Alessio Bax Curates Third Season as Artistic Director of Italy’s Incontri Festival, Gives Solo Recitals at Argentina’s Fabled Teatro Colón, and More This Summer

“Clearly among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone), Alessio Bax embarks on a full festival lineup this summer. He returns to South Carolina’s Southeastern Piano Festival (June 18 & 19), Michigan’s Great Lakes Festival (June 20 & 21), and the Seattle Chamber Music Festival (July 8 & 10) for performances with some of his most trusted collaborators, besides curating his third season as Artistic Director of Tuscany’s Incontri in Terra di Siena festival, which is fast becoming a major international destination for music-lovers (July 21–29). There, as in the prestigious Mozarteum Argentino series at Buenos Aires’s Teatro Colón (June 24 & July 1), he previews his next Signum Classics album, Italian Inspirations, which is due for release this fall. The Italian pianist also serves as Chairman of the Jury at this year’s Van Cliburn Junior Competition in Dallas (May 28–June 9), where he looks forward to nurturing the next generation of talent. Meanwhile, Classic FM was inspired by the recent royal birth to remind readers of Bax’s musical suggestions for the even younger, which he shared after becoming a father himself.

Third season as Artistic Director of Incontri in Terra di Siena festival

Hailed as “one of the most enjoyable musical enterprises of the Tuscan summer” (Financial Times, UK), the Incontri in Terra di Siena festival takes place both indoors and out at the spectacular Villa La Foce in the Tuscan hills, as well as at venues throughout the Val d’Orcia region, a UNESCO Heritage site. Though only a two-hour drive from the Rome airport, the idyllic setting feels a world apart; as Musica explained last summer:

“At Incontri you can breathe in the atmosphere of times past, the atmospheres of 19th-century musical evenings, with world-renowned performers who give up their egos…for dialogue, facing one another before large audiences of friends and supporters of the festival.”

Under Bax’s directorship, this year’s edition of the Italian festival hosts a starry roster of outstanding chamber musicians from around the world, uniting musical friends and new faces for seven concerts and a wide array of supplementary offerings this July.

The Opening Night’s orchestral program brings together three of the foremost exponents of their respective instruments – Berlin Philharmonic concertmaster Daishin Kashimoto, Berlin Philharmonic principal flutist Emmanuel Pahud, and award-winning French clarinetist Paul Meyer – for concertos by Mendelssohn, Mercadante and Weber with the Camerata Strumentale Città di Prato and music director Jonathan Webb.

Together with Alessandro Marcello, Puccini, Busoni, and Rota, Mercadante is one of a number of Italian composers programmed at this year’s festival, which also features a wealth of chamber rarities. These include such little-known gems as Onslow’s 20th String Quintet, Enescu’s Octet for strings, Jolivet’s Sonatine for flute and clarinet, Rota’s Trio for flute, violin and piano, Schnittke’s Hymnus 2 for cello and double-bass, and Sigurd Berge’s Horn-Lokk for solo horn.

There will also be a focus on the music of Stravinsky, with performances of the Histoire du Soldat for clarinet, violin and piano; the Pulcinella Suite, in a jazzed-up take by genre-bending pianist Dan Tepfer and his trio; and Petrouchka, in the arrangement for piano four-hands that Bax and his wife, pianist Lucille Chung, have made one of their signatures; as Classical CD Choice notes: “Bax and Chung demonstrate an almost supernatural understanding of the demands of the duo repertoire.”

French horn virtuoso Radovan Vlatković plays solo in the Second Concerto for Horn and Strings attributed to Haydn, and Bax and violinist Benjamin Beilman undertake the wide-ranging Second Violin Sonata by Tuscan-born Busoni. The Avery Fisher Prize-winning Calidore Quartet performs Wolf’s Italian Serenade, Ligeti’s groundbreaking First Quartet, Puccini’s much-loved song Crisantemi, and, joined by violist Lawrence Power, Dvořák’s Viola Quintet.

Bax opens the final concert with Bach’s arrangement of an Alessandro Marcello oboe concerto and two Liszt compositions inspired by a pair of great Italians, all of which may be heard on his forthcoming Signum Classics recording, Italian Inspirations, before joining cellist and festival founder Antonio Lysy for Rachmaninov’s impassioned Sonata in G minor for cello and piano.

To round out the festival, the pianist has also put together a “Beyond the Music” series of literary talks and a rich program of city and garden tours, wine-tasting, and local dining, enabling the musicians and their audiences to experience the full benefits of their Tuscan summer.

As has become traditional, the festival is also represented by way of a coda at Germany’s Schloss Elmau, where Bax, Chung, and Lysy collaborate with violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky on a chamber program of Dvořák and Debussy, among the dramatic peaks and forests of the Bavarian Alps (Aug 1).

“Italian Inspirations” in Argentina

For his return to the Mozarteum Argentino series at Buenos Aires’ fabled Teatro Colón, which ranks among the world’s greatest opera houses, Bax gives two performances of his complete Italian Inspirations program. Bookended by Marcello and Liszt, this comprises Rachmaninov’s Variations on a Theme of Corelli and Dallapiccola’s Quaderno musicale di Annalibera, a playful yet tender twelve-tone composition inspired by the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, and dedicated to the Italian composer’s eight-year-old daughter. When Bax played the same program on his recent antipodean tour, Australia’s ArtsHub reported:

“Bax has an unusually wide command of style, with rhetoric as clear in the Bach as it was in the Dallapiccola. … Requiring tour de force virtuosity, thunderous weight and grandeur along with gossamer fragility, this proved to be a memorable recital.”

The pianist reprises the same Italian-themed program next day in Cordoba, Argentina (July 2), and next season, it will be the vehicle for his solo recital debut at New York’s 92nd Street Y.

U.S. chamber festival collaborations

Bax rounds out the summer with returns to three U.S. festivals, giving duo recitals of Schubert, Ravel, Debussy, and Poulenc with Lucille Chung at the Southeastern Piano Festival and Detroit Great Lakes Festival. There, he also joins Emerson String Quartet cellist Paul Watkins for Beethoven, anticipating their collaboration on the composer’s complete works for cello and piano next season, both live at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and on a forthcoming Signum Classics release. Bax and Watkins reunite for more Beethoven at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, where the pianist’s residency also features an account of Brahms’s C-minor Piano Trio with Watkins and Grammy Award-winning Canadian violinist James Ehnes.

Looking ahead to next season

This fall, Bax joins the piano faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory. Besides the Italian Inspirations album and his solo recital debut at New York’s 92nd Street Y, his other upcoming highlights include dates with the symphonies of Milwaukee, Santa Barbara, and North Carolina, where he and Lucille Chung headline the orchestra’s season-opening concerts; chamber collaborations with Paul Watkins, Daishin Kashimoto, and Radovan Vlatković; and recital tours on both sides of the Atlantic with superstar violinist Joshua Bell.

To download high-resolution photos, click here.

www.alessiobax.com
twitter.com/alessiobaxpiano
facebook.com/alessiobaxpiano
instagram.com/alessiobax

Alessio Bax: summer engagements

May 28–June 9
Dallas, TX
Van Cliburn Junior Competition
Chairman of the Jury

June 18 & 19
Columbia, SC
Southeastern Piano Festival
Masterclass
Duo recital with Lucille Chung, piano
Debussy (trans. Ravel): Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune for piano, four-hands
Poulenc: Concerto for two pianos (original version without orchestra)
Schubert Fantasy in F minor for piano, four-hands
Poulenc: Sonata for piano, four-hands
Ravel: La Valse for two pianos

June 20 & 21
Detroit, MI
Detroit Great Lakes Festival

June 20
Duo recital with Lucille Chung, piano
Debussy (trans. Ravel): Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune for piano, four-hands
Poulenc: Concerto for two pianos (original version without orchestra)
Schubert Fantasy in F minor for piano, four-hands
Poulenc: Sonata for piano, four-hands
Ravel: La Valse for two pianos

June 21
   Beethoven: 7 Variations on “Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen” in E-flat (with Paul Watkins, cello)
A. Marcello (arr. Bach): Oboe Concerto in D minor, for solo piano
Rachmaninov: Variations on a Theme of Corelli

June 24 & July 1
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Teatro Colón; Mozarteum Argentino series
Solo recital
A. Marcello (arr. Bach): Oboe Concerto in D minor, for solo piano
Rachmaninov: Variations on a Theme of Corelli
Dallapiccola: Quaderno musicale di Annalibera
Liszt: St. François d’Assise: La prédication aux oiseaux
Liszt: Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata

July 2
Cordoba, Argentina
Solo recital
A. Marcello (arr. Bach): Oboe Concerto in D minor, for solo piano
Rachmaninov: Variations on a Theme of Corelli
Dallapiccola: Quaderno musicale di Annalibera
Liszt: St. François d’Assise: La prédication aux oiseaux
Liszt: Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata

July 8 & 10
Seattle, WA
Seattle Chamber Music Festival

July 8
Chamber concert
Beethoven: Sonata No. 3 for Cello and Piano in A, Op. 69 (with Paul Watkins, cello)

July 10
Preconcert recital
Shostakovich: Viola Sonata (with Beth Guterman Chu, viola)

July 10
Chamber concert
Brahms: Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in C minor (with James Ehnes, violin; Paul Watkins, cello)

July 21–29
La Foce, Tuscany, Italy
Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival
Artistic Director

Musicians:
Piano: Alessio Bax, Lucille Chung, Éric Le Sage
Violin: Benjamin Beilman, Daishin Kashimoto, Annabelle Meare
Viola: Lawrence Power
Cello: Antonio Lysy
Double bass: Nabil Shehata
Flute: Emmanuel Pahud
Clarinet: Paul Meyer
French horn: Radovan Vlatković
Dan Tepfer Trio
Calidore String Quartet
Camerata Strumentale di Prato / Jonathan Webb, conductor

Program:

July 21
Guided tour of Chiusi

July 21
Teatro Pietro Mascagni, Chiusi
Camerata Strumentale di Prato / Jonathan Webb
Britten: Simple Symphony
   Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in D minor (with Daishin Kashimoto, violin)
Mercadante: Flute Concerto in E minor (with Emmanuel Pahud, flute)
Weber: Clarinet Quintet, orchestral version (with Paul Meyer, clarinet)

July 22
Guided tour of Montefollonico

July 22
Apéritifs at Villa Marselli

July 22
Chiesa del Triano, Montefollonico
Chamber concert: Emmanuel Pahud, flute; Paul Meyer, clarinet; Éric Le Sage, piano
Dutilleux: Sonatine for flute and piano
Jolivet: Sonatine for flute and clarinet
Stravinsky: Histoire du Soldat for flute, clarinet, and piano
Poulenc: Clarinet Sonata, FP 184
Saint-Saëns: Tarantelle for flute, violin, and piano
Rota: Trio for flute, violin and piano

July 23
Salone, La Foce
“Beyond the Music” series: Jessica Duchen introduces her novel Ghost Variations

July 23
Piazzale del Granaio di Belvedere, La Foce
Concert: Dan Tepfer Trio
Stravinsky/D. Tepfer: Pulcinella Suite

July 24 & 25
Wine tasting at Fabrica, Pienza

July 26
Pieve di Corsignano, Pienza
Chamber concert: Benjamin Beilman & Annabelle Meare, violin; Lawrence Power, viola;
Antonio Lysy, cello; Nabil Shehata, double bass; Calidore String Quartet
Wolf: Italian Serenade for string quartet
Onslow: String Quintet No. 20, Op. 45
Schnittke: Hymnus 2 for cello and double-bass
Puccini: Crisantemi for string quartet
Dvořák: String Quintet No. 3 in E-flat, Op. 97

July 27
Monteverdi Tuscany, Castiglioncello del Trinoro
“Beyond the music” series: Sue Finley introduces Iris Origo’s memoir War in Val d’Orcia

July 27
Chiesa di Sant’Andrea, Castiglioncello del Trinoro
Alessio Bax & Lucille Chung, piano; Benjamin Beilman, piano; Radovan Vlatković, French horn
Sigurd Berge: Horn-Lokk for solo horn
Schumann: Adagio and Allegro for piano and horn, Op. 70
Busoni: Violin Sonata No. 2 in E minor, Op.36a
Ligeti: String Quartet No. 1 (“Métamophoses nocturnes”)
Stravinsky: Petrouchka for piano, four hands

July 28
Garden tour of La Foce

July 28
Cortile La Foce
Benjamin Beilman & Annabelle Meare, violin; Lawrence Power, viola;
Antonio Lysy, cello; Nabil Shehata, bass; Radovan Vlatković, horn; Calidore String Quartet
Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 18, No. 4
Haydn (attr.): Concerto for Horn and Strings, No. 2 in D, H:VIId:4
Enescu: Octet for strings in C, Op. 7

July 29
Palazzo della Corgna, Citta Della Pieve
“Beyond the music” series: Michele Serra introduces Iris Origo’s memoir A Chill in the Air

July 29
Teatro degli Avvaloranti, Citta’ della Pieve
Antonio Lysy, cello; Alessio Bax, piano
A. Marcello (arr. Bach): Oboe Concerto in D minor, for solo piano
Liszt: St. François d’Assise: La prédication aux oiseaux
   Liszt: Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata
   Rachmaninov: Sonata in G minor for cello and piano, Op. 19

Aug 1
Elmau, Germany
Schloss Elmau
“Incontri” chamber concert
Debussy (trans. Ravel): Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune for piano, four-hands (with Lucille Chung, piano)
Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 4, (“Dumky”) (with Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin; Antonio Lysy, cello)

#          #          #

© 21C Media Group, May 2019