When & Where: Saturday, March 1, 2014 at 8:00 PM at the Manuel Artime Theater, 900 SW First Street, Miami
What: Chopin’s Birthday Concert Celebration featuring internationally acclaimed pianist, Sergei Babayan and the Amernet String Quartet performing Dvorak Piano Quintet, and a solo piano selection of Chopin’s music
Tickets $35; $25; Chopin members $30; Students 22 and under Free
For Tickets visit www.chopin.org or call 877-318-0073
More information at www.chopin.org or at 305/868-0624
Hailed for unequaled emotional intensity, bold energy and phenomenal levels of color and imagination, Sergei Babayan brings new dimensions and insight to stylistically diverse repertoire. His artistic personality is a rare combination of emotional explosiveness and sensitivity, staggering virtuosity and immediacy.
A student of such legendary teachers and musicians as Gornostayeva, Naumov, Pletnev and Vlasenko in the Moscow Conservatory, Sergei Babayan was one of the first pianists from the former USSR who was able to compete without government sponsorship after the collapse of the system.
Immediately after his first trip outside of the USSR, he won consecutive first prizes in several major international competitions including the
-The Cleveland International Piano Competition) (1989)
-The Hamamatsu Piano Competition (1991)
-The Scottish International Piano Competition (1992).
He is also a laureate of Busoni competition in Bolzano and Queen Elizabeth competition in Brussels.
Since that time he has had major engagements and concert tours throughout the world in many major international centers including places such as Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Mariinsky Theatre in St.Petersburg, Herkulessaal in Munich, Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Meistersingerhalle in Nurnberg, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Brahms-Saal in Karlsruhe, Beethovenhalle in Bonn, Philharmonie Hall in Essen, Rudolfinum-Dvorak Hall in Prague, Victora Hall in Geneva in and many others.
Sergei Babayan appeared in numerous major music festivals in France, Germany, UK, Poland, Spain, and the US. His concerts have been broadcast by WQXR, WCLV, Radio France, Polish Radio and Television, BBC-TV, NHK Satellite Television and Medici TV.
He has made several highly praised recordings for EMC, Connoisseur Society and Pro Piano labels. His recordings of Scarlatti, Ligeti, Messiaen, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Ravel, Schubert, Liszt, Vine, Respighi and Prokofiev garnered high acclaims including a “critic’s choice” in the New York Times praising Babayan’s “extraordinary technique and ability to play densely harmonized works with illuminating transparency and a daunting measure of control”. American Record Guide joins in these accolades praising his “phenomenal level of color and imagination”. About the recording of Scarlatti Sonatas American Guide says: “It can stand proudly besides that of Horowitz…”
Mr. Babayan has appeared with many major orchestras throughout the world including the London Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestra of Mariinsky Theatre, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Nationale de Lille, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and New World Symphony.
He has collaborated with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Neeme Jarvi, Hans Graf, David Robertson, Tugan Sokhiev, Kazimierz Kord.
His unusual and imaginative recital programming has always elicited interest and praise. Mr. Babayan is an enthusiastic advocate of new music. His concerto repertoire is constantly growing – at this point he has 54 concertos which have been performed.
Sergei Babayan’s deep interest and love for the music of Bach has led him to study with Helmuth Rilling. Always in search of the new, Sergei Babayan studied conducting in order to deepen his understanding of the orchestra, to be able to study and perform some of the music of the 20th century which is particularly interesting for him.
After May of 2006, when Mr. Babayan was invited by Valery Gergiev to perform Lutoslawsky’s piano concerto in the XIV International Festival “Stars of the White Nights” in St. Petersburg with the orchestra of Mariinsky Theatre, he became one of the pianists with whom Maestro Gergiev has close collaboration. He had numerous appearances with Valery Gergiev at his Easter Festivals in Russia and performances in London in 2010 at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra to much critical acclaim.
The season 2011-12 Sergei Babayan made a number of appearances with Valery Gergiev in St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, Bolshoi Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and Théâtre des Champs-Elyseés in Paris, performing Beethoven’s Concerto No. 1, the Rachmaninov 3rd Concerto and Prokofiev’s Concerti No.3 and 5, which was broadcast live on Medici TV.
The season (2012-2013) brought piano duo performances with legendary Martha Argerich and with his star student Daniil Trifonov in USA and in Israel. Invitation to Salzburg Festival with Valery Gergiev and Prokofiev/ Stravinsky Festival in Rotterdam, where Mr. Babayan was invited as an artist-in-residence to perform music of Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, Bach, Liszt and Prokofiev with Valery Gergiev.
Last July Sergei Babayan was invited by Martha Argerich to perform in her festival “Progetto Martha Argerich” in Lugano, Switzerland which was broadcast live. The newly created cycle of transcriptions by Sergei Babayan for two pianos from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” was performed.
Two weeks after the performance in Lugano, Martha Argerich invited Mr. Babayan to perform the transcription again in one of the most prestigious festivals in Klavier-Festival in Ruhr, Germany.
In that same concert Mr. Babayan also played with legendary violinist Ivry Gitlis.
“Mr. Babayan belongs to an elite breed of new pianists. This is elegant playing, intelligent yet colorful, rational yet never wanting for passion and tenderness, irreproachable on every level.”
~ American Record Guide
“One would be hard put to name a Bach interpreter of his standing today. The only comparison that springs to mind is the famous recording of Dinu Lipatti… His performance has tonal spectrum many orchestras would envy. Babayan is no mere pianist. He is a master-musician for whom the piano is his voice, his orchestra.”
~ The Scotsman