Leading figures of classical music take Istanbul stage

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Chinese classical guitarist Xuefei Yang will be the guest of the February recital, performing works by composers such as Bach, Isaac Albeniz, Joaquin Malats, Francisco Tarrega and Carlo Domeniconi.

The eighth season of the Istanbul Recitals starts today, set to host internationally acclaimed virtuosos of the world classical music scene at Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s "The Seed" venue until June next year.

The first guest of the new season will be Russian-American pianist Alexei Volodin, who regularly works with the world’s top orchestras. His release, a recital program of works by Chopin, won a Choc Classica and was awarded five stars by Diapason. In the concert, he will present a program consisting of composers Scarlatti, Prokofiev, Medtner, Chopin and Robert Schumann.  

The U.S. pianist Natasha Paremski will be on the stage on Nov. 8. With a strong focus on new music, 26-year-old Paremski’s growing repertoire reflects an artistic maturity beyond her years. She made her professional debut at age nine. At age 15, she debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and recorded two records on Bel Air Music Label with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Following the Gilmore Young Artists prize, the Prix Montblanc and the Orpheum Stiftung Prize, she was awarded the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year in September 2010. She will play Brahms, Chopin and Rachmaninoff.

Yugoslav-born pianist Tamara Stefanovich is known for fascinating interpretations of a wide variety of repertoire, performs at the world’s major concert venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Berlin’s Philharmonie, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, and London’s Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre and Wigmore Hall. The pianist will perform works by Robert Schumann and Charles Ives at her concert on Dec. 11.

French classical pianist Romain Descharmes will give the first recital of the New Year on Jan. 15, 2015. The winner of Dublin International Piano Contest in 2006, Descharmes performed recitals on such prestigious stages as Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, National Concert Hall in Dublin and Minato Hall in Yokohama. He has also been awarded prizes at other international competitions. His repertoire will include works by Gabriel Faure, Maurice Ravel and Alexander Scriabine.

Chinese classical guitarist Xuefei Yang will be the guest of the February recital. The artist is acclaimed as one of the world’s finest classical guitarists. She was the first ever guitarist in China to enter a music conservatory, and became the first to launch an international professional career. She will be on stage on Feb. 14, performing works by composers such as Bach, Isaac Albeniz, Joaquin Malats, Francisco Tarrega and Carlo Domeniconi.

German pianist Joseph Moog will greet the audience on March 12. Twice a winner at the International Classical Music Awards ICMA, in 2012 he received the Award for Young Artist of the Year, followed in 2014 by the Award for Solo Instrumentalist of the Year awarded jointly with the celebrated pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja. Reviewers have extolled the artist as “the most interesting interpreter of his generation” and are speaking of him as one of the “most remarkable phenomena in the current music scene.” Works by Beethoven, Franz Lizst, Chopin and Rubinstein are in his Istanbul concert repertoire.

American classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein will take the stage on April 10 at The Seed. When the Telarc label released the self-financed recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Dinnerstein’s career was “launched into the stratosphere” with the album outselling The White Stripes on Amazon.com. In its first week of commercial release, the recording was at No.1 on the Billboard classical music CD sales chart. The disc appeared on a number of “Best of 2007” lists. She will play Francis Poulenc, Claude Debussy and Franz Peter Schubert.

South Korean pianist Sunwook Kim came to international recognition when he won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, aged just 18, becoming the competition’s youngest winner for 40 years, as well as its first Asian winner. He will play for the Istanbul audience on May 9.
The final concert of the season will be given by Swiss classical pianist Oliver Schnyder on June 4. The international media have dubbed Schnyder a “piano poet” and compare his aesthetic approach with that of great pianists. Since 2013, he has been the co-founder and artistic director of Piano District, a new piano series in his home town Baden, Switzerland.