PIERRE BOULEZ’S WORKS FOR PIANO IN HONOR OF THE COMPOSER’S
90TH BIRTHDAY IN ZANKEL HALL ON MONDAY, MARCH 16
 On Monday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall presents pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich performing Pierre Boulez’s works for piano in celebration of the composer’s 90th birthday, which falls ten days later on March 26. The program will range from Boulez’s early post-war serial works Douze notations (1945) and Piano Sonata No. 1 (1946), to Piano Sonata No. 2 (1948) and Constellation-Miroir and Trope from Piano Sonata No. 3 (1957, rev. 1963), to the late works Incises (1994) and une page d’éphéméride (2005), before concluding with a performance of 1961’s Structures, livre II for two pianos by both Mr. Aimard and Ms. Stefanovich.
Pierre-Laurent Aimard shares a long and exceptionally rich personal and professional history with his compatriot Pierre Boulez. At just 19, at the composer-conductor’s invitation, Aimard became a founding member of Ensemble Intercontemporain, Boulez’s IRCAM-based chamber orchestra, and he played with the group for many years, participating in a number of important premieres. Together with Tamara Stefanovich, Aimard and Boulez were honored with a Grammy nomination for their recording of Bartók’s Concerto for Two Pianos, and when Aimard and Stefanovich played Boulez’s own piano works together in London, the Independent declared their performance “as definitive as it gets.” In addition to Carnegie Hall, the two pianists will present this Boulez program at Berkeley’s Cal Performances series (March 12), at Chicago’s Symphony Center (March 15), and the Carolina Performing Arts at Chapel Hill (March 18), with a preview at Cornell University (March 8), and reprises in Amsterdam, Holland (March 25) and Italy’s Ravenna Festival (June 7). About the Artists Currently Mr. Aimard is Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival where he has impressed audiences and critics alike with his innovative programming. Current and future highlights include solo recitals in London, New York, Chicago, Paris, Tokyo, Vienna, Beijing and Amsterdam. Concerto appearances include performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In autumn 2014 he joined the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks to give the world premiere of a Piano Concerto by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, with further performances in Porto, London, and Boston. Mr. Aimard has had close collaborations with many leading composers including Kurtág, Stockhausen, Carter, Boulez, and Benjamin and had a long association with György Ligeti, recording his complete works for piano. Most recently, he performed Elliott Carter’s last piece: Epigrams for piano, cello, and violin, which was written for him. Through professorships at the Hochschule Köln and Conservatoire de Paris, as well as concert-lectures and workshops worldwide, he sheds an inspiring and very personal light on music of all periods. In 2005, he was the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award and was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America in 2007. In 2015, he launches a major online resource in collaboration with Klavier-Festival Ruhr and Vincent Meyer, centered on the performance and teaching of Ligeti’s piano music featuring master classes and performances of the Etudes and other works. Mr. Aimard records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon. His first DG release, Bach’s Art of Fugue, received both the Diapason d’Or and Choc du Monde de la Musique awards, debuted at No.1 on Billboard’s classical chart and topped iTunes’ classical album download chart. In recent years, Mr. Aimard’s recordings have been honored with many prestigious awards. A new recording of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 was released in summer 2014. Born in Lyon in 1957, Mr. Aimard studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne Loriod and in London with Maria Curcio. He was appointed Ensemble intercontemporain’s first solo pianist by Pierre Boulez. Yugoslav-born pianist Tamara Stefanovich, known for fascinating interpretations of a wide variety of repertoire, performs at the world’s major concert venues including Carnegie Hall, Berlin’s Philharmonie, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and London’s Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre, and Wigmore Hall. She has appeared at numerous international festivals such as Lucerne, La Roque d´Antheron, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Styriarte Graz, and Aldeburgh. Highlights of recent seasons have included concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the MDR and WDR Sinfonieorchesters, and Asko | Schönberg. In spring 2012 she toured Germany with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie with Kristjan Järvi, performing Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony to much critical acclaim. Recent recital appearances included London’s Southbank Centre for the International Piano Series as part of “The Rest is Noise,” at Wigmore Hall with cellist Natalie Clein, and a return to Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw. Stefanovich has also continued to work in recital with baritone Matthias Goerne. Ms. Stefanovich has collaborated with conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Osmo Vänskä, Susanna Mälkki, and Vladimir Jurowski, as well as leading contemporary composers including Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, and György Kurtág. She teaches at the Hochschule für Musik Köln and regularly leads educational projects at Klavier-Festival Ruhr, at the Barbican in London, Philharmonie Köln, and Luxembourg Philharmonie. Ms. Stefanovich also frequently takes part in performance projects with other types of performer, including dancers, actors, and DJs. Recent releases include the Grammy Award-nominated recording of Bartók’s Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion, and Orchestra with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Pierre Boulez, and the London Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon (also a MIDEM nomination and Gold Record Academy Award) and Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos with Jonathan Nott, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and Camerata Salzburg for the ARTE television network. Ms. Stefanovich has also made recordings for the AVI and Harmonia Mundi labels, including a live recital of Rachmaninoff and Ligeti, as well as works by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Stravinsky. In spring 2014, Harmonia Mundi released a recording of Ms. Stefanovich performing works by Thomas Larcher. Taught by Lili Petrovic from the age of five, Ms. Stefanovich gave her first public recital at the age of seven and became the youngest student at the University of Belgrade at the age of 13. As well as music, her broad university education encompassed many other disciplines—psychology, education, sociology—and she received her Master’s degree in piano at the age of 19. She also studied at the Curtis Institute with Claude Frank, and subsequently studied with Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Cologne Hochschule. Program Information ALL-PIERRE BOULEZ PROGRAM Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
Image at top of release courtesy of Carnegie Hall |
