Recitals begin with a full day of Russian Master Works by Ilya Itin and Conclude with a Concert by Cuban Legend, Jorge Luis Prats Performing Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann & Liszt
Ilya Itin: Buy tickets for AFTERNOON performance (3:00 PM)
or Buy tickets for EVENING performance (8:00 PM)
Gulsin Onay: Buy Tickets for EVENING performance (8:00 PM)
Jorge Luis Prats: Buy Tickets for EVENING performance (8:00 PM)
January 13, 2010 - Fort Lauderdale, FL. The Miami International Piano Festival is celebrating its 13th Season in 2010. The March Master Series is held in the intimate and acoustically appealing Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center of the Performing Arts. This season the Festival will continue a tradition started two years ago by featuring a solo artist in two single-composer recitals - in one day. On Sunday, March 7, Ilya Itin, the Russian pianist who won the Leeds Competition in 1996 and made his Festival debut in 2000, will present an afternoon concert that brilliantly displays the two very different sides of Prokofiev. In the first part, Itin performs the composer’s solo piano version of “Peter and the Wolf” (graciously narrated by the engaging Peter Bookspan), commission in 1936 as a new musical symphony for children. And in contrast, the second half features the fierce virtuosity of Sonatas No. 7 & 8 from the famous “War” trilogy which in the words of Sviatoslav Richter, are “somewhat heavy to grasp, but heavy with richness--like a tree heavy with fruit."
That same evening, Itin “Rachs the House” with a performance of 24 Rachmaninov Preludes. In 2000, Ilya Itin performed 12 Preludes at his Festival debut. At the time he wrote, “In the world of Rachmaninov everything happens on a grand scale; not for the lack of humility but for the sheer abundance of everything.” Itin will exhibit virtuosity in abundance for an evening concert dedicated to these intricate compositions. Both of these concerts will be professionally recorded for possible release on DVD by Video Artists International (VAI). Through these single-composer recordings by pianists who are considered masters of interpretation, the Miami International Piano Festival hopes to create the definitive library that will serve as the standard reference for generations to come.
Turkish pianist, Gulsin Onay returns to the Festival on Monday, March 8 after her debut in 2008 at the Discovery Series. “Onay is a celebrated figure in her native Turkey and though she has collaborated with several major conductors in Europe has a fairly low profile on this side of the pond. That's unfortunate because Onay showed herself a greatly gifted musician with a keenly polished technique and notable interpretive depth in her intelligent program Friday night at the Lincoln Theatre.” Lawrence A. Johnson, Miami Herald, 5.11.2008 This year’s program finds Onay plumbing the depths of Beethoven’s Sonata Op.27, No. 2 (“Moonlight Sonata”), as well as Bartok Sketches Op. 9 and selections by Chopin.
Back by popular demand, the Master Series concludes on Tuesday, March 9 with a varied program by maestro Jorge Luis Prats of Cuba. Prats, who recently enthralled European audiences during recitals at the prestigious Concertgebouw in the Netherlands, has put together a program that will take the South Florida audience on a European tour – starting in Germany with Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 106 ("Hamerklavier") and ending in the dance halls of Vienna with Strauss Schulz-Evler - An der schnen blauen Donau. A short stop in Spain with excerpts of Iberia, by Albeniz rounds out this perfectly balanced tour of piano treasures.
Bios of each artist are available on the website:
http://www.miamipianofest.com/artists/itin.html
http://www.miamipianofest.com/artists/Onay.html
http://www.miamipianofest.com/artists/Prats.html
Ticket Information:
Individual tickets start at $15 with $25 & $40 seats available.
Students under 22 receive a 50% discount.
Tickets are available through the Broward Center Box office:
Telephone: 954-462-0222 or 800-564-9539
Online: www.browardcenter.org
Discounts available for Groups of 10 or more.
Miami International Piano Festival Information:
305-935-5115
www.miamipianofest.com
About the Miami International Piano Festival
Established in 1998, the Miami International Piano Festival is the public outreach vehicle of Patrons of Exceptional Artists, a non-profit organization dedicated to the immediate discovery, promotion, nurturing, and professional support of extraordinary artists with the long term goal of insuring continuity with the great classical traditions of the past.
Hailed as unique, the Miami International Piano Festival has been recognized as one of the most exciting recital series in the world today. The Festival presents artists, both emerging and established, who have their own distinct voices, who are not only capable of challenging convention but who are able to demonstrate that there are important interpretive ideas still to be expressed both in mainstream and rare repertoire - artists who clearly deserve international careers.