Pictures in the Making – Alessio Bax’s Live Multimedia Collaboration with Doug Fitch – Debuts at National Sawdust on October 18
While the pianist performs Mussorgsky’s iconic Pictures at an Exhibition, Fitch will spontaneously create original drawings to complement the soundscape. The interactive performance – which will be followed by a Q & A hosted by the venue’s Executive Director/Creative Director, composer Paola Prestini – celebrates the launch of Bax’s new album of Russian favorites, featuring his account of the Mussorgsky. Released by Signum Classics on September 11, Alessio Bax plays Scriabin and Mussorgsky has already been named “Recording of the Month … and quite possibly my recording of the year” by MusicWeb International. Click here for more information about Pictures in the Making, and click here to see Bax performing Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, filmed live in the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio in March 2014.
First Prize winner at the Leeds International Piano Competition, the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, and recognized by Gramophone as “clearly among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public,” Alessio Bax is a star on the rise. He has appeared as soloist with more than 100 orchestras, including the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, Japan’s NHK Symphony, the Dallas Symphony with Jaap van Zweden, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle. The new Russian album marks the latest addition to a burgeoning discography that includes works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, and Stravinsky – all of which have been singled out for distinction by the most discerning critics. Click here for more information about Alessio Bax.
American visual artist and director Doug Fitch works with multiple mediums, from drawing and sculpture to theater, architecture, and food. The co-founder of the theater and entertainment company Giants Are Small, he is best known for his opera productions for the Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Fe Opera, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic, where his work includes stagings of Le Grand Macabre (named best opera of 2010 by the New York Times, New York magazine, and Time Out New York) and The Cunning Little Vixen (chosen as New York magazine’s “Best Classical Event of 2011”). Fitch’s collaborators include James Levine, Alan Gilbert, Leonard Slatkin, Peter Sellars, Robert Wilson, Karole Armitage, Joshua Bell, and puppeteer Jim Henson (The Muppets, Sesame Street). Click here for more information about Doug Fitch.
Recent high-resolution photos of the pianist may be downloaded here.
“Pictures in the Making” with Alessio Bax and Doug Fitch
Sunday, October 18 at 3pm
National Sawdust: 80 North 6th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249
www.facebook.com/alessiobaxpiano
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© 21C Media Group, October 2015