RECITAL NO. 1
BENJAMIN SCHMID (violin)
LUIS MAGALHÃES (piano)Saturday, 27 February, at 20:00
"A genius like Fritz Kreisler." – WIENER ZEITUNG
The renowned Austrian violinist BENJAMIN SCHMID, who studied in Salzburg, Vienna and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, is the winner of the First Prize in four major international competitions, including the 1992 Carl Flesch International in London (where he was also awarded the Mozart Prize, the Beethoven Prize and the Audience Prize). Today, rated one of the leading violinists of the younger generation, he regularly appears as soloist with the great orchestras of the world, also giving recitals with his wife Ariane Haering, and also Alfredo Perl, with whom he performed all the Beethoven violin sonatas at the Wigmore Hall. Since 1986, when he made his debut there with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Yehudi Menuhin, he has made many appearances at the Salzburg Festival. Benjamin Schmid is a devotee of jazz, whose 'Hommage à Grappelli' programmes have been popular in Austria. In addition to four recordings devoted to the music of Bach, he has recorded the concertos of Brahms, Mozart, Goldmark, Bruch, Britten, the Kreisler-Paganini, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, the six Ysaÿe sonatas for solo violin, an album entitled Pièces de Concert, the Paganini Caprices with Schumann's piano accompaniment as well as the Mozart and Beethoven violin sonatas. Several of these recordings have received awards, including the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis. Mr Schmid plays a 1731 Stradivarius.
"Right up there with the finest of today's young violinists." – DAILY TELEGRAPH
Honoured with his native country's Medal for Cultural Achievement in 2001, Portuguese pianist LUIS MAGALHÃES started piano studies at the age of five, his early teachers being Eduardo Rocha and José Alexandre Reis. He then studied under the distinguished Portuguese pianist Pedro Burmester, and later in the United States with Vladimir Viardo. He also attended master classes with, among others, Helena Sá e Costa, Paul Badura-Skoda, Dimitri Bashkirov and Alicia de Larrocha. He has won prizes at several national and international competitions including First Prize at the Maria Campina Competition, Second Prize at the Juventude Musical Portuguesa Competition, Second Prize (chamber music) at the Jóvens Músicos Competition and Second Prize for the best performance of Rachmaninov at the 2002 Russian Music International Piano Competition in the United States. Since his debut at the age of nine, Luis Magalhães has given many recitals (solo and chamber music) and concerto performances in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa to critical acclaim. He regularly appears in concert with his wife Nina Schumann, the duo-pianists having already recorded two CDs, the first comprising the complete works for two pianos by Rachmaninov, and the second consisting of works by Brahms, Lutoslawski, Arensky and Copland.
"... the assured duo provide interpretations that could scarcely be bettered."
"Overall, then, this is one of the finest piano duo discs ..." – MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL
PROGRAMME
SCHUBERT Rondo brillant in B minor, D.895 (Op.70)
Fantasy in C major, D.934 (Op.159)YSAŸE Sonata in E minor, Op.27 No.4, for solo violin BEETHOVEN Sonata No.10 in G major, Op.96 ('The Cockcrow') Book online through Computicket.
Go to Recital No. 2
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