Piano - my/maSCENA

Lebrecht Weekly – J S Bach: The French Suites (DG)

By Norman Lebrecht on 14 October 2016 Baroque and Early, Lebrecht Weekly, Piano

What a difference a label can make. All his adult life, ever since he won the 1972 Leeds Piano Competition, Murray Perahia has recorded exclusively for Columbia Masterworks, known now as Sony Classical after a Japanese takeover. In a fragmenting record industry, Perahia’s was among the last label loyalists. CBS/Sony engineering was the sound by which he was known. It began as a natural fit – New York pianist with New York label, joined at the hip by Vladimir Horowitz who admired Perahia above all young pianists. But Perahia moved to London and, over time, developed a sound that was…

Scott MacIsaac

Rising Stars – Scott MacIsaac: OSM Manulife Competition

By An-Laurence Higgins on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

The winner of the 2015 edition of the OSM Manulife competition was the young Scott MacIsaac. Born in 1992 in Alberta, MacIsaac is a promising pianist whose musicality and technique have been praised both nationally and internationally. He started playing piano at 6 years old and has studied with fellow Albertan Marilyn Engle since 2007. MacIsaac got his Certificate in performance from Yale University in 2014, where he studied with Boris Berman and Peter Frankl. He is currently completing his Bachelor in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Ronan O’Hora. MacIsaac is no stranger to the…

Joshua Bell, Photo: Eric Kabik

Ottawa Previews: October 2016

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 October 2016 Choral, La Scena Spotlight, Orchestral, Piano, Romantic, Violin

NACO Opening The NAC Orchestra opens its 2016–17 season in the newly renovated Southam Hall with a very busy October, including several soloists not to be missed. On October 6 and 7, virtuoso Joshua Bell performs the Brahms Violin Concerto in a program that includes Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra. Music Director Alexander Shelley conducts after his 7PM pre-concert talk with music journalist Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer (Oct. 6 & 7, 8PM, NAC Southam Hall). www.nac-cna.ca Schumann and the Songwriters Angela Hewitt joins Shelley and the NACO for an evening of early Schumann and Beethoven for the first performance in the…

Review – Charles Richard-Hamelin: Beethoven, Enescu, Chopin (Analekta)

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 October 2016 CD and Book Reviews, Classical, Piano, Romantic

Charles Richard-Hamelin: Beethoven, Enescu, Chopin Charles Richard-Hamelin, piano Analekta 2016. AN2 9129. 68 min 50 s. Since winning the Silver Medal and the Krystian Zimerman Sonata award at the 2015 Chopin Piano Competition, Montreal and Quebec at large have been gaga – for good reason – over Charles Richard-Hamelin. Recorded live in concert this past May at Salle Raoul-Jobin of the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City, this album may begin conservatively with Beethoven’s Two Rondos for Piano, Op. 51, but takes a turn with George Enescu’s Second Suite, Op. 10. With the Enescu, Richard-Hamelin digresses from clinical Classicism into the…

Charles Richard-Hamelin, Photo: Emily Ding

Rising Stars – Charles Richard-Hamelin: Prix Opus Decouverte de l’année

By Jeanne Hourez on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

After winning the second Concours de Musique International de Montréal (CMIM) in 2014 as well as the Bourbeau Foundation’s Best Canadian Musician, for Charles Richard-Hamelin, who took home second prize (silver medal) at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw as well as the Krystian Zimmerman Prize for best performance of a Chopin sonata, 2015 was the most highly anticipated year yet. For a man who had been having an impressive but local career up to that point, this left him, among other perks, with €35,000 and plenty of engagements in all four corners of the world. Notably, he served as a…

Lukáš Vondráček, Photo: Irene Kim

Rising Stars – Lukáš Vondráček: Queen Elisabeth Competition

By Jeanne Hourez on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1986, Lukáš Vondráček is one of the hottest young pianists on the scene right now. In 2016, he won the International Grand Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, propelling his career, already solidly established in the musical milieu, to new highs. Vondráček had an early introduction to the piano thanks to his mother, herself a professional pianist. He made his stage debut at a young age, and by age 20 he had no less than 850 concerts in 28 different countries under his belt. Notably, he completed his first international tour at the age…

Matt Poon, Photo: Emily Ding

Rising Stars – Matt Poon: Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition (E-Gré)

By An-Laurence Higgins on 1 October 2016 Contemporary, La Scena Spotlight, Piano

The Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition (E-Gré) is a unique competition in which contemporary music is highly promoted. The Final was held this past spring at Brandon University and pianist Matt Poon won the first place as well as the prize for the best performance of the commissioned work. He received almost $17,000 including a $10,000 cash prize, a residency of three weeks, and a debut recital at the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival in Italy, as well as the Cross-Canada Winner’s Tour in November 2016. Poon began his undergraduate studies in Piano Performance in Music at the University of Toronto and moved to…

Philippe Prud’homme

Rising Stars – Philippe Prud’homme: Canadian Music Competition

By Jeanne Hourez on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

Born in 1991, pianist and composer Philippe Prud’homme began his piano studies with professor Gilles Many at age twelve. Sixteen-year-old Prud’homme was accepted, under special circumstances, to the Université de Montréal in 2007 without even finishing his secondary studies and with only four years of piano studies under his belt. He earned his master’s with highest distinctions in the class of Dang Thai Son before beginning another graduate degree at the Conservatoire de Montréal in 2015 with Louise Bessette. An active presence on the Quebec scene, Prud’homme has notably won first prize at the CMC several times, in the solo…

Emily Oulousian

Rising Stars – Emily Oulousian: ICI Radio-Canada Virtuose

By Caroline Rodgers on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

Last May, Emily Oulousian won the grand prize of the CBC Radio-Canada show Virtuose, produced and hosted by the ever-popular Gregory Charles. Oulousian was awarded an almost perfect score of 97.6 for her performance of an excerpt of Grieg’s Piano Concerto – without orchestra. She was only 15 years old. In the episodes leading up to the grand finale of the competition, Oulousian performed brilliant renditions of Prokofiev’s Toccata in D minor, Op. 11 and Scriabin’s Étude in D-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12. A native of Montreal, Oulousian, whose mother is of Chinese descent and father is of Armenian…

Thomas Yu, Cliburn Amateur Competition, Source: Youtube

Rising Stars – Thomas Yu: Cliburn Amateur Piano Competition

By Robert Rowat on 1 October 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Piano

“By the end, I could barely control my emotions,” says Thomas Yu, describing his first-prize-winning performance at the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 25. Yu, a Calgary periodontist, was one of six finalists who played a piano concerto movement with the Fort Worth Symphony under guest conductor Damon Gupton. He chose the third movement from Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 5. “I had only six minutes to give the audience and jury my entire life,” he says. “It is difficult to get into that mindset and physicality in such a short time, especially with a…

Browsing: Piano

Lebrecht Weekly – J S Bach: The French Suites (DG)

Rising Stars – Scott MacIsaac: OSM Manulife Competition

Ottawa Previews: October 2016

Review – Charles Richard-Hamelin: Beethoven, Enescu, Chopin (Analekta)

Rising Stars – Charles Richard-Hamelin: Prix Opus Decouverte de l’année

Rising Stars – Lukáš Vondráček: Queen Elisabeth Competition

Rising Stars – Matt Poon: Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition (E-Gré)

Rising Stars – Philippe Prud’homme: Canadian Music Competition

Rising Stars – Emily Oulousian: ICI Radio-Canada Virtuose

Rising Stars – Thomas Yu: Cliburn Amateur Piano Competition

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