Alessio Bax in 2016-17: Three Wigmore Appearances, Plus Collaborations with Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Bramwell Tovey, Joshua Bell, CMS, and More
Through a full and varied lineup of solo recitals, orchestral collaborations, and chamber concerts, over the coming season Alessio Bax continues to prove himself “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). In the first of three 2016-17 appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Leeds and Hamamatsu winner makes his solo recital debut at the storied venue with a program of Schubert, Scriabin, and Ravel. He also gives solo recitals in Spain, Italy, and at multiple destinations throughout the United States. Orchestral highlights include dates with the Vancouver Symphony and Bramwell Tovey, playing Edward MacDowell’s Second Piano Concerto, and with the National Orchestra of Spain and Miguel Harth-Bedoya, playing Tchaikovsky’s First. With his regular recital partner, superstar violinist Joshua Bell, Bax embarks on a national tour crowned by an appearance at New York’s Alice Tully Hall. He returns to the venue on an extensive U.S. tour with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, with which he also appears in Copenhagen and at Wigmore Hall. A superlative chamber musician who has been recognized with both Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Awards, he appears with his wife, fellow pianist Lucille Chung, in Virginia, Mexico, and at Guatamala’s Bravissimo Festival, and gives a pair of duo recitals in California with cellist Sol Gabetta. These engagements follow a summer replete. These engagements follow a summer replete with festivals on both sides of the Atlantic, including Music@Menlo, the Seattle and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festivals, Switzerland’s Verbier Festival, and Italy’s Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, where the pianist looks forward to returning and launching a three-season tenure as Artistic Director next summer.
Solo dates: Wigmore solo recital debut and more
For his solo recital debut at London’s Wigmore Hall (April 17), Bax plays Schubert’s Sonata in A minor, Ravel’s La Valse, and Scriabin’s Third Sonata. This last piece features on his all-Russian album, a Signum Classics release in which “his musical sensitivity is fully on display” (Washington Post) that was named one of the “Best of 2015” (Music-Web International). For further solo dates in Westport, CT (Jan 20), San Jose, CA (Feb 5), and Alicante, Spain (March 20), he rounds out this program with Mozart’s Six Variations on a Theme from the Clarinet Quintet. Besides additional U.S. engagements, the pianist’s solo schedule takes him to Perugia in his native Italy (Nov 13) for works by Scriabin, Mussorgsky and Beethoven. Selected as one of the “Top 10 recent Beethoven recordings,” it was Alessio Bax Plays Beethoven, another 2015 Signum Classics title, which prompted Gramophone to marvel:
“Even when compared to legendary performances of this sonata (Kempff, Richter, Gilels, Brendel, etc), this performance stands its ground in music to test the technique and intellect of even the greatest pianists.”
Concertos with Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Bramwell Tovey, and others
This past March, Bax stepped in at the eleventh hour to play Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto under Miguel Harth-Bedoya’s leadership at the Fort Worth Symphony. As Theater Jones reported:
“The result … was an incendiary and inspired throw-caution-to-the-winds performance, … the likes of which we may never hear again.”
Next spring, the pianist and conductor reunite in Madrid to reprise the concerto, this time with the Orquesta Nacional de España (April 28–30), highlighting a full orchestral lineup that also takes Bax to the Vancouver Symphony for Edward MacDowell’s quintessentially American Second Piano Concerto under Bramwell Tovey (March 11 & 13); the Norwegian Radio Orchestra for Mozart (Dec 1); the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra for Schumann (May 16); the Santa Rosa Symphony for Brahms (Feb 11-13); Italy’s Camerata Strumentale di Prato (Nov 10) and Alabama’s Mobile Symphony (Nov 19 & 20) for Beethoven’s Fourth; and the Williamsburg Symphony for the master composer’s “Emperor” concerto (March 29 & 30). The “Emperor” forms the centerpiece of his forthcoming Signum Classics release, an all-Beethoven album that he looks forward to recording with London’s Southbank Sinfonia next April.
Duo recitals with Joshua Bell, Sol Gabetta, and Lucille Chung
Bax’s musical partnership with violinist Joshua Bell has been described as “perfect” (DrehPunktKultur). Over the past three years the two have toured Europe, Asia, and the Americas, inspiring reviews like the Santa Barbara Independent’s, which declared: “Balance and communication were the hallmarks of the evening by two young masters.” This fall, on their next U.S. tour, Bax and Bell perform works by Schubert, Brahms, and Debussy at Great Barrington, MA (Oct 28), Worcester, MA (Oct 29), SUNY Purchase, NY (Oct 30), Tampa, FL (Nov 3), Kohler, WI (Nov 4), and Madison, WI (Nov 5), as well as at New York’s Alice Tully Hall (Nov 2).
The pianist also joins Argentinean cellist Sol Gabetta for Brahms, Schumann, and Prokofiev in San Francisco (Nov 15) and Santa Barbara (Nov 16), and reunites with pianist Lucille Chung for four-hands recitals of Mozart, Mendelssohn, Stravinsky, and Piazzolla at Virginia’s Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (Jan 8) and in Leon, Mexico (Oct 22). The two also perform together in a four-piano recital at Guatamala’s Bravissimo Festival (Oct 26). It was of the husband-and-wife pairing that Classical CD Choice observed: “Bax and Chung demonstrate an almost supernatural understanding of the demands of the duo repertoire.”
Chamber music with CMS and others
A former member of CMS Two and the recipient of both Lincoln Center’s 2013 Martin E. Segal Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant, Bax has developed a close relationship with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, which he calls his “musical home.” Likewise, CMS artistic directors Wu Han and David Finckel consider him “the complete package – a consummate recitalist, a superb soloist, an expert recording artist, and in addition, a stellar chamber musician.” It is in this capacity that the pianist embarks on the CMS’s North American tour in the New Year, performing piano quartets by Brahms and Fauré with violinist Ani Kavafian, violist Yura Lee, and cellist Paul Watkins in Cleveland, OH (Jan 17), Waterloo, ON (Jan 19), Winston-Salem, NC (Jan 21 & 22), Vancouver, BC (Jan 24), Grand Rapids, MI (Jan 26), SUNY, Purchase, NY (Jan 28), and at home in Alice Tully Hall (Jan 29). He joins Wu Han herself for Schubert’s four-hands Lebensstürme in Copenhagen (May 4), where he also plays Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet with the Danish String Quartet, and at the Wigmore Hall (May 5), where he couples it with Mozart’s Piano Quartet in E-flat. Bax undertakes additional CMS dates in Athens, GA (Feb 26) and at Lincoln Center (March 3), after giving a CMS masterclass at the New York venue on February 28. His remaining chamber commitments include fall concerts with members of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Nov 30), and a return to Wigmore next summer with Berlin Philharmonic concertmaster Daishin Kashimoto.
2015-16 highlights, live and on recording
These engagements follow a full 2015-16 season for the pianist. He headlined the Colorado Symphony’s opening-night concerts, playing Tchaikovsky’s First under Andrew Litton, and impressing the Denver Post with the “tight coherence between the ensemble and its guest and a palpable connection running from the keyboard to the podium.” He collaborated for the first time with the nine-time Grammy Award-winning Emerson String Quartet, and joined an outstanding lineup of pianists for “Pianos/Pianists” at Lincoln Center, when the New York Times admired the way he and Wu Qian “phrased as a pair with endearing naturalness.” To celebrate the release of his all-Russian album, he debuted Pictures in the Making – a new live multimedia collaboration with American visual artist and director Doug Fitch – at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, whose Creative and Executive Director, composer Paola Prestini, hosted a post-performance Q & A. He also played on an all-Poulenc album released by Lucille Chung that Classic FM considered “exceptional,” and released Lullabies for Mila, a collection dedicated to their baby daughter that was named “Pick of the Month” by CD Hotlist. Click here to see Bax play lullabies by Bach and Brahms to 22-month-old Mila in a special Father’s Day edition of NPR’s “Tiny Desk” concerts.
To conclude the season, the pianist headlined Tuscany’s Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, playing Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with the Southbank Sinfonia on the estate the New York Times has described as “an aesthete’s paradise with a rich, evocative history.” According to Bachtrack, Bax’s was “a beautifully crisp, sharp, satisfyingly phrased performance.” The review continued:
“His capacity for softness and for evenness of touch came beautifully to the fore for the concerto’s many top-keyboard pianissimo flutterings, as his strong relationship with the orchestra also reaped dividends, producing satisfyingly sympathetic chamber pockets amidst the surrounding symphonic excitement. … What with Bax’s brilliantly despatched encore, György Cziffra’s arrangement of Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5, it was a very satisfied crowd that finally picked its way back through the fields.”
The UK’s Catholic Herald agreed, concluding:
“Bax is one of the outstanding pianists of his generation: a musician of immaculate style, sensibility and grace, but driven by an iron technique and sense of purpose. He means business when he plays.”
The pianist looks forward to returning to the idyllic Italian festival next season, which marks the first of his new appointment as Artistic Director. As he recently told Classic FM:
“We already have a great line-up of musicians – Joshua Bell, Lawrence Power, Paul Watkins, Henning Kraggerud. A great line-up of close friends who love making music together.”
Recent high-resolution photos of the pianist may be downloaded here.
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Alessio Bax: 2016-17 engagements
Oct 2
Denver, CO
Denver Youth Orchestra
RACHMANINOV: Concerto No. 2
Oct 22
Leon, Mexico
Recital with Lucille Chung
Oct 26
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Bravissimo Festival
Four Pianos Recital
SAINT-SAËNS (arr. E. Guiraud): Danse Macabre for four pianos (with Lucille Chung, Daniel del Pino, and Alon Goldstein)
WILBERG: Carmen Fantasy for four pianos (with Lucille Chung, Daniel del Pino, and Alon Goldstein)
POULENC: Concerto for two pianos (with Alon Goldstein)
LISZT (arr. R. Kleinmichel): Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, for four pianos (with Lucille Chung, Daniel del Pino, and Alon Goldstein)
Oct 28–Nov 5
U.S. duo recital tour with Joshua Bell, violin
Oct 28: Great Barrington, MA (Mahaiwe PAC)
Oct 29: Worcester, MA (Music Worcester)
Oct 30: SUNY Purchase, NY
Nov 2: New York, NY (Alice Tully Hall)
Nov 3: Tampa, FL
Nov 4: Kohler, WI (Kohler Foundation Series)
Nov 5: Madison, WI (Wisconsin Union Theater)
Nov 10
Prato, Italy
Camerata Strumentale di Prato / Jonathan Webb
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G
Nov 13
Perugia, Italy
Amici della musica
Solo Recital: BEETHOVEN, SCRIABIN, and MUSSORGSKY
Nov 15 & 16
California duo recitals with Sol Gabetta, cello
SCHUMANN: Fantasiestücke, Op. 73
BRAHMS: Sonata No. 1
PROKOFIEV: Adagio from Cinderella, Op. 97 bis
PROKOFIEV: Sonata
Nov 15: San Francisco, CA (Herbst Theater)
Nov 16: Santa Barbara, CA
Nov 19-20
Mobile, AL
Mobile Symphony Orchestra / Scott Speck
BEETHOVEN: Concerto No. 4
Nov 30
Oslo, Norway
Chamber concert with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra
MOZART: Piano Quartet in E-flat, KV 493
HUMMEL: Septet, Op. 74
Dec 1
Oslo, Norway
Norwegian Radio Orchestra / Miguel Harth-Bedoya
MOZART: Concerto in C minor, KV 491
Jan 8
Vienna, VA
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
Recital with Lucille Chung
MOZART: Sonata in C, KV 521
MENDELSSOHN: Hebrides Overture
STRAVINSKY: Petrouchka
PIAZZOLLA: Milonga del Angel; Libertango
Jan 17–29
North American tour with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
BRAHMS: Scherzo, WoO posth. 2, from “F-A-E” Sonata for Violin and Piano
FAURÉ: Quartet for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello No. 2 in G minor, Op. 45
BRAHMS: Quartet for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello No. 2 in A, Op. 26
(With Ani Kavafian, Yura Lee, and Paul Watkins)
Jan 17: Cleveland, OH
Jan 19: Waterloo, ON
Jan 21 & 22: Winston-Salem, NC
Jan 24: Vancouver, BC
Jan 26: Grand Rapids, MI
Jan 28: SUNY, Purchase, NY
Jan 29: New York, NY (Alice Tully Hall)
Jan 20
Westport, CT
Quick Center for the Arts
MOZART: Six Variations on a Theme from the Clarinet Quintet, KV 581, KV Anh 137
SCHUBERT: Sonata in A minor, D 784
SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 3, Op. 23
RAVEL: La Valse (poème chorégraphique pour orchestre)
Feb 5
San Jose, CA
Steinway Society
MOZART: Six Variations on a Theme from the Clarinet Quintet, KV 581, KV Anh 137
SCHUBERT: Sonata in A minor, D 784
SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 3, Op. 23
RAVEL: La Valse (poème chorégraphique pour orchestre)
Feb 11-13
Santa Rosa, CA
Santa Rosa Symphony / Bruno Ferrandis
BRAHMS: Concerto No. 2
Feb 17
Canyon, TX
West Texas A&M University
Solo Recital
Feb 21
Dallas, TX
Southern Methodist University
With Escher String Quartet
Feb 26
Athens, GA
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
MENDELSSOHN: Gondellied (Song without Words Op. 19b)
RESPIGHI: Sonata for Violin and Piano in B minor
ROTA: Intermezzo for Viola and Piano
Feb 28
New York, NY
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Masterclass
March 3
New York, NY
Alice Tully Hall
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
MENDELSSOHN: Gondellied (Song without Words Op. 19b)
RESPIGHI: Sonata for Violin and Piano in B minor
ROTA: Intermezzo for Viola and Piano
March 5
Rockland County, NY
Recital
March 11 & 13
Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver Symphony / Bramwell Tovey
MACDOWELL: Piano Concerto No. 2
March 20
Alicante, Spain
MOZART: Six Variations on a Theme from the Clarinet Quintet, KV 581, KV Anh 137
SCHUBERT: Sonata in A minor, D 784
SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 3, Op. 23
RAVEL: La Valse (poème chorégraphique pour orchestre)
March 29-30
Williamsburg, VA
Williamsburg Symphony
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5
April 7–9
Columbia, MO
Plowman Chamber Music Competition
April 7: solo recital
April 8 & 9: jury
April 10
Dallas, TX
Southern Methodist University
Solo Recital
April 17
London, UK
Wigmore Hall
BBC Lunchtime Concerts
SCHUBERT: Sonata in A minor, D 784
SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 3, Op. 23
RAVEL: La Valse (poème chorégraphique pour orchestre)
April 28–30
Madrid, Spain
Orquesta Nacional de España / Miguel Harth-Bedoya
TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1
May 4
Copenhagen, Denmark
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
SCHUBERT: Lebensstürme for piano four-hands (primo)
SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Quintet, Op. 57
(With Wu Han and Danish String Quartet)
May 5
London, UK
Wigmore Hall
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
MOZART: Quartet in E-flat, KV 493
SCHUBERT: Lebensstürme for piano four-hands (primo)
(With Benjamin Beilman, Yura Lee, Jakob Koranyi, and Wu Han)
May 16
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra / Heiichiro Ohyama
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto
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