Alexandre Tharaud, piano, April 27 & 28, 2017

Despite a flourishing international career that includes performances at such legendary venues as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Royal Festival Hall and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in his native Paris, pianist Alexandre Tharaud only played in the U.S. for the first time in January 2015. Clearly, it was well worth the wait. NY Times critic Vivien Schweitzer hailed his debut performance at Carnegie Hall as full of both “articulation and wild exuberance.” As the son of a dance teacher at the Opéra de Paris and the grandson of a violinist, it should come as no surprise that Tharaud’s technical expertise, his “range of touch and colour, and his sheer enthusiasm, shine through every jewel-like piece” (The Guardian.) What is a bit strange, perhaps, is that Tharaud refuses to keep a piano at his own residence for fear that he will come to prefer improvisation and experimentation to rigorous practice. All the better for his audiences who continually delight in his “crisply articulated and vividly etched” (NY Times) renditions of Bach and others. The Schubert Club is proud to welcome Alexandre Tharaud to the Ordway Concert Hall stage for two dates in April 2017 for his International Artist Series debut.

Alexandre Tharaud

Alexandre Tharaud’s concert schedule in 2015 began with the first of four US tours, scheduled across the 14/15 and 15/16 seasons, during which Alexandre will perform at major concert halls including Zankel Hall (Carnegie Hall), Boston’s Symphony Hall, the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and debut with both the Atlanta Symphony and Philadelphia orchestras.

Alexandre’s international career continues to flourish with concerts this season in Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Benelux (where he has been invited to be the Eindhoven Muziekgebouw’s Resident-Artist in 2015/2016), Spain (as part of the Great Performers cycle at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid), Italy (débuts at Santa Cecilia in Roma), the UK, Austria and in Asia with tours in China, South Korea and Japan (concerts with New Japan Philharmonic and Kansai Philharmonic).

Next season Alexandre will present the world premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s concerto for the left hand together with the WDR Sinfoniorchester Köln and conductor Ilan Volkov. Subsequent performances include national premieres with the CBSO in Birmingham, with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and chief conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, with the Danish Radio Orchestra in Copenhagen and the Göteborgs Symfoniker, Sweden.

Recent seasons have include a number of exciting projects including Alexandre’s first major tour to China, his BBC Proms orchestral debut (with the BBC Philharmonic under the baton of Juanjo Mena), a ‘Domaine Privé’ at the Cité de la Musique, book (Piano Intime) and film (Le Temps Dérobé, by Swiss film maker Raphaëlle Aellig-Régnier) releases; last but not least, Alexandre has been asked to revise a new edition of Maurice Ravel’s complete solo piano works.
Alexandre’s eclectic discography includes Bach, then Mozart and Haydn with Les Violons du Roy, Autograph, Le Boeuf sur Le Toit, Scarlatti, Journal Intime (Chopin) and Bach Concertos with Les Violons du Roy for ERATO, and, in 2015, his long-awaited interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

As a recitalist Alexandre Tharaud has performed across the world: Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opéra de Versailles, Cologne Philharmonie, Prague Rudofinum, Essen Philharmonie, Queen Elizabeth Hall Southbank Centre, Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, John F. Kennedy Centre Washington D.C., Vienna Musikverein, Bern Casino, Krakow Philharmonie, Hoam Art Hall and LG Arts Center Seoul, Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Oji Hall and the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. His festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Gergiev Festival, Aix-en-Provence, La Roque d’Anthéron, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Ludwigsburg, Ruhr Piano Festival, Nuits de Décembre de Moscou, Rimini, Domaine Forget and Lanaudière.

As a soloist he has appeared with the main French orchestras (Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de Lyon) and elsewhere (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, as well as the Bavarian, Saarbrücken and Frankfurt Radio, Estonian National, Toronto, Singapore, Taiwan, Sao Paulo, Umea and Hamburg Symphony Orchestras, and the Japan and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestras) under the direction of Lionel Bringuier, Bernard Labadie, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Georges Prêtre, Marc Minkowski, Stéphane Denève, Leo Hussain, David Zinman, Yannik Nézet-Séguin and Claus Peter-Flor.

Dedicatee of numerous works, Alexandre Tharaud premiered Thierry Pécou’s cycle Outre-Mémoire which included two concertos; L’Oiseau Innumérable, with orchestra and Le Visage – Le Coeur, with the choir Les Eléments at La Roque d’Anthéron Festival under the direction of Joël Suhubiette. In 2012, he premiered Gérard Pesson’s concerto in Zurich, Frankfurt and Paris with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich and RSO Frankfurt. Alexandre has also both commissioned and premiered three cycles: ‘Hommages à Rameau’, ‘Hommage à Couperin’ and ‘Pianosong’.

Alexandre Tharaud is represented by Opus 3 Artists.

Date & Venue

Thursday, April 27, 2017, 7:30pm
Friday, April 28, 2017, 10:30am
Ordway Concert Hall
Directions

Please join us one hour prior to the performances for a pre-concert talk with Mark Mazullo.

Tickets

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Single tickets go on sale August 1, 2016 at 11am. Single ticket prices for this concert start at just $25. You may purchase online or by calling the Schubert Club Ticket Office at 651.292.3268.

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Program

Scarlatti Sonatas:
D minor, K 64
D minor, K 9
C Major, K 72
C Major, K 132
A minor, K 3
C Major, K 514
F minor, K 481

Rachmaninov- Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3
Elégie
Prélude
Mélodie
Polichinelle
Sérénade

INTERMISSION

Mahler arr. Tharaud- Adagietto from Symphony No. 5

Ravel- ‘Miroirs’
Noctuelles
Oiseaux tristes
Une barque sur l’océan
Alborada del gracioso
La vallée des cloches

Concert is estimated to be approximately 2 hours with one intermission.

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