PIANO LEGEND MITSUKO UCHIDA RETURNS TO PRINCETON UNIVERSITY CONCERTS

PIANO LEGEND MITSUKO UCHIDA RETURNS TO PRINCETON UNIVERSITY CONCERTS

On Tuesday, February 21 at 7:30 PM, renowned pianist Mitsuko Uchida will return to Princeton University Concerts to perform an all-Beethoven program.

PRINCETON, NJ — Legendary pianist Mitsuko Uchida will return to Princeton University Concerts to perform an all-Beethoven recital on Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 7:30 PM in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall. Uchida will play Beethoven’s final three piano sonatas: Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109; Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110; and Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111.

“Every day of my life that I am allowed to play Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and the music of our own time,” says piano legend Mitsuko Uchida, “is a gift from somewhere. If heaven existed, it’s heaven.”

Full-priced tickets are sold out. Turned-back and obstructed view seats may be available. Please call 609-258-2800 for more information.

“To hear Beethoven’s final thoughts on the piano sonata as a genre in Uchida’s venerated hands is a defining moment in PUC’s 129-year history,” says PUC Director Marna Seltzer. “We first got to know this luminary artist in early 2020 when she came to perform along with her longtime artistic partners of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. I cannot wait to hear her in this solo performance of epic proportions. Of all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, these final three are especially hallowed for the astonishing emotional ground that they cover, from utter anguish to complete exhilaration, communicated through breathtaking virtuosity. It’s going to be an unforgettable evening.”

ABOUT THE MUSICIAN

One of the most revered artists of our time, pianist Mitsuko Uchida is known as a peerless interpreter of the works of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven, as well for being a devotee of the piano music of Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg.

She has enjoyed close relationships over many years with the world’s most renowned orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and – in the US – the Chicago Symphony and The Cleveland Orchestra, with whom she recently celebrated her 100th performance at Severance Hall.  Conductors with whom she has worked closely have included Bernard Haitink, Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski, Andris Nelsons, Gustavo Dudamel, and Mariss Jansons.

Since 2016, Mitsuko Uchida has been an Artistic Partner of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom she is currently engaged on a five-year touring project in Europe and North America.  She also appears regularly in recital in Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, London, New York and Tokyo, and is a frequent guest at the Salzburg Mozartwoche and Salzburg Festival.

Mitsuko Uchida records exclusively for Decca, and her multi-award-winning discography includes the complete Mozart and Schubert piano sonatas.  She is the recipient of two Grammy® Awards – for Mozart Concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra, and for an album of lieder with Dorothea Röschmann – and her recording of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto with Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra won the Gramophone Award for Best Concerto.

A founding member of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and Director of Marlboro Music Festival, Mitsuko Uchida is a recipient of the Golden Mozart Medal from the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association. She has also been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society, and holds Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.  In 2009 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

LISTING INFORMATION

MITSUKO UCHIDA, PIANO