International Chopin Piano Competition winner Rafał Blechacz to perform in October
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Profound thought and feeling merge in Blechacz's music-making to create a sense of irresistible energy and penetrating insight. In the upcoming concert he will perform Bach's "Four Duettos", Beethoven's "Rondo in G" and "Sonata No. 3 in C", as well as Chopin's "Fantaisie", "Nocturne in F-sharp Minor" and "Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor".
Described by Martha Argerich as "a very honest, extraordinary and sensitive artist", Rafał Blechacz was born in the small town of Naklo nad Notecia in northern Poland in 1985. Showing early signs of musical talent he began piano lessons at the age of 5. His outstanding technical and artistic attributes later secured a sequence of competition successes, including second prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Competition for Young Pianists in Bydgoszcz in 2002, joint first prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in the following year, and first prize at the 2005 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, where he became the first Polish musician to achieve first place since Krystian Zimerman won the same title 30 years earlier. The stylish eloquence and mature intensity of Blechacz's Chopin Competition performances, delivered within months of his 20th birthday, were rewarded not only with the winner's medal but also with a clean sweep of the event's four special prizes and the Audience Award, making him the first sole recipient of every prizes awarded.
Many of his recordings have attained top chart awards and he has also won the Echo Klassik Award and Diapason d'Or Award. Blechacz was praised by Gramophone Magazine for his "textural transparency, expressive economy, creative inspiration, high humour and strategically placed silences … [and] splendid, beautifully recorded interpretations".
"Encore Series: Piano Recital by Rafał Blechacz" is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. It will be held at 8pm on October 12 (Thursday) at the Concert Hall of Hong Kong City Hall. Tickets priced at $160, $220, $280 and $340 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7321 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/programs_183.html.
A pre-concert talk entitled "From Baroque Rarities to Popular Works in the Romantic Era" (to be conducted in Cantonese) will be held at 6.45pm at the North Committee Room, 7/F, High Block, Hong Kong City Hall. The speaker will be Timmy Tsang. Admission is free with limited seats available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Ends/Thursday, September 28, 2017
Issued at HKT 12:42
Issued at HKT 12:42
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