Pianist Inon Barnatan Plays and Records Beethoven with Alan Gilbert and Academy of St Martin in the Fields; Celebrates New Year’s Eve with NY Phil
Fresh from the CD release of Rachmaninov & Chopin: Cello Sonatas and a fall tour, both with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, pianist Inon Barnatan – “a true poet of the keyboard, refined, searching [and] unfailingly communicative” (Evening Standard) – looks forward to a December full of Beethoven, including a performance of the Third Piano Concerto with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, led by Alan Gilbert. Barnatan will then record the complete Beethoven piano concertos with the same conductor and orchestra, marking the first time the ensemble has put the full cycle on disc. On New Year’s Eve, the pianist continues his collaboration with Gilbert – this time with the New York Philharmonic, where Barnatan is the orchestra’s first Artist-in-Association – for a themed concert titled “La Vie Parisienne.” This gala event, which will be broadcast on PBS, also features acclaimed mezzo Susan Graham and famed Japanese jazz pianist Makoto Ozone.
Later this season. Barnatan makes his Disney Hall debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17, and plays the Copland Piano Concerto with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas, first in San Francisco, and then on an East Coast tour that includes a stop at Carnegie Hall. Interspersed with these and other orchestral dates will be two more duo performances with Weilerstein and two of his own solo recitals (in Oldenburg, Germany and at New York’s 92nd St Y). In March, he participates in a high-profile performance of Messiaen’s chamber masterpiece Quartet for the End of Time, featuring Alan Gilbert on violin and other musicians from the New York Philharmonic at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur.
Barnatan’s recent appearances with the New York Philharmonic have received glowing praise from the critics. A five-star review in the Examiner after a performance of Mozart’s Concerto No. 23 characterized him as “an artist headed for superstardom” who is nonetheless “totally absorbed in the collective effort, not himself.” The reviewer further elaborated:
“Master of sudden fortissimo-to-pianissimo dynamics, Inon Barnatan’s matchless chameleonic shifts from one to the other create quiet astonishment in an audience holding its collective breath, lest the slightest detail be missed. The opening movement’s delicate, shimmering filigree; the sedate second’s aching purity and simplicity of solo keyboarding, and the silly playfulness of the third movement’s opening … which is best in Mozart’s A-Major Piano Concerto? Inon Barnatan’s hands dispense abundant pleasure throughout, so choosing becomes impossible and, thankfully, needless.”
The Chopin and Rachmaninov duo album with Weilerstein was likewise greeted with critical accolades. Called “a ravishing recording of fantastic music” by Voix des Arts, the disc was also named an “Album of the Week” in Sinfini Music by Norman Lebrecht, who praised the recording as “a dialogue of equals” in which “the ease between them is obvious.” The Guardian, after praising Weilerstein’s “expansive, sweeping lyricism,” added:
“Barnatan’s playing is just as eloquent: beautifully light and supple one moment, biting the next, always nuanced, and steering the music surely.”
High-resolution photos can be downloaded here.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Inon-Barnatan/102683499788893
Inon Barnatan’s upcoming engagements:
Nov 20, 21, 22
San Antonio, TX
Tobin Center
San Antonio Symphony / Sebastian Lang-Lessing
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
Dec 13
London, UK
Cadogan Hall
Academy of St Martin in the Fields / Alan Gilbert
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
Dec 31
New York, NY
New York Philharmonic / Alan Gilbert
New Year’s Eve Concert – “La Vie Parisienne”
Also featuring Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano; Makoto Ozone, piano
Jan 14, 15, 16, 17, 19
North Carolina Symphony
ANDREW NORMAN: Suspend
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
Jan 30
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra / Alan Gilbert
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
Feb 4
Fort Worth, TX
Van Cliburn Foundation – Cliburn Concerts
Kimbell Art Museum
Recital with Alisa Weilerstein
BEETHOVEN: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3, Op. 69
BARBER: Sonata for Cello and Piano
JANÁCEK: Pohádka
RACHMANINOV: Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 19
Feb 6
Stanford, CA
Bing Concert Hall
Recital with Alisa Weilerstein
DEBUSSY: Sonata for Cello and Piano
CHOPIN: Cello Sonata in G minor
JOSEPH HALLMAN: DreamLog
RACHMANINOV: Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 19
Feb 20
New York, NY
92nd Street Y
BACH: Chaconne (arr. Brahms)
SCHUBERT: Sonata in G, D. 894
LIGETI: Musica ricercata
BRAHMS: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24
Feb 26
Calgary, Canada
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra / Roberto Minczuk
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1
March 2 – 4
Belfast, UK
Ulster Orchestra / Rafael Payare
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
March 6
Oldenburg, Germany
Musikfreunde Oldenburg
BACH: Chaconne (arr. Brahms)
SCHUBERT: Sonata in G, D. 894
LIGETI: Musica ricercata
BRAHMS: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24
March 13
New York, NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art – Temple of Dendur
MESSIAEN: Quartet for the End of Time (with Alan Gilbert, violin; Carter Brey, cello; Anthony McGill, clarinet)
March 20
Miami, FL
New World Symphony Chamber Music Series
THUILLE: Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet
SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Quintet
March 26
Santa Monica, CA
With Calidore String Quartet
BACH: Keyboard Concertos
March 30; April 1, 2, 8
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
COPLAND: Piano Concerto
April 13
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
San Francisco Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
COPLAND: Piano Concerto
April 14
Vancouver, BC
Vancouver Recital Society
Schubertiade Series
SCHUBERT: Fantasie in F minor for piano four hands, D. 940 (with Jonathan Biss, piano)
SCHUBERT: Trio No. 1 in B flat, D. 898 (with Benjamin Beilman, violin; Gary Hoffman, cello)
SCHUBERT: Sonata in B flat, D. 960
April 15
Newark, NJ
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
San Francisco Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
COPLAND: Piano Concerto
April 17
Boston, MA
Celebrity Series of Boston, Jordan Hall
With the Jerusalem Quartet
BRAHMS: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
April 28, 30
Toronto, Canada
Toronto Symphony Orchestra / Matthias Pintscher
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 24
May 5 – 7
Minneapolis, MN
Minnesota Orchestra / Vasily Petrenko
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 1
May 13
New York, NY
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
RAVEL: Gaspard de la nuit
SCHUBERT: “Erlkönig,” D. 328, Op. 1 (with Yunpeng Wang, baritone)
May 14
Fort Worth, TX
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth
SCHUBERT: Fantasie in F minor for 4 hands, D. 940 (Op. posth. 103) (with Baya Kakouberi, piano)
SCHUBERT: Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat, D. 898, Op. 99
May 26, 27
Los Angeles, CA
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Philharmonic / Gustavo Dudamel
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K. 453
June 25
Toulouse, France
Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, Op. 58
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© 21C Media Group, November 2015