Alessio Bax Plays Solo and Chamber Music at Eleven Festivals Across the U.S. and Europe This Summer
Having just completed a four-country tour of Asia with violinist Joshua Bell in April, a Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center concert at New York’s Alice Tully Hall, and three performances of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto in Dallas, Santa Barbara, and Monterrey, Mexico, Italian pianist Alessio Bax looks forward to a busy summer across the U.S. and in Europe. Bax – “clearly among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone) – performs in eleven different festivals between late June and the end of August, including Italy’s Incontri in Terra di Siena, where he has just been appointed Artistic Director for a three-year term beginning in 2017. A concert with Joshua Bell at Minnesota’s Beethoven Festival is also on the calendar, as well as the Verbier, Seattle, Saratoga, Santa Fe, Music@Menlo, Great Lakes, Mimir, Bridgehampton, and Lexington Chamber Music Festivals. As Bax says of his upcoming summer festival smorgasbord:
“I am looking forward to a very exciting mix of festivals this summer. I find that more and more my summers reflect my musical identity. In past years I’ve focused mainly on chamber music; now I am expanding summers to include solo recitals and concerto appearances. I will start early with a Beethoven “Emperor” Concerto in Washington State, return to a few favorite festivals (Great Lakes, Music@Menlo, Santa Fe etc.), take a European detour through Verbier and Tuscany, and save some time for new festivals (Seattle, Saratoga). A couple of duo concerts will provide a nice reminder of my spring tours with violinist Joshua Bell, and my summer will end, as it often does, in beautiful horse racing/bourbon country. ”
First Prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions, a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, and a winner of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, Bax has long been in demand on the international summer festival circuit; last summer he performed in no less than 14 festivals across three continents. This year, after a performance of Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto in Bellingham, Washington, he returns first to the Great Lakes Festival, performing in downtown and suburban venues around Detroit. Paul Watkins – a conductor as well as cellist for the Emerson String Quartet – is Artistic Director, and Bax will join him for Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata and chamber works by Schumann and Schubert, the latter of which also features Watkins’s fellow Emerson Quartet member Philip Setzer. The pianist then takes the solo role for a performance of Mozart’s Concerto No. 12 in A, with Watkins conducting the Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings. Later in the summer, Bax revisits Mozart with the Concerto No. 14 in E-flat, at both the Santa Fe and Bridgehampton Festivals, and plays another rendition of the Shostakovich Cello Sonata during his return to the Mimir Festival in Fort Worth.
At the Music@Menlo Festival this year the pianist gives a solo recital of Scriabin, Mussorgsky and Kreisler/Rachmaninov, before being joined by his wife, pianist Lucille Chung, for a rendition of Stravinsky’s own four-hand arrangement of his ballet Pétrouchka. The Stravinsky served as the centerpiece for an extensive 2008 tour of Russia during which the couple logged 20,000 miles by train, and can be heard on their 2013 Signum Classics duo album, Bax & Chung; repertoire by both Mussorgsky and Scriabin comprises Bax’s 2015 solo release on the same label. He will again play Scriabin and Kreisler/Rachmaninov at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and he keeps Scriabin and Mussorgsky on the menu, along with Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata, in Verbier.
Other highlights of Bax’s summer season include Schumann’s Märchenbilder with New York Philharmonic principal violist Cynthia Phelps in Seattle, as well as Prokofiev’s first Violin Sonata with 2008 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient Karen Gomyo; a recital of Beethoven, Ravel and Schubert with violinist Benjamin Beilman in Verbier; a performance of the ”Emperor” concerto with Simon Over leading the Southbank Sinfonia at the Incontri Festival; Brahms and Fauré Piano Quartets at the Mimir Festival; and a performance of the Hummel Septet, Op. 74 in Bridgehampton, New York. The last piece has the distinction of having been a favorite of Franz Liszt, and is a piece Bax has long loved and championed.
Recent high-resolution photos of the pianist may be downloaded here.
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Alessio Bax: Summer 2016 Engagements
June 5
Bellingham, WA
Whatcom Symphony Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
June 21
Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival
Farmington Hills, MI
Adat Shalom Synagogue
STRAUSS, BRITTEN and SCHUBERT Songs
With Lauren Skuce, soprano; Richard Watkins, horn
June 22
Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Temple Beth El
SCHUBERT: “Trout” Quintet, D. 667
With Philip Setzer, violin; Scott Dickinson, viola; Paul Watkins, cello; Kevin Brown, double bass
June 23
Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Kirk in the Hills
SCHUMANN: Andante and Variations, for two pianos, two cellos and horn, Op. 46
With Ian Brown, piano; Adrian Brendel and Paul Watkins, cellos; Richard Watkins, horn
June 24
Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Kirk in the Hills
BEETHOVEN: “Moonlight” Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2
June 25
Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival
Franklin, MI
Seligman Performing Arts Center
MOZART: Concerto No. 12 in A, K. 414
With Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings; Paul Watkins, conductor
June 26
Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival
Ann Arbor, MI
Kerrytown Concert House
SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Sonata, Op. 40
With Paul Watkins, cello
June 30
Fort Worth, TX
Mimir Chamber Music Festival
BRAHMS: Quartet in A Major, Op. 26
With Stephen Rose, violin; Joan DerHovsepian, viola; Brant Taylor, cello
July 1
Fort Worth, TX
Mimir Chamber Music Festival
FAURÉ: Quartet in G minor, Op. 45
With Jun Iwasaki, violin; Joan DerHovsepian, viola; Brant Taylor, cello
July 3
Fort Worth, TX
Mimir Chamber Music Festival
SCHUBERT: Fantasy in F minor for piano four hands, D. 940
SHOSTAKOVICH: Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 40
With John Novacek, piano; Brant Taylor, cello
July 5
Winona, MN
Winona State University
Beethoven Festival
Recital with Joshua Bell, violin
July 6
Bloomington, IN
Recital with Joshua Bell
July 11
Seattle, WA
Seattle Chamber Music Festival
SCHUMANN: Märchenbilder, Op. 113
With Cynthia Phelps, viola
July 13
Seattle, WA
Seattle Chamber Music Festival
SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 3, Op. 23
KREISLER/RACHMANINOV: Liebesleid
BRAHMS: Quartet for Piano and Strings in A Major, Op. 26
With Stephen Rose, violin; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Clive Greensmith, cello
July 15
Seattle, WA
Seattle Chamber Music Festival
PROKOFIEV: Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 80
With Karen Gomyo, violin
July 17
Menlo Park, CA
Music@Menlo
Carte Blanche Recital
SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 3
MUSSORGSKY: Hopak (from The Fair at Sorochyntsi)
KREISLER: Liebesleid & Liebesfreud
STRAVINSKY: Pétrouchka
With Lucille Chung
July 23
Verbier, Switzerland
Verbier Festival
BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 6 in A, Op. 30, No. 1
RAVEL: Sonata No. 2 in G major
SCHUBERT: Fantasy, D. 934
With Benjamin Beilman, violin
July 24
Verbier, Switzerland
Verbier Festival
FAURÉ: Piano Quartet No. 2, Op. 45
SHCHEDRIN: Romantic Duets, for piano four hands
With Benjamin Beilman, violin; Lawrence Power, viola; Raphaël Merlin, cello; Roland Pöntinen, piano
July 27
Verbier, Switzerland
Verbier Festival
BEETHOVEN: “Moonlight” Sonata
SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 3
MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition
July 30
Sinalunga, Italy
Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival
Locanda dell’Amorosa
Southbank Sinfonia / Simon Over
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
Aug 3 & 4
Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
BARTÓK: Violin Sonata No. 2
With Jennifer Frautschi, violin
Aug 6
Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat, K. 449
Aug 7 & 8
Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
MOSZKOWSKI: Suite for two violins and piano
With Bill and Alexandra Preucil, violins
Aug 8
Santa Fe, NM
Educational Solo Concert
Aug 14
Saratoga, NY
CMS at SPAC
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
HARBISON: November 19, 1828 for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello
PREVIN: Vocalise for Soprano, Cello, and Piano
BOLCOM: Cabaret Songs for Voice and Piano: “Amor”; “Blue”; “Song of Black Max”
GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue for Piano, Four Hands
With Wu Han, piano; Ani Kavafian, violin; Matthew Lipman, viola; David Finckel, cello; Michelle Areyzaga, soprano
Aug 16
Saratoga, NY
CMS at SPAC
Saratoga Performing Arts Center|
FAURÉ: “La fée aux chansons,” Op. 27, No. 2; “Clair de lune,” Op. 46, No. 2; “En sourdine” from Cinq mélodies ‘de Venise’, Op. 58; “Notre amour,” Op. 23, No. 2; “Adieu” from Poème d’un jour, Op. 21
FAURÉ: Quartet No. 1 in C minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 15
With Ani Kavafian, violin; Matthew Lipman, viola; David Finckel, cello; Michelle Areyzaga, soprano
Aug 21
Bridgehampton, NY
Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival
HUMMEL: Septet, Op. 74
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat, K. 449
Aug 22-28
Lexington, KY
Lexington Chamber Festival
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© 21C Media Group, June 2016