May 27
Bari, Italy; EurOrchestra da Camera
Mozart: Piano Concertos K. 491 & 595
May 31 & June 1
Bilbao, Spain
Bilbao Symphony Orchestra/Günter Neuhold
Poulenc: Concerto for Two Pianos w/Lucille Chung
June 3
Guadarrama, Spain
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals; Poulenc: Elegie w/Daniel del Pino
June 6
London, UK. Southbank Sinfonia/Simon Over
Gray’s Inn, High Holborn
Mozart: Piano Concertos K. 491 and 595
w/Signum Classics recording sessions (June 5-7)
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