Event description
BENJAMIN GROSVENOR
piano
“Grosvenor is the real deal” ***** FINANCIAL TIMES“Everything Grosvenor touches turns to gold” CLASSIC SOURCE
Britain’s superstar pianist comes to Snow Concert Hall with some of the greatest works ever written for piano. Regarded as one of the most important pianists to emerge in several decades, Gramophone recently acknowledging him as one of the top 50 pianists ever on record!
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PROGRAMME
CHOPIN Sonata no.2 in B♭ minor, Op. 35
RAVEL Gaspard de la nuit M.55
- INTERVAL -
MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition
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OVERVIEW
Britain’s superstar pianist comes to Snow Concert Hall with some of the greatest works ever written for piano. Regarded as one of the most important pianists to emerge in several decades, Gramophone recently acknowledging him as one of the top 50 pianists ever on record.
In 2011 Benjamin signed to Decca Classics, becoming the youngest British musician ever and the first British pianist in almost sixty years to do so. He has received Gramophone’s ‘Young Artist of the Year’, a Classical Brit Critics’ Award, UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent, a Diapason d’Or Jeune Talent Award and the Ronnie and Lawrence Ackman Classical Piano Prize with the New York Philharmonic. Few artists of his generation have enjoyed such accolade.
Grosvenor’s stunning programme begins with the great Frederic Chopin’s Piano Sonata No.2 - a work considered to be one of the greatest sonatas of the literature. Further, it’s hard to imagine a movement of classical music more famous than the 3rd movement Funeral March. Written two years before the rest of the sonata, it is the emotional and structural heart of the entire work.
Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit - a fiendishly difficult work haunted by strange sprites, devilish creatures and the spectre of death, add’s up to one of the most difficult piano works ever written. It’s no mere showpiece however. Indeed, Ravel’s inspiration was specifically poetic inspired by Gaspard de la Nuit – Fantaisies à la manière de Rembrandt et de Callot a collection of poems by Aloysius Bertrand.
Mussorgsky’s mammoth and much loved Pictures at an Exhibition perfectly ends this rich programme. A musical depiction of a gallery tour of an exhibition of artworks by architect and painter Viktor Hartmann. Music imitates art - unfolding with joyous energy and daring surprise, Mussorgsky’s musical scenes are as evocative and contrasting as the pictures themselves. From the endearing inelegance of The Gnome, to the fleeting beauty of the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks, to the triumphant power of The Great Gate of Kiev – Mussorgsky’s vision is revealed with such clarity and emotional reverence.
In the hands of Benjamin Grosvenor a momentous evening awaits us.
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BENJAMIN GROSVENOR
piano
British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his sonorous lyricism and understated brilliance at the keyboard. His virtuosic interpretations are underpinned by a unique balance of technical mastery and intense musicality. Grosvenor is regarded as one of the most important pianists to emerge in several decades, with Gramophone recently acknowledging him as one of the top 50 pianists ever on record.
Concerto highlights of the 2024/2025 season include debuts with Bamberg and NHK Symphony Orchestrasalongside a UK tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Karina Canellakis and returns to Montreal, Utah, Seattle, Bern, Dallas, BBC, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and the Royal Northern Sinfonia. Grosvenor is also a featured artist at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, appearing for both concerto and solo recital performances during the same week in February 2025.
A celebrated recitalist, this season Grosvenor performs across the world a programme featuring Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition including at Shanghai Symphony Hall, Muza Kawasaki, National Concert Hall, Taipei, Princeton University Concerts, Unione Musicale de Torino, and London’s Wigmore Hall.
Highlights of recent seasons include successful debuts with the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland orchestras, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, RSO Wien at the BBC Proms, Beethoven piano concertos 3 and 4 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with conductor Maxim Emelyanychev at the Festival Radio France, varied projects as Artist in Residence at the Sage Gateshead in the 2022/2023 season, the Wigmore Hall in 2021/2022, and at Radio France in 2000/2021. A renowned interpreter of Chopin, in the 2022/2023 season he performed both concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. In recital he has performed at Konzerthaus Berlin, Chicago Symphony Centre, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Frankfurter Hof Mainz as part of the SWR2 International Piano Series, ‘Chopin and his Europe’ Festival in Warsaw, La Roque, Barbican Centre, Southbank Centre, Spivey Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and 92nd Street Y.
A keen chamber musician, Benjamin regularly works with renowned ensembles — the Modigliani Quartet and Doric Quartet amongst them — and in chamber projects with other esteemed soloists Kian Soltani, Timothy Ridout, and Hyeyoon Park, including a forthcoming European tour of Strauss and Brahms Piano Quartet No. 3 with performances at Luxembourg Philharmonie, the Southbank Centre, and Palau de la Musica Barcelona.
In 2011 Benjamin signed to Decca Classics, becoming the youngest British musician ever — and the first British pianist in almost sixty years — to do so. His recent solo release of ‘Schumann and Brahms’ featuring Kreisleriana was praised as a “masterpiece” (Le Devoir), selected as Gramophone Editor’s Choice, and awarded Diapason d’or de l’année and CHOC Classica de l’année 2023. In 2020 he released Chopin piano concertos 1 and 2 with Elim Chan and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which received the Gramophone Concerto Award and a Diapason d’Or de L’Année, with Diapason’s critic declaring the recording “a version to rank among the best, and confirmation of an extraordinary artist.” The renewal of his partnership with Decca in 2021 coincided with the release of Benjamin’s album of Liszt, awarded Chocs de l’année and Prix de Caecilia. The most recent addition to Grosvenor’s impressive discography includes Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, alongside Nicola Benedetti and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and folk song settings with celebrated baritone Gerald Finley.
He was invited to perform at the First Night of the 2011 BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, where he has since become a regular over the last decades, including at the last night of the Proms with Marin Alsop and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2015. He performed Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Paavo Järvi in 2020, a solo recital in 2023, and Busoni’s monumental Piano Concerto in 2024.
Grosvenor has received Gramophone’s ‘Young Artist of the Year’, a Classical Brit Critics’ Award, UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent, and a Diapason d’Or Jeune Talent Award. He has been featured in two BBC television documentaries, on BBC Breakfast, Front Row, and CNN’s ‘Human to Hero’ series. In 2016 he became the inaugural recipient of The Ronnie and Lawrence Ackman Classical Piano Prize with the New York Philharmonic.
Following studies at the Royal Academy of Music, he graduated in 2012 with the ‘Queen’s Commendation for Excellence’ and in 2016 was awarded a RAM Fellowship. Benjamin is an Ambassador of Music Masters, a charity dedicated to making music education accessible to all children regardless of their background, championing diversity and inclusion.
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