Armenian American pianist Sergei Babayan tours “Songs” recital program to New Orleans, London, Madrid, & beyond; plus more this winter & spring
(December 2024) — Sergei Babayan has long been venerated as a “pianist’s pianist” whose interpretations combine “quiet beauty and emotional fire” (The Times of London). In his thoughtfully curated solo recital program “Songs,” the Armenian American pianist explores the evolution of lieder, folksong, and the elusive art of melody. This program takes him to three continents over the months ahead, with U.S. dates at California’s Cal State Fullerton (Feb 16) and New Orleans’s Tulane University(Feb 19), as well as overseas ones in Mannheim, Germany (Jan 12); Spain’s Madrid (May 21), Tenerife (June 5), and Málaga (June 7); on tour in China (April 11–23); and at London’s state-of-the-art new venue, Bechstein Hall (March 15). Other upcoming highlights include performances of concertos by Rachmaninoff, Ravel, and Mozart in Italy, Germany, and France, and of Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto in Germany and Poland. This lineup follows last month’s announcement that Babayan’s most recent Deutsche Grammophon release, Rachmaninoff for Two, has been recognized with France’s prestigious 2024 Diapason d’Or. Recorded with his former student and frequent piano partner Daniil Trifonov, the album was also named among the “Best Classical Music Albums of 2024 (So Far)” by BBC Music magazine, which hailed it as “a winning mix of limitless pianism, deep knowledge and visionary boldness.”
In recital: “Songs” program
“How to write a good melody is something one cannot learn. It is a gift one either has or has not. In all study of the art of composition, melody remains the ultimate mysterium,” says Babayan, who believes that every recital should offer a spiritual dimension. In an illuminating program note about the “Songs” program, Dr. Marcus Felsner writes:
“To understand the almost obsessive force that drives Sergei Babayan’s creative process as a pianist, it is important to emphasize from the outset that his often acclaimed ability ‘to make the piano sing’ is the result of two key elements: painstakingly meticulous practice, and the profound conviction that all great instrumental music, whether for piano solo, chamber music ensemble or symphony orchestra, ultimately aims at emulating the colors, phrasing and dynamics of the human voice.”
Figuring prominently in the pianist’s winter and spring programming, “Songs” combines solo works with piano transcriptions of songs, by composers from Schubert, Schumann, and Rachmaninoff to Harold Arlen, Charles Trenet, and Armenian folk hero Komitas.
Babayan further celebrates Schubert’s songwriting with an account of the composer’s Winterreise cycle in Blaibach, Germany, for which he will be joined by baritone Thomas Bauer (Feb 8).
In concert: Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, & Mozart in Europe
Celebrated in concert for his “consummate technique and insight” (The New York Times), Babayan performs six concertos this winter and spring. These include Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto, a profound and monumental work that dates from the composer’s maturity, which the pianist undertakes with Jacek Kaspszyk and Poland’s NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, first at the orchestra’s home (May 10) and then at the Dresden Philharmonie (May 11).
Having studied at the Moscow Conservatory with legendary teachers Lev Naumov, Vera Gornostayeva, and Mikhail Pletnev, Babayan is a recognized master of the Russian concerto repertoire. This spring, he performs Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto with Naples’s Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo and Dan Ettinger (May 4) and the same composer’s Third Piano Concerto with the orchestras of three countries: Italy’s Orchestra Sinfonica del Conservatorio di Milano, led by Pietro Mianiti (Jan 28); France’s Orchestre de l’Opéra de Tours, conducted by Alexander Briger (Feb 1 & 2); and Germany’s Hagen Philharmonic, under the baton of Joseph Trafton (March 11). After hearing the pianist’s interpretation of the same concerto in fall 2023, the Boston Musical Intelligencer reported: “Babayan delivered a sensitive, utterly thrilling performance,” in which “his magisterial technique [was] almost as thrilling as his tender musicality.” The review counseled: “Next time he is in Boston, RUN to see him!”
Spring 2025 marks the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth. To celebrate this milestone, Babayan joins the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano and conductor Emmanuel Tjeknavorianfor accounts of the French composer’s two piano concertos. In addition, their program features the pianist’s solo performance of Ravel’s Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn, written to commemorate an earlier anniversary: the centennial of the Viennese composer’s death (April 4 & 6). Tjeknavorian is also an accomplished violinist, with whom Babayan gives a program of duo sonatas by Mozart, Prokofiev, and Janáček at the Auditorium di Milano (April 5). To complete his orchestral lineup, the pianist performs Mozart’s “Jeunehomme” Concerto with Lithuania’s Kremerata Baltica on a tour of Italy (May 13–18).
Recent highlights
These engagements follow a full fall for Babayan. Recent highlights include accounts of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with Maryland’s National Philharmonic at Strathmore, California’s Fresno Philharmonic, and Belgium’s Antwerp Symphony, led by its Chief Conductor, Elim Chan; a performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Dortmund Konzerthaus; and a special benefit concert with fellow pianist Grigory Sokolov at the Salle Cortot in Paris. Held to support artists in exile, this sold-out event was organized in tribute to Pavel Kushnir, the pianist and political activist who died last summer in a Russian detention center at just 39, after hunger striking to protest the war in Ukraine. Babayan said:
“It is my great honor to pay tribute to a young artist who gave his life in pursuit of truth. Pavel Kushnir understood that there can be no true happiness – or true art – where one nation inflicts unspeakable suffering upon another, and where the truth of this crime is silenced.”
About Sergei Babayan
Now an American citizen who lives in New York City, Sergei Babayan was born in Armenia during the Soviet occupation. After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory, he made his breakthrough in the West with first-prize wins at the Cleveland, Hamamatsu, and Scottish International Piano Competitions. Since then, he has appeared with some of the foremost orchestras worldwide, including the Cleveland Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France. He also performs at major festivals, including Salzburg and Verbier, and at prestigious venues, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to London’s Wigmore Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Zurich Tonhalle, and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. His chamber music partners include former student Daniil Trifonov, as well as Martha Argerich, Ivry Gitlis, and the Borodin Quartet.
As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2018, Babayan has made three recordings for the label. His groundbreaking solo collection, Rachmaninoff, was chosen as BBC Music’s “Recording of the Month,” welcomed as “61 minutes of piano heaven” (Classics Today), and heralded as “a masterclass in how to put the music first” (Ludwig-Van). Recorded with Argerich, Prokofiev for Two captures Babayan’s own two-piano transcriptions, prompting MusicWeb International to marvel: “World-class playing by both performers and the Babayan transcriptions are destined to be taken up by other pianists and incorporated into the mainstream repertoire. Outstanding.” Most recently, Rachmaninoff for Two, recorded with Trifonov to mark the composer’s 150th anniversary, was awarded the 2024 Diapason d’Or. As The New York Times has said of Babayan’s Trifonov partnership, “The firepower they achieved together is rare among piano duos.”
Sergei Babayan: upcoming engagements
Jan 12
Mannheim, Germany
Mannheim Castle
Solo recital
“Songs” program
Jan 28
Varese, Italy
Orchestra Sinfonica del Conservatorio di Milano / Pietro Mianiti
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3
Feb 1 & 2
Tours, France
Orchestre symphonique de l’opéra de Tours / Alexander Briger
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
Feb 8
Blaibach, Germany
Konzerthaus Blaibach
SCHUBERT: Winterreise (with Thomas E. Bauer, baritone)
Feb 16 & 19: solo recitals in U.S.
Feb 16: Fullerton, CA (Meng Concert Hall)
Feb 19: New Orleans, LA (Tulane University)
“Songs” program
March 11
Hagen, Germany
Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra / Joseph Trafton
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3
March 15
London, England
Bechstein Hall
Solo recital
“Songs” program
April 4 & 6
Milan, Italy
Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano / Emmanuel Tjeknavorian
RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G
RAVEL: Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn for piano
RAVEL: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
April 5
Milan, Italy
Auditorium di Milano
Duo recital with Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, violin
JANÁČEK: Violin Sonata
MOZART: Violin Sonata in F, K.376
PROKOFIEV: Violin Sonata in F minor
April 11–23
Solo recital tour of China
Dates and cities TBA
“Songs” program / BACH: Goldberg Variations
May 4
Naples, Italy
Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo / Dan Ettinger
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1
May 10 & 11: concerts with NFM Wrocław Philharmonic / Jacek Kaspszyk
May 10: Wrocław, Poland
May 11: Dresden, Germany (Philharmonie)
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 2
May 13–18: Italian tour with Kremerata Baltica / conductor TBA
Cities and dates TBA
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 9, “Jeunehomme”
May 21–June 7: solo recitals in Spain
May 21: Madrid (Auditorio Nacional)
June 5: Tenerife
June 7: Málaga (Sala María Cristina)
“Songs” program
June 8–15
Málaga, Spain
Málaga International Piano Competition
Jury Chair