Pianist Inon Barnatan Takes Copland Piano Concerto to San Francisco, Newark, and Carnegie Hall with San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas

Pianist Inon Barnatan – “a true poet of the keyboard, refined, searching [and] unfailingly communicative” (Evening Standard) – turns his attention to the Copland Piano Concerto this spring, giving seven performances of the American composer’s jazz-inflected concerto with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas, first in San Francisco (March 30 – April 8) and then on tour at Carnegie Hall (April 13) and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (April 15).

Also this spring, the versatile pianist will make his Disney Hall debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17; and he participates in a high-profile performance of Messiaen’s chamber masterpiece Quartet for the End of Time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur, featuring Alan Gilbert on violin, along with members of the New York Philharmonic.  Barnatan’s very full and extremely eclectic upcoming schedule is rounded out by solo recitals at Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y and in Oldenburg, Germany, featuring repertoire from Bach to Ligeti; orchestral appearances that include Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 with the Toronto Symphony and Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 1 with Vasily Petrenko and the Minnesota Orchestra; a return to Charleston’s Spoleto Festival in June; and chamber music concerts in Miami, Santa Monica, Vancouver, at the Celebrity Series of Boston, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, in repertoire ranging from Schubert and Brahms to Shostakovich and Thuille.

Barnatan’s recent successes have been just as varied. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, he has recently premiered pieces written for him by Matthias Pintscher and Sebastian Currier, and has been involved in the commissioning and performance of pieces by Thomas Adès, George Benjamin, George Crumb, Kaija Saariaho, and Judith Weir. In October, he and Alisa Weilerstein (his frequent duo partner) released Rachmaninov & Chopin: Cello Sonatas on Decca. Voix des Arts called the album “a ravishing recording of fantastic music,” and his playing earning Barnatan praise for his “great musical insight,” “marvelous variety of tone” and “irresistibly mercurial lightness of touch” from BBC Music. The disc was also named an “Album of the Week” in Sinfini Music by Norman Lebrecht. In December the pianist joined Alan Gilbert and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto and is in the process of recording the complete Beethoven piano concertos with the same conductor and orchestra, marking the first time the Academy has put the full cycle on disc. Barnatan and Gilbert reunited on New Year’s Eve with the New York Philharmonic (where the pianist continues his three-year appointment as the orchestra’s first Artist-in-Association) for a themed concert titled “La Vie Parisienne.” The event was broadcast on PBS, and also featured mezzo Susan Graham, famed Japanese jazz pianist Makoto Ozone, and narration by Nathan Lane.

High-resolution photos can be downloaded here.

 

http://www.inonbarnatan.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Inon-Barnatan/102683499788893
https://twitter.com/IBarnatan

Inon Barnatan’s upcoming engagements:

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, 31; 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 26, 27
Los Angeles, CA
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Philharmonic / Gustavo Dudamel
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K. 453

June 3-12
Charleston, SC
Spoleto Festival

June 25
Toulouse, France
Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, Op. 58

#          #          #

 

© 21C Media Group, February 2016