Recital: Sergei Babayan / piano & Alexander Chaushian / cello

The Pharos Arts Foundation opens its Fall 2016 season with the return visit of one of the most charismatic and renowned pianists in the world: Sergei Babayan – an artist who has been hailed for the immediacy, sensitivity and depth of his interpretations, the rare emotional intensity and bold energy of his performances and his extraordinary mastery in exploring a stylistically diverse repertoire. Babayan will join forces with Pharos’ resident cellist, the remarkable Alexander Chaushian, in a colossal programme of cello sonatas by Debussy, Shostakovich and Beethoven. The recital will take place on Monday 12 September 2016, at The Shoe Factory, Nicosia / 8:30pm.

PROGRAMME:
Debussy: Sonata for Cello & Piano in D minor, L.135
Shostakovich: Sonata in D minor for Cello & Piano, Op.40
Beethoven: Variations for Cello & Piano in F major on Mozart's 'Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen,' Op.66
Beethoven: Sonata for Cello & Piano No.3 in A major, Op.69

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SERGEI BABAYAN piano

“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

“… extraordinary technique and ability to play densely harmonized works with illuminating transparency and a daunting measure of control…”
The New York Times

“Babayan is no mere pianist. He is a master-musician for whom the piano is his voice, his orchestra.”
The Scotsman


Claimed for the immediacy, sensitivity and depth of his interpretations, the rare emotional intensity and bold energy of his performances and his extraordinary mastery in exploring stylistically diverse repertoire, Sergei Babayan is one of the most interesting new names of the great Russian piano school.

Student of such legendary musicians and teachers as Gornostayeva, Naumov, Pletnev and Vlasenko in the Moscow Conservatory, he was, however, not permitted to leave the country and be free to compete and study in the West. He was the first pianist 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 Cleveland International Piano Competition (still named Robert Casadesus Competition) and the Palm Beach Piano Competition in 1990, the Hamamatsu Piano Competition in 1991, the Scottish International Piano Competition in 1992, and was laureate in the Queen Elizabeth Piano Competition, the Busoni International Piano Competition, and the Esther Honens International Competition Calgary. Since that time, he has had major engagements and concert tours throughout Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, South America and the USA.

He appeared with recitals in important venues, among them Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg, Tchaikovsky Conservatory Bolshoi Zal in Moscow, Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, and countless others. His New York recitals at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and at the 92nd Y, as his performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and his many subsequent recital and concerto performances throughout all North America, met with huge critical acclaim. His concert schedule has included performances and broadcasts throughout major venues and extensive tours all over the world.

Sergei Babayan has appeared with many major orchestras throughout the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Orchestre Nationale de Lille, Warsaw Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, New World Symphony. He has collaborated with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Neeme Jarvi, Hans Graf, Kazimierz Kord, David Robertson, Michael Christi. In recent seasons he performed recitals in New York City, London, Hannover, Manchester, Bruxelles, Glasgow, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Grenoble, Tours, Warsaw, Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Seattle, Atlanta, Miami, and New Orleans.

In May of 2006, Sergei Babayan was invited by Valery Gergiev to perform the Lutoslawsky piano concerto in the XIV International Festival “Stars of the White Nights” in St. Petersburg with the orchestra of Mariinsky Theatre: the performance was highly praised in major Russian publications and was enthusiastically received by the audience. Many other invitations came from Gergiev, to perform Prokofiev‘s Third Piano Concerto in his Easter Festival, in London Barbican in 2010 with the LSO, and again in St Petersburg with the Mariinsky Orchestra in 2011 playing Mozart and the Rachmaninov Third Piano concerto. In 2015, Babayan performed two Prokofiev concertos at BBC Proms with Valery Gergiev and London Symphony Orchestra.

His repertoire is constantly growing – already having performed over 50 different concertos! He is highly acclaimed in the mainstream repertoire, excelling in Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann as much as the Russian heritage of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and Prokofiev. But he is known also for his innovative programming, often including contemporary works by composers such as Lutoslawsky, Ligeti and Arvo Pärt, Schnittke, Vasks and Shchedrin.

His imaginative recital programming has always elicited interest and praise. Babayan is an enthusiastic advocate of new music and has an immense repertoire; his philosophy that a recital should reveal a spiritual dimension, results in a performance which sustains an intensity that never fails to captivate. His love for J S Bach, as evidenced by his studies with Helmuth Rilling, has always gained him both public and critical acclaim, and he firmly believes that the natural evolution of the keyboard instrument has led to today's modern piano which allows the music to be fully expressed in this modern incarnation.

Sergei Babayan is a frequent guest at music festivals in Europe and the US. In July 2013, he was invited by Martha Argerich to her festival 'Progetto Martha Argerich' in Lugano, Switzerland. The two artists performed a newly created cycle of transcriptions for two pianos by Babayan from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. The concert was broadcast live, and Argerich invited Babayan to perform the transcription with her again at the Klavier-Festival in Ruhr, Germany. Highlights of the 2015/2016 season include concerto performances with the Rotterdam Philharmonic conducted by Valery Gergiev and with the Camerata Israel in Tel Aviv; performances at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, and at Bad Kissengen, Germany; recital and concerto performances in duo with his student Daniil Trifonov at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia; a return to Wigmore Hall in London; recitals and chamber music performances in Los Angeles; Atlanta; East Lansing, Michigan; and Columbia, South Carolina, among others.

Sergei Babayan’s concerts have been broadcast by WQXR, WCLV, Radio France, Polish Radio and Television, BBC-TV and NHK Satellite Television. He has made highly praised recordings for EMC, Connoisseur Society and Pro Piano labels.

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ALEXANDER CHAUSHIAN cello

Regarded as one of the finest cellists of his generation, Alexander Chaushian has performed extensively throughout the world as a soloist with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Academy of St Martin-in- the-Fields, The London Mozart Players, The Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, The Boston Pops and The Armenian Philharmonic, and has given highly acclaimed performances in such venues as London’s Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall, Sala Verdi Milan, Konzerthaus Vienna, Suntory Hall Japan, the main Carnegie Hall New York, and Symphony Hall Boston.

He performs regularly in festivals throughout the world and is the Artistic Director of the International Pharos Chamber Music Festival in Cyprus and the Yerevan Music Festival in Armenia.

After initial studies in Armenia, Alexander Chaushian studied in the UK at the Menuhin School and the Guildhall School, London. He then pursued advanced studies at the Hochschule Berlin, graduating with distinction in 2005. He is a laureate prize winner of many international competitions including the 12th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the ARD Competition in Germany. As an alumnus of Young Concert Artists, New York, he toured extensively in the USA.

Amongst the many distinguished musicians whom he has collaborated with are Yehudi Menuhin, Julia Fischer, Levon Chilingirian, Yuri Bashmet, Diemut Poppen, François-Frédéric Guy, Emmanuel Pahud. His regular chamber music partner is Yevgeny Sudbin. His many concerts during recent seasons include performances in France, Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, China and Japan.

Alexander’s recordings include several highly acclaimed CDs for the BIS label in which he is partnered by Yevgeny Sudbin, and his recently released concerto CD with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, also on BIS, received rave reviews and was selected ‘Album of the Week’ by the Independent.

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Information: Pharos Arts Foundation Tel. +357 22 663 871 / www.pharosartsfoundation.org
Tickets: €15 / €10 Concessions & members of the Pharos Arts Foundation,
Box Office: www.pharosartsfoundation.org & Tel. 9666-9003 (Monday - Friday 10:00 am - 3:00 pm)