Series U

Included: five concerts
Prices: 102 to 136 €

The legendary pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja, who will perform in our piano series just a few weeks after her 80th birthday, possesses a unique sound in which dark hues and pianistic heft blend with introspection. These qualities have made her Schubert interpretations deeply moving events for many years.

Yulianna Avdeeva, winner of the 2010 International Chopin Competition, has regularly dedicated her programmes to the victims of war and persecution. These include the pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman, who miraculously survived the Holocaust and became widely known due to the Oscar-winning film The Pianist. Yulianna Avdeeva pairs works by Szpilman with music by his favourite composer, Frédéric Chopin.

In keeping with our season focus Kontrovers! (Controversial!), Kirill Gerstein contributes a Brahms-Liszt programme: Liszt often drew inspiration for his works from literature, and was therefore seen as an adversary of Brahms, who insisted on the absolute character of instrumental music. Both were grandiose composer-pianists who demanded extraordinary abilities from their performers.

As both composer and pianist, Fazıl Say presents his own works alongside Bach’s Goldberg Variations: a masterpiece of music history, in which 30 variations follow an aria of elegiac beauty, showcasing an infinite variety of compositional techniques and expressive nuances.