Next Wednesday (Nov 2), Alessio Bax Returns to NYC for Recital Appearance Together with Joshua Bell, Crowning Their U.S. Duo Recital Tour

This Friday (Oct 28), Alessio Bax – the Leeds and Hamamatsu winner recognized as “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone) – rejoins his regular recital partner, superstar violinist Joshua Bell, to play Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, and Sarasate on a six-stop national tour. This includes their first appearance together as part of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series – where Bax, the winner of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, is already a house favorite – at Alice Tully Hall next Wednesday, November 2.

The pianist explains:

“I am so thrilled to join again my dear friend Joshua Bell. We’ve come up with a beautiful menu: an incredibly varied yet unified journey that will take us and the audience along through wonderful lands, colors, and emotions. A meaty German first half balances Brahms’s Sonatensatz and third sonata with the cooling effect of the humorous yet still deep Sonata No. 2 by Beethoven. The second half brings us to a totally different and seductive sound world, with Debussy’s fantastically colorful Sonata and the spice of Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy. The two halves are very different from one another and they are designed to achieve together a really balanced and fully satisfying experience for us and for the audience. The amount of beauty in this program is simply staggering! I am especially excited to make a stop at what I consider my New York musical home, the wonderful Alice Tully Hall.”

Bax’s musical partnership with violinist Joshua Bell has been described as “perfect” (DrehPunktKultur). He originally befriended the violinist at a festival in Sweden ten years ago, but it was not until 2013 that they first toured together, giving ten concerts across five South American countries in the span of just twelve days. Montevideo’s El País declared:

“This was the best concert of the season; it will be very difficult to surpass the musical quality of these two magnificent musicians… Alessio Bax was the revelation of the night… [He] deserves to be called ‘The Poet of the Piano’ in the way that Joshua Bell is ‘The Poet of the Violin.’”

The two reunited the following year for a U.S. tour that took in Los Angeles’ 2,265-seat Disney Hall, as well as European dates in London, Salzburg, Madrid, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and many more destinations. Last spring they toured Asia together, making appearances in Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. As the Santa Barbara Independent put it:

“Joshua Bell clearly has an ideal recital partner in Italian pianist Alessio Bax… Balance and communication were the hallmarks of the evening by two young masters… A feast for refinements and subtleties.”

Besides their Lincoln Center date, the 2016 tour takes in Great Barrington, MA (Oct 28), Worcester, MA (Oct 29), SUNY Purchase, NY (Oct 30), Kohler, WI (Nov 4), and Madison, WI (Nov 5). The pianist also looks forward to fall duo recitals with Argentinean cellist Sol Gabetta, with whom he reunites for Brahms, Schumann, and Prokofiev in San Francisco (Nov 15) and Santa Barbara (Nov 16).

These duo dates complement a full and varied lineup of solo recitals, orchestral collaborations, and chamber concerts over the coming season. In the first of three 2016-17 appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, Bax makes his solo recital debut at the storied venue with a program of Schubert, Scriabin, and Ravel, besides giving solo recitals in Spain, Italy, and at multiple destinations throughout the United States. Orchestral highlights include engagements 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. Bax returns to Alice Tully Hall on an extensive U.S. tour with the 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 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 looks forward to returning to Italy’s Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival to launch a three-season tenure as Artistic Director next summer.

Recent high-resolution photos of the pianist may be downloaded here.

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Alessio Bax: upcoming engagements

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
BEETHOVEN: Sonata in A, Op. 12, No. 2
BRAHMS: Scherzo in C minor
BRAHMS: Sonata No. 3 in D minor
DEBUSSY: Sonata for violin and piano
(YSAYE: Ballade for solo violin)
SARASATE: Carmen Fantasy

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 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. 5

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. 5

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 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 17, 18, 19
San Jose, CA
Silicon Valley Symphony / Constantine Kitsopoulos
MOZART: Concerto for two pianos (with Orion Weiss, piano)
SAINT-SAËNS: Carnival of the Animals (with Orion Weiss, piano)

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 8
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)

May 16
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra / Heiichiro Ohyama
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto

 

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