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PIANISTS SERGEI BABAYAN, DANIIL TRIFONOV DOUBLE UP FOR FRESNO CONCERT
Fresno Bee, CA
March 6 2014
By Donald Munro
The Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concerts series Friday night
offers a rare double bill: Sergei Babayan and Daniil Trifonov playing
together. Here's a rundown:
Fresno connections: Babayan has long been a friend to Fresno's
classical music scene. In 2007 the Armenian-American pianist, who
teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music and performs on concert
stages around the world, helped the Fresno Philharmonic inaugurate
its new Steinway piano. And he's performed with Keyboard Concerts
multiple times, most recently in 2008. Trifonov, meanwhile, performed
with Keyboard Concerts in 2012.
Teacher and "student": To call Trifonov the student of Babayan doesn't
seem like it does the relationship justice, considering that Trifonov
is what Keyboard Concerts' artistic director Andreas Werz calls "the
hottest 23-year-old pianist in the world right now." But it's accurate:
After winning the prestigious 2011 Tchaikovsky International Piano
Competition for young artists, an event held every four years, and
the 2011 Rubinstein International Piano Competition, the Russian-born
Trifonov continues to study with Babayan in Cleveland even as he
pursues his own concert career.
Double bill: Babayan and Trifonov will perform together in Fresno
for the first time.
The setup: On the first piece, Mozart's Sonata in D Major, a work
written for two players and four hands, the pianists will sit by side
at one piano. For the other three works, they'll sit at facing pianos.
(In addition to Fresno State's Steinway piano, the Fresno Philharmonic
is loaning its Steinway.) They will play Rachmaninoff's Suite No. 2,
written for two pianos.
Babayan as arranger: For the other two pieces on the program, Babayan
worked some arranging magic. He took Schubert's Fantasie in F Minor,
originally written for one piano and four hands, and arranged it to be
played on two pianos. And he adapted Prokofiev's orchestral score for
"Romeo and Juliet" Suite to be performed the same way.
The dedication: The concert is dedicated to the memory of Dorothy
Renzi, the Fresno singer who returned from a career in New York to
teach at Fresno State. She died in February.
Special guests: This will be a glittery Keyboard Concerts affair, with
Fresno State President Joseph Castro scheduled to be in attendance
along with some important university donors, Werz says. Also in the
house: Jenny Vogel, executive vice president of Opus 3 Artists, a
prominent New York artists management firm. The concert is co-sponsored
by the Fresno State Armenian Studies Program.
Concert preview
Sergei Babayan and Daniil Trifonov, 8 p.m. Friday, Fresno State
Concert Hall. keyboardconcerts.com, (559) 278-2337.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/03/05/3805914/double-the-piano-firepower-at.html
Fresno Bee, CA
March 6 2014
By Donald Munro
The Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concerts series Friday night
offers a rare double bill: Sergei Babayan and Daniil Trifonov playing
together. Here's a rundown:
Fresno connections: Babayan has long been a friend to Fresno's
classical music scene. In 2007 the Armenian-American pianist, who
teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music and performs on concert
stages around the world, helped the Fresno Philharmonic inaugurate
its new Steinway piano. And he's performed with Keyboard Concerts
multiple times, most recently in 2008. Trifonov, meanwhile, performed
with Keyboard Concerts in 2012.
Teacher and "student": To call Trifonov the student of Babayan doesn't
seem like it does the relationship justice, considering that Trifonov
is what Keyboard Concerts' artistic director Andreas Werz calls "the
hottest 23-year-old pianist in the world right now." But it's accurate:
After winning the prestigious 2011 Tchaikovsky International Piano
Competition for young artists, an event held every four years, and
the 2011 Rubinstein International Piano Competition, the Russian-born
Trifonov continues to study with Babayan in Cleveland even as he
pursues his own concert career.
Double bill: Babayan and Trifonov will perform together in Fresno
for the first time.
The setup: On the first piece, Mozart's Sonata in D Major, a work
written for two players and four hands, the pianists will sit by side
at one piano. For the other three works, they'll sit at facing pianos.
(In addition to Fresno State's Steinway piano, the Fresno Philharmonic
is loaning its Steinway.) They will play Rachmaninoff's Suite No. 2,
written for two pianos.
Babayan as arranger: For the other two pieces on the program, Babayan
worked some arranging magic. He took Schubert's Fantasie in F Minor,
originally written for one piano and four hands, and arranged it to be
played on two pianos. And he adapted Prokofiev's orchestral score for
"Romeo and Juliet" Suite to be performed the same way.
The dedication: The concert is dedicated to the memory of Dorothy
Renzi, the Fresno singer who returned from a career in New York to
teach at Fresno State. She died in February.
Special guests: This will be a glittery Keyboard Concerts affair, with
Fresno State President Joseph Castro scheduled to be in attendance
along with some important university donors, Werz says. Also in the
house: Jenny Vogel, executive vice president of Opus 3 Artists, a
prominent New York artists management firm. The concert is co-sponsored
by the Fresno State Armenian Studies Program.
Concert preview
Sergei Babayan and Daniil Trifonov, 8 p.m. Friday, Fresno State
Concert Hall. keyboardconcerts.com, (559) 278-2337.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/03/05/3805914/double-the-piano-firepower-at.html