ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary

On the eve of the final two days of ArtePiano International Piano Competition in Castelnuovo di Farfa the soprano Erica Eloff together with Pavle Krstic gave a recital of songs ranging from Britten’s beautiful Sally Gardens to Lehar’s enticing Vilja’s song from the Merry Widow.

The inhabitants out in force to take advantage of the ‘Wings of Song’ that illuminate their beautiful village once a year in the month of July .

But it was Vilja’s song that concluded the party atmosphere created by music in Farfa, when Erica encouraged the audience to join in the chorus of Lehar’s Merry Widow

Pavle playing always with refined elegance and mastery with the lid of his Steinway concert grand fully opened sharing the sounds together with Erica, creating a wonderful amalgam that resounded around this imposing edifice. Pavle a masterly musician who has learnt how to drive in Salzburg, winning the first competition in Farfa in 2021 and has been invited to return every year since as soloist and jury member

The grand finale tomorrow with the three chosen finalists playing in the Abbey of Farfa with the orchestra delle Cento Città.

Ryugo Yoshino was the first of seven selected semi finalists here in Farfa (Yu-Ting Su had to withdraw at the last minute ).They were invited to play a 30 minute programme to the distinguished jury chaired by Niel du Preez, the artistic director and founder of Arte Piano Festival .

Ryugo Yoshino at 17 is the youngest competitor and was born in Tokyo where he studies with Emanuel Rimoldi . A quite astonishing mastery of sound and colour allied to a technical mastery that seems to know no difficulties. The Carl Vine Sonata showed a technical mastery at the service of the music with a poetic fantasy and sense of line of astonishing maturity. Playing always of crystalline clarity and poetic imagination with a masterly use of the pedal and a chameleonic sense of touch allowing only him to find the sounds that were ingrained deeply inside this magnificent Fazioli Concert Grand.

Brahms’s Paganini Variations Book 1 revealed not only a technical mastery but a sense of style with a chameleonic sense of colour and weight. He may be a monster technically but he is most definitely a master and at 17 someone to watch. If his new found mastery was sometimes overwhelming and even too demanding for the listener, with maturity he will learn to control his youthful passion and energy and not allow it such free rein.

Mohammed Alshaikh at 23 is a master as he demonstrated with a performance of Ravel’s Ondine that was of such a refined transcendental mastery that it did not need to call attention to itself, as notes just slid from his fingers with gossamer ease and radiant beauty. A sense of balance that could allow the musical line to float on the magic sounds that he was creating. I heard Mohammed in Trapani last spring and know that he has been mentored by Oxana Yablonskaya.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2026/04/13/oxana-yablonskaya-the-return-of-la-regina-a-sparkling-jewel-in-the-crown-of-trapani/

Now studying in Berlin at the Barenboim – Said Academy it is the aristocratic authority and simple unadorned musicianship that he has inherited from one of the great ladies of our time. Chopin’s mischievous chromatic scale study op 10 n. 2 held no terror for Mohammed as he turned a problem into a miniature tone poem of beguiling insinuation. His Bach Prelude and Fugue was a courageous choice and showed the pedigree of a true musician but I found the Prelude a little too fussy missing the architectural shape that is so fundamental to every strand of this Universal Genius. It was the Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns transcribed by Liszt and jazzed up unnecessarily by Horowitz, where Mohammed could show us what artistry really is! A memorable performance from a master musician who could turn a bauble into a gem with a wondrous sense of colour and sounds of sumptuous opulence. A poetic fantasy that kept us on the edge of our seats as this young artist brought every note vividly to life with exhilaration, excitement and seduction.

Yuna Nakagawa is from Japan and at 27 showed herself to be a professional pianist with a golden sound of opulent beauty. It was in the whispered opening of Bartòk’s Night Music that showed an artist of extraordinary sensitivity with a masterly control of sound as the repeated clashing cluster of notes was hypnotically maintained whilst all around the screeching and scratching of night creatures were revealed from Yuna’s chameleonic palette of sounds. Her performance of Chopin’s lesser known Nocturne from op 48 revealed an artist or rare understanding of Chopin’s elusive Bel Canto. She brought a controlled freedom and radiant beauty to this much neglected masterpiece. Chopin’s song ‘The Maiden’s Wish’ in Liszt’s arrangement has long been a favourite of the pianists of the Golden Era of piano playing. In particular Rachmaninov and Rosenthal and later even Arrau who could bring a charm and sense of colour of a different age that just eluded Yuna, where her ‘wish’ was a little too earthbound for this particular maiden. It was in ‘Los Requiebros’ from Granados’s Goyescas that she revealed her true artistry with her sumptuous golden sound and fiery temperament bringing to life this miniature masterpiece as only Alicia de Larrocha could have done.

Nikita is a true kapellmeister with performances of Beethoven and Liszt that were played like a true thinking musician. ‘Les Adieux’ held no terror for him as he allowed the music to unfold with a scrupulous attention to the composers indications. Even the ‘Andante espressivo’ was played in two not four and had a continual forward movement of ‘Absence’ that was to be short lived, making the vivacissimamente of the ‘Return’ even more enticing with playing of remarkable clarity and control. The ‘Spanish Rhapsody’ by Liszt was played very musically with a palette of colours and subtle phrasing that is rarely heard from pianists who are principally showmen rather than musicians. A remarkable technical control and fearless mastery that allowed the music to unfold with poetic fantasy and bravura. Nikita told me afterwards that he could have added some improvised cadenzas but preferred not to intimidate a jury that may not wish to get involved in discussions about performance practices of the day!

Momoko Kimura played ‘Le Cloches’ by Debussy with a refined tone palette of great beauty and ‘Poissons d’or’ revealed a great sense of style with insinuating sounds of capricious intent. Medtner’s Sonata ‘Tragica’ was a courageous choice which she played with commanding drama and masterly control. It is a long and difficult work but where she was able to give an architectural shape to Medtner’s sometimes overloaded intricacies, with a powerful committed performance of colourful fantasy and deep brooding drama of mastery.

Arsen I heard last spring in Trapani when he played the ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata! https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2026/04/18/trapani-rules-the-waves-the-fourth-scarlatti-international-piano-competition/

He is a superb musician with a range of sounds and a technical mastery which he brought to all he played, beginning with three Studies from op 42 by Scriabin. Playing of capricious etherial radiance with a sumptuous outpouring of colours and the final op 42 n. 5 in particular was played with a masterly control of sound and a romantic sweep that was of breathtaking audacity. He was able to give a great architectural shape to Liszt’s ‘ Dante’ Sonata where he produced sumptuous orchestral sounds contrasting with moments of ravishing whispered beauty all played with a dynamic drive and fearless passionate intensity.

Jiwon Kim played Szymanowski’s notoriously complex Schéhérazade with an extraordinary range of colours with masterly playing of musical intelligence and imagination. Chopin’s Fantaisie on the other hand sounded rather over pedalled and lost much of the clarity of one of Chopin’s longest single movement works. An overall sound of plummy richness missing much of the filigree detail and contrasts that she had brought with such mastery to Szymanowski!

Seven short recitals all played with great commitment and mastery filling this beautiful San Nicola with music making even more remarkable than last year. I do not compare performances but listen and talk about what I hear, and the above comments are my own personal reactions to some of the remarkable performances that I have heard.

Unfortunately there is the circus element of competitions and a winner has to be found. But it is the platform and experience that it provides for these young musicians that is the most important thing. As Neil Du Preez says: ‘ Farfa is a place where music and humanity meet. At a time when the world often feels increasingly divided, we believe that music has the power to unite, inspire , and bring people together’ https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2016/05/16/piano-competitions-a-consideration/

And so to the final in the Abbazia di Santa Maria di Farfa with the Orchestra delle Cento Città directed by Alesandro Alonzi . Two Rachmaninov Second Concertos and the Tchaikovsky B flat minor. The early start of 14.30 in the blistering heat because the Abbey must be vacated for Mass by 18.30 .

Yuna Nakagawa the oldest of the three finalist was rather overawed by her surroundings and did not play as well as she had in her solo recital. Always beautiful golden sounds but moments of doubt arose where we expected passionate intensity. A rather disappointing performance that in the end robbed her of a prize.

Nikita Shestakov on the other hand is a true musician and played even better with his musician colleagues than he did on his own. He was intent on making music by listening very attentively to the orchestra and adapting and moulding his performance giving a great freedom that the orchestras reciprocated by entering on this voyage of discovery together.

Arsen Dalibaltayan gave a solid musicianly performance of Tchaikovsky’s well worn concerto. There was never a moment’s doubt that Arsen was very much in charge and although the orchestra got into some difficulty due no doubt to heat fatigue having rehearsed for three hours before the concert, Arsen attacked the solo part with dynamic drive and with moments of poetic beauty. The valiant Alessandro Alonzi had been a very considerate policeman at the helm of three very varied performances, never tiring of dedicating to each of the three young artists the maximum of his attention.

The final result was that Arsen came in first and Nikita second but real winners were all those that have been touched by the wind of music that has been blowing over the Sabine Hills in the past few weeks.

Castelnuovo di Farfa ‘The Land of Dreams’ The 5th International ArtePiano competition of Niel du Preez

The second concert for Umbria classica in Bevagna saw Daniele De Paola playing two very important works for piano: Beethoven’s Sonata op 10 n 3 and Mussorgsky’s monumental Pictures at an Exhibition.

Daniele is in Bevagna to play in the Masterclass of Federico Nicoletta but studies at the Academy in Rome with Benedetto Lupo.

His musical pedigree shone through all he did, from the dynamic drive of Beethoven to the monumental authority in Mussorgsky. Finally the refined simplicity and crystalline Scarlatian clarity of Rachmaninov’s transcription of the Gigue from Bach’s violin suite in E.

Throughout the recital though I was continually surprised by his kaleidoscope of colours and his understanding of the architectural line and realised that what I had heard in the class earlier had been a work in progress of a craftsman learning his trade, where the ultimate goal is that of a artist of integrity and humility as he pays scrupulous attention to the composers indications.

The three Sonatas op 10 are early works as the three of op 2, where in the last of each set Beethoven breaks away from his master Haydn, and the slow movements become dramatic statements of great significance. The Sonata op 7 too, is where the genius of Beethoven develops the form that the has inherited and turns it into something quite original and unique.

It was in the ‘Largo e mesto’ that Daniele played with a burning inner intensity and if the opening chords could have been played with even more weight the beauty and almost religious fervour of the central episode was of poignant significance. The opening ‘Presto’ had been played with dynamic drive and a palette of colours that gave great shape to the burning urgency always beautifully controlled and played with great clarity. The ‘Minuet’ was allowed to unfold with simplicity and radiance as the ‘Trio’ suddenly took wing with the pastoral ‘joie de vivre’ of question and answer over a bubbling accompaniment. The unanswered question of the ‘Rondò’ was played with extraordinary mastery where the fleeting jeu perlé scales just flowed from his fingers with the bass insisting on an answer which remains unanswered in the bass of the piano.

The Mussorgsky was a pleasant surprise too as it was played as the piano piece that Mussorgsky originally intended and not the orchestral transcription that was to come much later from the hands of Ravel and many others.

Instead of the usual strident declamation of the opening promenade Daniele played it with nobility but also with beauty. ‘Gnomus’ struck fear into us and was played with an authority that soon gave way to dynamic contrasts and shape. The final closing scale was played with remarkable technical mastery too. A whispered Promenade to the beauty of the ‘Old castle’ that Daniele played with poetic beauty and a remarkable sense of balance . ‘Tuileries’ was played with absolute clarity and sense of character as ‘Bydlo’ came lumbering on with sumptuous full sounds. The ‘Ballet of the unhatched chicks’ was played with charm and style of lightweight mastery. Interrupted only by the strident voice of Goldenberg and the whimpering of Schmuÿle, where Daniele’s remarkable sense of colour brought these two characters vividly to life. There was again a contrasting clarity with the ‘Market Place of Limoges’ that was contrasted with the disturbing resonance of ‘Catacombs’ which dissolved with remarkable control and ravishing beauty into the ‘cum mortuis in lingua mortua’. It was here that Daniele now let rip with the strident ugly sounds of ‘Baba-Yaga’ but was contrasted with the beauty of the central episode where Daniele’s remarkable control of sound and balance brought an orchestral feel to this remarkable movement. Arriving at the vision of the imaginary ‘Gate of Kiev’ that Daniele played with great architectural control. The bells peeling all over the keyboard and played with almost too much control but that Daniele relinquished for the final monumental appearance of ‘A Great Gate’ of such actual significance.

A remarkable performance of a work that always strikes terror into me for how it can be manhandled and abused by pianists who use it as a vehicle for bravura rather than the poetic images of the works of Mussorgsky’s friend Hartmann that Daniele showed us today.

I remembered that I had heard the same transformation in Lupo’s Graduation Recitals at the Academy this year. Federico Nicoletta a disciple of Lupo is continuing the same great lesson of integrity, mastery and humanity that are the ingredients of all true artists.

Accademia di Santa Cecilia ‘The making of an artist’ Benedetto Lupo points the way for Pier Carmine Garzillo, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, Federico Manca & Federico Pische

Filippo Odobashi youthful mastery for Umbria Classica in Bevagna

After a day of Masterclasses with Federico Nicoletta one of the students was chosen to give an evening recital.

Filippo Odobashi, a sixteen year old student of Nicoletta, had presented the ‘Emperor’ concerto in the class and now just a few hours later he was ready to play works by Bach,Haydn, Schumann and Rachmaninov. A recital that belied his anagraphical age with playing of maturity, personality and technical mastery.

Bach’s Italian concerto was played with great clarity where a beautiful non legato touch was contrasted with a mellifluous legato, contrasting the solo with the concertante . A dynamic drive but with a refined sense of colour and dynamic contrasts. An aristocratic nobility but with a musical personality where freedom intelligence and style could combine to beguiling effect.

An opaque lifeless left hand in the Andante was the base on which Filippo floated a melodic line of radiance and poignant significance. Giving an architectural shape to this Gothic cathedral of monumental solidity and beauty.

The Presto just shot from Filippo’s well oiled fingers but was given always an extraordinary shape with contrasting dynamics whilst with a hypnotic forward propulsion.

Haydn’s two movement sonata in G was allowed to unravel with playful innocence. A sense of style but a rather dry opening that as he gradually found his way he was able to add his personal voice with a palette of colours and teasing rubato. A coda of startling originality that he played with a great sense of character. Haydn’s chattering Presto was with a playful frenzy and a ‘joie de vivre’ of verve and masterly control.

I remember Richter on his first visit to the West opening his recital with Schumann’s op 1. It was a revelation for how he could float the opening melody on a wash of sound. It was a performance where bar lines just disappeared as he threw off the jeu perlé streams of notes with jewel like lightness.

Filippo gave a very accomplished performance but it was too earthbound as the theme seemed to be tied down rather than just floating in one ethereal arch. Technically it held no terror for Filippo who dispatched the brilliant variations with fearless mastery. But this is an early salon work they needs above all charm, grace and a wondrous sense of improvised fantasy. Even Richter missed the charm as the brilliance of the writing like Mendelssohn seemed to slip from his fingers with such well oiled mastery . Filippo showed us too with his encore of the first of Schumann’s Kreisleriana that if you take Schumann’s indications too literally it can seem too teutonic instead of poetic.

It was the world of Rachmaninov that ignited the passion and poetic intensity of this very talented young man. Just five preludes from op 23 were enough to show how Filippo’s extraordinary technical mastery was at the service of passionate outpourings of great intensity. A kaleidoscope of colours that ignited the torrid atmosphere of this beautiful antique auditorium.

The first played with a glowing radiance tinged with nostalgia. The imperious nobility of the second bursting onto the scene with sumptuous sounds and fearless technical mastery. An improvised character to the third was played with an extraordinary sense of character and multi coloured palette of sounds . The beauty of the melodic line of the fourth where the gossamer accompaniment of golden sounds wove their way around this beautiful rich melodic outpouring to sublime effect. The seventh was an outpouring of continuous notes on which Rachmaninov floats a magical chorale like melody . A rather strange rubato at the beginning was soon forgotten as the passion and sumptuous beauty brought the recital to a magnificent end .

Unfortunately not a big audience but it was a very appreciative one.

Boris Berman would quite simply have quipped ‘If they don’t want to come you cannot stop them ‘

A remarkable recital for a pianist of any age but as Filippo is only 16 it bodes well for his future performances guided by the remarkable Federico Nicoletta at Rovigo Conservatory invigorated by the presence of Nicoletta and his colleague Roberto Prosseda.

Terrific recital, very well received in Deal. 

I lack the skills  to give a proper musical critique. 

Substantial Deal audience in large Church auditorium likely to be mostly well educated retired people many of whom will inevitably be home pianists

Their silent spellbound attention therefore, is not to be disregarded – even the overheard comment ‘He’s the next Pollini’ 

J.S.Bach: Toccata BWV 911 (11 mins)
L.V.Beethoven: Waldstein (23mins)
A.Bocedi: Ninfee (4mins)
J.Brahms: Walzer op.39 (16mins) and Scherzo op.4 (9mins)

Andrea’s natural Grace serves him very well in the short perfectly pitched comments he made about the music he was to play and is matched by both grace and fire in all his playing. His final comment about being grateful to the audience for letting them hear him play this music for the first time showed rather stylish overall performance skills. Unsurprisingly he sold all CDs available for sale. 

One audience member, a well regarded composer in his eighties, was especially impressed by the Waldstein. I teased him gently with an invitation to write a critique of the recital but unsuccessfully. A conversation followed about whether  Andrea’s  tempo of the Waldstein’s first movement could be sustained. All agreed it could be and was.

The rest of the programme – Bach, Bocedi Brahms and a Scarlatti encore – constructed to leave the audience excited throughout by what they heard – grew pretty well equal exhilarated applause.

Not for nothing did Luke styles open the recital with glowing praise for the Trust  but he and others remarked how over the last four years the Trust has provided extraordinary highly talented pianists. 

Andrea could not have done better for the Trust, for himself or for the pleasure of the audience of Deal

Sir Geoffrey  Nice

The final concert and the culmination of the Spoleto Academy was in the beautiful church of Sant’Eufemia just a stone’s throw from the Cathedral.

If music be the food of love …please play on .

A glorious outpouring of music making of rare sensitivity and passionate intensity. From the refined beauty and sumptuous freedom of Dvořák dances with Benedetto Lupo, the anchor around which revolved three young musicians from his class.

The subtle insinuation of Lupo’s bass, accompanied the refined intensity of Antonin Bonnet, but it was the subtle humour of Lupo that brought a real smile of recognition. Fulvio Nicolosi playing with great delicacy with Lupo again echoing comments of beguiling insinuation before both building in intensity and passion dying away to a music box radiance and glitter. Herman Cerisha brought energy and rhythmic drive to the last of these three dances. A whispered energy from Lupo brought radiant beauty from Herman as he floated Dvořák’s magic melody on a cloud of subtly moving sounds.

There was the tragic intensity of Mahler’s one movement piano quartet with Andrea Obiso reaching for the heights as he led his young colleagues to places they had never been before. The pulsating menace from Massimiliano Soriente on the piano was the undercurrent that ran through the entire movement with the ‘cello of Francesco Angelico in duo with Andrea Obiso with an unforgettable burning intensity of yearning and liberation. Scott Storey’s viola found a voice of his own as he mirrored the beauty of Andrea’s whispered comments.

The final cry from the Guarneri of Obiso was a solo cadenza that was a blow to the heart indeed. A remarkable performance helped by the magnificent acoustic of Sant’Eufemia which made one realise that Mahler could never have even contemplated adding other movements to what is an ‘Unfinished’ masterpiece.

A refined and scintillating performance of Haydn’s Gypsy Rondo Trio with Benedetto Lupo and Andrea Obiso taking eleven year old Riccardo Laganà with them on a journey of a lifetime. Some very stylish playing from Andrea encouraging Riccardo with a twinkle in his eye as together they added to the radiant simplicity of Benedetto Lupo’s beautiful playing. Lupo just ready to pounce with the Gypsy rondò that leapt from his fingers with a dynamic drive of refined control and enticing brilliance . All three united in a build up of energy of exhilaration and excitement. What a journey they had shared together and what an experience for a young ‘cellist on the crest of a wave and the youngest performer ever at the Spoleto Festival.

But the crowning glory was a glorious full throttle performance of Schumann’s wondrous piano quintet. Benedetto playing from memory or should I say from heart . This was a performance to lift up your heart indeed and realise what emotional power music making of this mastery and conviction can exert on a world too ready to accept quantity rather than quality. The passionate opening dissolving into the liquid beauty of Lupo’s playing on a magnificent Steinway Concert Grand with the lid fully open, where he could control the magnificent kaleidoscope of sounds within without ever allowing them to overpower his colleagues. A sumptuous radiance as the cello of Martino Tazzari communed with Andrea’s Guarneri with playing of youthful passion. There was an improvised beauty as the viola and cello joined forces with heartrending beauty. The second movement was played with a whispered intensity of a desperate yearning passing from one instrument to the other until Lupo added his magnificent bass to this pulsating journey of intense beauty. There was a beautiful diminuendo to the ending that seemed to drift into oblivion. Rudely awoken by the scintillating playing of Lupo and the equally energetic playing of Obiso ,two masters with a burning light driving these young musicians to ever greater heights. Heights that ended in a glorious outpouring of nobility and radiance all united with Schumann in a poetic outpouring of sumptuous beauty.

This was the true legacy of Menotti whose presence this year under Daniele Cipriani and friends has never been felt so strongly.

The Spoleto Festival Academy with 22 superb musicians dedicating their youth to art .

What music making, but what fun they are having . Created by Massimo Spada and Beatrice Rana this is the true rebirth of Menotti’s Festival where the concerti di Mezzogiorno saw a youthful Jacqueline Du Pré, Richard Goode Renée Fleming and many others making their first appearance in an Italy that Rostropovich considered ‘The Museum of the World’

With Daniele Cipriani at the helm of his first edition he has created a cultural fervour that will continue to grow in significance.

Spoleto has not savoured this for years since Edinburgh and Spoleto were the guiding light in a post war state of shock.

Menotti of course had a castle in Scotland as he also had a house overlooking the Cathedral in Spoleto.

A guiding light that is reignited today

First day in Spoleto with the Festival dei Due Mondi Academy of 22 specially selected musicians taking part in master classes of renowned soloists . Together making music in public concerts at mid-day in the Sala Pegasus whilst all around in every part of the city there is Ballet, Opera, Theatre and Symphonic concerts .

Today I spent with Benedetto Lupo inspiring young musicians to listen more closely and delve even deeper into the scores. As he told Fulvio Nicolosi who gave a very fine performance of Liszt’s transcription of Wagner’s Liebestod – you play it Liszt’s way but I play it Wagner’s! Wheras a later performance of the Dante sonata was truly Liszt at his most theatrical. Lupo pointing out that you need to ration the energy and to sing not run!

The fifth midday concert was dedicated to the Strauss violin sonata with Oleksii Tyshchenko and Antonin Bonnet and the Franck Quintet with Piero Cinosi Francesco Venudo, Alberto Bongiovanni, Martina Bonaldo and Viola Sommariva. Superb performances playing to a full and very enthusiastic audience. Infact it was to Oleksii and Antonin that Beatrice Rana and Daniele Cipriana awarded a special prize at the end of these two weeks of intense music making. An award that will see them returning in 2027 to perform officially in the festival programme.

Piero Cinosi had played just an hour earlier Chopin’s 4th Ballade to Lupo, and Bonnet an hour after the Strauss ,Chopin’s 2nd Piano Concerto!

I was only able to hear the last three of these midday concerts. The sixth was with the twenty year old Giulia Falzarano playing Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G minor. A very flamboyant player who feels the music intensely and could communicate her burning energy to Moritz Defregger,Daniele Valabrega and Daniele Ferraro in a performance that was of sublime youthful freshness and invention. The other work was in G major and it was Brahms’s later Quintet for strings played with great beauty and depth by Lisa Fediukova,Francesco Venudo, Davide Pizzo,Daniele Valabrega and Francesco Angelico.

Benedetto Lupo rushing off to rehearse Schumann Quintet and Haydn Gypsy Trio that he will play with Andrea Obiso and others on Saturday .

Just time for a bit of dance in the beautiful Teatro Nuovo that is now named after Menotti who very much put Spoleto on the map and would yesterday have been 115 !

The curtain about to go up on ‘Du Bout des Lèvres’ directed by Benjamin Millepied. What a breath of fresh air this was in a theatre that would do any capital city proud and has been so beautifully restored . Seduced by the beautiful poetic songs of ‘Barbara’ with eight dancers floating in through white etherial drapes as they danced to the music with poetic elegance seeming to float on wings of song.

And another performance of dance after a day spent with the class of Benedetto Lupo was with pianist ,Kirill Richter, performing with his trio, his own suite of seven movements, commissioned especially for the ‘Seven Ages’.Russian trained Paris-based composer and pianist is associated with a style often characterised as expressive minimalism and with a dancer that the choreographer Marco Goecke wanted to express the uncertainty and intensity of the human spirit. In the fortress that overlooks Spoleto with the musicians in the middle of a circle and the dancer revolving around them, they were even helped by a violent wind that swept across the fortress with thunder adding even more suggestive sounds to a remarkable score by this young musician.

Miracles in Spoleto as Benedetto Lupo and Andrea Obiso reach for sublime heights with students of the Festival Academy

Magic in the air here in Spoleto with Massimo Spada’s Festival Academy where 22 super gifted young musicians are together for three weeks of sublime music making

Beatrice Rana just forty days after giving birth to Margherita is ready to stand in at the last minute for an indisposed Yuja Wang ……what a triumph she had ……….I had heard her play this in London last summer. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2025/08/11/beatrice-rana-takes-london-by-storm-rachmaninov-of-poetic-beauty-and-ravishment-conquers-the-proms/

Francesco Piemontesi stood in at the last minute with a recital that I had heard in London.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2026/05/05/francesco-piemontesi-beauty-and-imagination-with-humility-and-dedication/

Beatrice Rana the musical consultant who has risen to the occasion finding superb solutions for last minute problems that can arise in a Festival of such magnitude and importance.

FINAL PRESS RELEASE

Spoleto 69: An all-time record for box office takings, cultural programme and excitement. The success of Daniele Cipriani’s first term as Artistic Director paves the way for the 2027 edition which will mark the Festival’s 70th anniversary.

Spoleto, 12 July 2026 – The 69th edition of the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, the first under the leadership of the new Artistic Director Daniele Cipriani, draws to a close this evening. For 17 days, the
Umbrian town has once again been the beating heart of the international arts scene: with debuts, avant-garde productions and others by established masters, t he Festival has rediscovered its most authentic energy, drawing on Gian Carlo Menotti’s precious legacy to relaunch it with renewed international vigour,
open to dialogue between music, opera, drama, dance, theatre and the visual arts.
This edition has put Spoleto back on the map at the centre of the world, restoring that special atmosphere which, over the years, has made the Festival unique: lively piazzas and streets bustling with people until late night, artists mingling with the inhabitants and the public, bringing theatre onto the streets so that it becomes a collective experience for the whole town.
Artistic Director Daniele Cipriani has stated: “It has been a great honour, but also a huge responsibility to direct, for the first time, the Festival that was conceived, created and cherished by Gian Carlo Menotti. I decided to have two outstanding consultants by my side: Beatrice Rana and Leo Muscato. I have worked to place myself at the service of the Festival, to listen to its history, to rediscover its roots and, from those roots, to nurture new branches and new perspectives. The real value-added lies not only in the success of
each single event, but in the ability to transform a town into a community united by art. The 70th edition will take place from 25 June to 11 July 2027: following this year’s theme ‘Roots’, next year’s will be ‘Visions’.
Because roots only make sense if they continue to shape the future.”
A few figures from the 69th edition
The 69th edition of the Festival dei Due Mondi, the first directed by Daniele Cipriani, saw over 35,000 tickets sold and record-breaking takings of almost 1 million 100 thousand Euros: the highest financial
result ever.
Daniele Cipriani further adds: “These are impressive figures, but what makes them truly significant is the way in which they were achieved: by considerably expanding the Festival’s artistic programme, not merely to ‘pad the numbers’, but to offer an even richer and more varied programme – ranging from classical to contemporary dance, from chamber music to major symphonic concerts, right through to pop performances by Arisa and MIKA and to David Szauder’s artificial intelligence research. Our choices stem from the belief
that a festival like this should invite everyone to step beyond their own boundaries: those who come for a concert may discover dance, whilst those who come for an opera may be surprised by digital art. Our mission is not to confirm the audience’s tastes, but to broaden them, creating opportunities for curiosity to make new discoveries.”
This year, the Festival presented 121 shows and cultural events, totalling 290 performances. 1,057 artists
from 28 countries were supported by a team of 354 people, including employees, collaborators, technicians and staff at the various venues. Simonetta Allder

Accademia di Santa Cecilia ‘The making of an artist’ Benedetto Lupo points the way for Pier Carmine Garzillo, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, Federico Manca & Federico Pische

Beatrice Rana Motherhood next to Godliness with ‘canons covered in flowers’

I have heard Paul Mnatsakanov many times over the past few years as he reached for the heights at the Royal College of Music. A complete musician who could fill a vast auditorium with the orchestral sounds of Mussorgsky as he could draw the audience in to overhear the barely audible sounds of the clavichord. Conducting and working with singers has given his playing a sense of architectural shape but above all bringing a sense of character to all he does.

The music is made to speak with the same inflections as the human voice and nowhere is this more evident than in his playing of Mozart. Today he chose to open with the Sonata K 332 which he had played at his graduation recital last year …………..’A Mozart sonata in F K 332 of impeccable style and discreet ornamentation that just highlighted the beauty of the ‘Allegro’ played with refined good taste and character. Not the colours of Horowitz but much more restrained and classically orientated that nevertheless spoke with the same operatic voice. Ravishing beauty of the ‘Adagio’ where his superb sense of balance allowed the bel canto to sing but also the audacious accompaniment to be an equal partner. An ‘Allegro assai’ that just burst onto the scene with scintillating energy and high spirits and where Mozart’s surprise ending was judged to perfection without ever giving the game away.’ A performance that has grown in depth and simplicity where his self identification with the operatic characters as they enter and exit the scene is quite remarkable. The inflections of a human voice that do not disturb the style and absolute clarity of the performance. Playing with controlled passion as he allowed the final ‘Allegro’ to erupt with a burning drive having played the ‘Adagio’ with exquisite radiance. Ornaments in the ‘Adagio’ as in the ritornello of the opening movement just added to the character, not disturbing but enhancing the simplicity and beauty of Mozart’s genial creation.

The Schubert Moments Musicaux I have not heard from Paul before, and it was here that he managed to imbue these miniature masterpieces with a sense of recreation that was as spontaneous as it was convincing. Slight inflections, a gentle underlining or underplaying certain passages allowed the music to speak with the same directness as the human voice. The first played with the simplicity of a ‘ländler ‘ of impish good spirts with a beautifully flowing central episode of a question and answer over a gently moving bass. The ‘Andantino’ was played very sensitively where every note spoke with poignant significance. A whispered central episode played with an extraordinary palette of colours of radiant beauty and eloquence. The third in F minor was played like a march of the fairies with refined charm and simplicity and a beguiling sense of character. No one can compare with Curzon here but Paul came pretty close to that controlled elegance mixed with charm. The whispered meanderings of the fourth were played with sublime clarity and the central episode of beautiful self effacing elegance. The return of the meanderings disappearing into the distance that he played with remarkable control of sound. Bursting into the ‘Allegro vivace’ with a burning intensity and remarkable technical mastery. The ‘Allegretto’ was the calm after the storm, played with the same sublime simplicity as all that Paul did ,but here was with a sumptuous full harmonic sound. A sedate central episode was with radiance but tinged with a religious fervour floating on a glorious wave of sound. This was one of the finest performances of these elusive Moments that I have heard from a young musician where selfless musicianship is combined with a unique sensitivity of eloquence and character.

The ‘Appassionata’ was given a performance from a musician who could see the whole architectural shape of this tempestuous outpouring. From the very opening there was a scrupulous attention to detail where the silences are so important and throughout the work there was a continuous flow like being engulfed by a great wave. If there were some rough corners it was of no importance for a musician who could imbue this work with the very temperament that had inspired such an audacious outpouring. Scrupulous attention to Beethovens’ pedalling was at times too literal and became muddled rather than mysterious. Big sweeps of arpeggios that Beethoven marks to be played with one gesture were divided between the hands to avoid mishaps or in Paul’s case to save on practice time in the life of an eclectic musician who has so much to fit in within a short space of time. The important thing was that the intention was so firmly embedded in the interpretation that these technical details became of lesser importance for a musician who could see the vast landscape that Beethoven had set before him. The coda of the first movement, as with the last, was played with passionate intensity and the Beethovenian temperament of irascible impatience. The ‘Andante’ was indeed ‘con moto’ and was a procession of religious intensity. A set of four variations in D flat on a theme remarkable for its melodic simplicity combined with the use of unusually thick voicing and a peculiar counter-melody in the bass. Its sixteen bars (repeated) consist of nothing but common chords, set in a series of four- and two-bar phrases that all end on the tonic that Paul allowed to unwind with well oiled simplicity. The final variation ending with a deceptive cadence containing the dominant 7th chord instead of the tonic that resolves to a soft  diminished seventh on B♭ marked pp (pianissimo), followed by a much louder diminished seventh, marked ff (fortissimo), at an octave higher that serves as a transition (without pause) to the finale.A shock wave indeed! The final Allegro was played with controlled drive bursting into moments of inflamed passages that Paul played with technical mastery. Keeping a reserve for the final coda that he played with fearless abandon and driving rhythmic dynamism.

Paul Mnatsakanov is an emerging young American-Russian-Armenian pianist, collaborative pianist/répétiteur, historical keyboardist and conductor. His artistic vision is that music, as a universal language of sound, conveys thoughts, stories, experiences and emotions. Every piece, whether instrumental or vocal, is an expression of what it means to live and be a part of the universe.  He attained a first-class degree in his undergraduate studies at the Royal College of Music in London as an RCM scholar and as a Joint Principal Study student with the Head of Piano, Prof. Vanessa Latarche, fortepiano professor, Dr. Geoffrey Govier, and Chair of Historical Keyboard Instruments, Prof. Terence Charlston. Currently, he is in the second year of his postgraduate studies as a collaborative pianist with Prof. Vanessa Latarche, Seb Wybrew and Caroline Dowdle, as well as organ with Charlie Andrews and conducting with Peter Stark. He also studies piano with Philippe Raskin at the Gulda School of Music in Vienna, Austria, and historical keyboards (harpsichord, clavichord and fortepiano) privately with Carole Cerasi.

Paul is a laureate of multiple international competitions including    “Kendall Taylor Beethoven Piano Competition” (London, 2024, 1st prize), “Valsesia Musica International Competition” (Varallo, Italy, 2023, 1st prize), “Città di Cantù International Piano and Orchestra Competition” (Cantù, Italy, 2022, 1st prize and special prize for the best performance of a Beethoven piano concerto) amongst others.  He has performed in Wigmore Hall, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, St George’s Hanover Square, and many other concert venues in England, Wales and abroad. For the 2026-2027 season, he has been offered a place on the National Opera Studio Young Artist course in London. 

Paul Mnatsakanov ‘I could have danced all night’ The poetic mastery of a true kapellmeister

Paul Mnatsakanov graduation recitals at the Royal College Music

Paul Mnatsakanov ‘s monumental Mussorgsky ‘Pictures’

An extraordinary concert in London last night with a violinist who became a conductor and a pianist of 85 years who could jazz it up better than most a quarter of his age.

The mellifluous concerto by Korngold was not only played but also partly conducted by the remarkable George Hlawiczka. There were moments in this complicated Hollywoodian score where two conductors were better than one and George came to the assistance of the valiant Rachael Montesino Young . Completed by Korngold in 1945 who vowed he would not compose any ‘serious’ music until the war was over. Heifetz had put it firmly on the map with his sensational first performance in 1947. George Hlawiczka not only played the solo part but also oversaw the orchestra during his very fine performance.

And was seen supervising the wine in the interval – A man for all seasons indeed!

But it was the veteran pianist Alberto Portugheis who stole the show tonight with another work also written in America but ten year earlier. Dressed for the part in a Gold Lamé jacket as both he and the orchestra, directed by George Hlaziczka took the place of Paul Whiteman and George Gershwin with evident joy at being able to let their hair down and intone the most famous melodies of ‘Rhapsody in Blue’.

A kitten on the keys indeed as Alberto let rip with passionate intensity and playing without the score as it was obviously so much part of his being that for this evening was a sumptuous feast clad in Gold.

Ravishing sounds of gold indeed from fingers of extraordinary steely pedigree with an arch of the hand that allows veteran pianists to play with such mastery. Alberto, like his life long friend Martha Argerich, has been endowed with superb childhood training in Buenos Aires from the Neapolitan School of Scaramuzza. Both have the same rock solid hand with ten fingers that are just waiting to receive their instruction from mature masterly musicians, ready to go into action with an orchestra in their fingertips.

At the end of a sumptuous all or nothing performance of ‘Rhapsody in Blue’, our valiant pianist was warmed up and ready to play on his own the second of Gershwin’s three preludes. With chiselled beauty he was able to carve out the most jazzy of Preludes with the improvised abandon of a true ‘Kitten on the Keys’.

A birds eye view of a very happy occasion Martha Argerich and Alberto Portugheis Wigmore Hall 75th birthday celebration

Alberto Portugheis plays Mozart ‘A man for all seasons ravishes and astonishes’

Alberto Portugheis – a Renaissance man spreading the word with generosity and humility

With only five weeks remaining until the premiere, Gershwin hurriedly set about composing the work. He later claimed that while on a train journey to Boston , the thematic seeds for Rhapsody in Blue began to germinate in his mind. He told biographer Isaac Goldberg in 1931:

It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer … I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise. And there I suddenly heard—and even saw on paper—the complete construction of the rhapsody, from beginning to end. No new themes came to me, but I worked on the thematic material already in my mind and tried to conceive the composition as a whole. I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope  of America, of our vast melting pot , of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness. By the time I reached Boston, I had a definite plot of the piece, as distinguished from its actual substance.

Gershwin began composing on January 7 as dated on the original manuscript for two pianos. He tentatively entitled the piece as American Rhapsody during its composition. Ira Gershwin suggested the revised title of Rhapsody in Blue after his visit to a gallery exhibition of James Mc Neil Whistler paintings. After a few weeks, Gershwin finished his composition and passed the score, titled A Rhapsody in Blue, to Ferde Grofé, Whiteman’s arranger. Grofé finished orchestrating  the piece on February 4—a mere eight days before the premiere.

“This composition shows extraordinary talent, as it shows a young composer with aims that go far beyond those of his ilk, struggling with a form of which he is far from being master … In spite of all this, he has expressed himself in a significant and, on the whole, highly original form … His first theme … is no mere dance-tune … it is an idea, or several ideas, correlated and combined in varying and contrasting rhythms that immediately intrigue the listener. The second theme is more after the manner of some of Mr. Gershwin’s colleagues. Tuttis are too long, cadenzas are too long, the peroration at the end loses a large measure of the wildness and magnificence it could easily have had if it were more broadly prepared, and, for all that, the audience was stirred and many a hardened concertgoer excited with the sensation of a new talent finding its voice.”

— Olin Downes ,The New York Times February 1924

Gershwin asked to study with Ravel. When Ravel heard how much Gershwin earned, Ravel replied with words to the effect of, ‘You should give me lessons.’ He also asked Schoenberg for composition lessons. Schoenberg refused, saying ‘I would only make you a bad Schoenberg, and you’re such a good Gershwin already.’ (This quote is similar to one credited to Ravel during Gershwin’s 1928 visit to France – ‘Why be a second-rate Ravel, when you are a first-rate Gershwin?’  He also visited Boulanger in 1927, asking for lessons in composition. They spoke for half an hour after which Boulanger announced, ‘ I can teach you nothing.’ Taking this as a compliment, Gershwin repeated the story many times

Korngold had vowed to give up composing anything other than film music, with which he supported himself and his family, until Hitler had been defeated. With the end of World War II, he retired from films to concentrate on music for the concert hall. The Violin Concerto was the first such work that Korngold wrote, following some initial persuasion from the violinist  and fellow émifré Bronislaw Huberman . Korngold had been hurt by the assumption that a successful film composer was one who had sold his integrity to Hollywood, just as earlier he had been hurt by many critics’ assumptions that his works were performed only because he was the son of music critic Julius Korngold. He was thus determined to prove himself with a work that combined vitality and superb craftsmanship.

The concerto was dedicated to Alma Mahler , the widow of Korngold’s childhood mentor Gustav Mahler. It was premiered on 15 February 1947 by  Jasha Heifetz and the St. Louis Symphony  under conductor Vladimir Golschmann. It received the most enthusiastic ovation in St. Louis concert history. On 30 March 1947, Heifetz played the concerto in Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic  conducted by Efrem Kurtz; the broadcast performance was recorded on transcription discs. The composer wrote about Heifetz’s playing of the work:

In spite of the demand for virtuosity  in the finale, the work with its many melodic and lyric episodes was contemplated more for a Caruso than for a Paganini . It is needless to say how delighted I am to have my concerto performed by Caruso and Paganini in one person: Jascha Heifetz.

Symphonic Dances, op 45  in three movements was completed in October 1940 . The composer also published a version for two pianos. It is his final major composition, and his only piece written in its entirety while living in the United States.

The work allowed him to indulge in a nostalgia for the Russia he had known, as much as he had done in the Symphony n. 3, as well as to effectively sum up his lifelong fascination with ecclesiastical chants. In the first dance, he quotes  the opening theme of his Symphony n. 1, itself derived from motifs characteristic of Russian church music. In the finale he quotes both the Dies irae and the chant “Blessed art thou, Lord” (“Blagosloven yesi, Gospodi”) from his All-Night- Vigil

Rachmaninov composed the Symphonic Dances four years after his third symphony , mostly at the Honeyman estate, “Orchard Point”, in Centerport New York, which overlooked Long Island Sound. Its original name was Fantastic Dances, with movement titles of “Noon”, “Twilight”, and “Midnight”. While the composer had written to conductor Eugene Ormandy  in late August 1940 that the piece was finished and needed only to be orchestrated, the manuscript for the full score bears completion dates of September and October 1940. It was premiered by Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra , to whom it is dedicated, on January 3, 1941.

Playing of commanding authority and masterly musicianship where just to look at the programme was to know that something special was about to be heard. An artist is known by his programmes and it was above all Arrau who would demonstrate that, showing us that the music is more important than the performer and the idea of playing a little piece after such noble and suffered statements was completely alien to him. Schnabel whose teacher, Leschetizky, considered a musician not a pianist, merely exclaimed that he was no showman and warned people that the second half of his concerts were as boring as the first.

Daniel chose two great works by Beethoven and Liszt, both pinnacles of the Romantic piano repertoire. He was also persuaded to play an encore that was obviously carefully chosen ,though, by an eclectic musician. Brahms’s Intermezzo op 117 n. 1 was a ‘ lullaby of grief ‘ from a composer who had been a close family friend of the Schumann’s and when Robert was taken into an asylum it was he who befriended his wife. Clara apart from being the mother of Robert’s 8 children was the first lady virtuoso pianist. Liszt had dedicated his Sonata to Robert Schumann out of esteem, but also to repay Schumann’s dedication of the Fantasie op 17, it was delivered to the Schumann household when Robert was already in Endenich Sanatorium . Clara refused to played it finding it just a ‘blind noise’!

 

Daniel’s playing is orchestral in conception, thinking always up from the bass which gives great weight to his performances. Even when there is melody and accompaniment there is a richness to the sonority which is the anchor on which the melody rests.

An opening of whispered mystery to Beethoven’s ‘Tempest’ Sonata bursting into the clarity of the ‘Allegro’ where the questioning bass was answered by the tender soprano but all on a burning cauldron of sounds of dynamic drive and tension. Beethoven’s temperament bursting onto the scene with commanding authority only to dissolve into whispered passages passing over the keyboard as the tempest comes momentarily to rest. It is where the mysterious opening Largo is repeated three times before bursting into flames once more with ever more dynamic drive. Dissolving to two recitativi played with Beethoven’s own ghostly pedal effects before working its way through a rhythmic menace and drive , coming to rest on a long drawn out vibrating left hand chord that Daniel played with extraordinary clarity even though Beethoven marks to be played with a long pedal.The effect though was extraordinary as the movement lay exhausted with the glowing radiance of the final two chords contrasting with this barren wind that had blown with such whispered menace. There was a subdued poignant beauty to the ‘Adagio’ with its chorale that proceeds unperturbed by the gentle comments that Beethoven adds all around this quasi religious procession. Playing of extraordinary delicacy but also of commanding authority and emotional weight.
An ‘Allegretto’ with a continual pastoral flow of forward movement. Exploding from time to time with tempestuous outbursts played with a clarity and commanding authority that nothing could curtail. Even the odd ornament thrown in was like a highly wound spring. A beautiful music box appearance of the Rondo theme was complimented by hard edged insistent brilliance . A continuous flow of music like riding on a wave of sound where there was no actual full stop as the movement disappeared into the bass of the piano with whispered impishness.

The Liszt Sonata in B minor is the very pinnacle of the Romantic piano repertoire and is a highly original work in one movement even though three sections are recognisable. Inspired by the leit motif of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, where the opening themes are developed like characters in an opera . In fact it was also the inspiration for Richard Wagner, Liszt’s son in law. Daniel presented it with playing of authority and command where the opening three themes were played with measured intensity. Streams of notes played with great control but within the notes there was a mature mastery that could imbue them with burning intensity that never lost control of the overall architectural shape . A sense of balance which was not the usual battlefield of empty showmanship but a symphonic outpouring with a master conductor at the helm. ‘Grandioso’ was indeed just that, with a sumptuous melodic outpouring of fullness but never hardness, dissolving to what some may call the ‘Margherita’ theme, played with refined beauty and aristocratic good taste. Streams of notes turned into washes of golden sounds as we moved inexorably to the first dramatic outbursts of passionate intensity and rhetorical grandeur leading with whispered menace to the ‘Andante sostenuto’. Playing of disarming simplicity and beauty as a Quasi Adagio opened up with playing of subtle whispered sounds of ravishing beauty. A central episode played with burning intensity and extraordinary control reaching the climax from which it dissolves into the recapitulation or third section. A fugato played with simple rhythmic energy but building in intensity to the real recapitulation and dynamic drive taking us to the notorious double octaves of the final climax. Played with a technical mastery where the musical content was uppermost in Daniel’s mind. It was at this point that Liszt had abandoned his original ending in a blaze of glory and substituted it for one of the most prophetic pages of all of Liszt’s vast output . It was here that Daniel’s mastery and maturity could show us the way, following Liszt’s precise indications with scrupulous poetic attention.

A remarkable performance for the masterly musicianship and lack of empty rhetoric or showmanship placing this masterpiece on the pedestal it truly deserves .

Brahms Eflat Intermezzo op 117 was played with simplicity and a palette of colours of a true poet of the keyboard

Hungarian pianist Daniel Lebhardt has been described by the New York Times as playing with ‘…power, poetry and formidable technique’. This season Daniel will perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall with conductor Neville Creed in Mozart`s Piano Concerto no.21 in C major K.467 , and Rachmaninoff`s 2nd Piano Concerto with conductor Lee Reynolds for his Royal Albert Hall debut in September 2026.  After debuting at New Ross Piano Festival, as well as returning to Galway and Drogheda in Ireland he will be giving recitals on the Isle of Wight, at the Holywell Music Room in Oxford, Oxshott & Cobham Music Society, Wigmore Hall, and Nottingham Royal Concert Hall. In the spring and summer Daniel will perform recitals in Germany in Planegg, Fürstenfeldbruck and in Weißenburg.  

Since becoming one of the winners at the 2015 Young Classical Artist Trust auditions, Daniel has performed at Luxembourg Philharmonie, the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Kennedy Center in Washington DC and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, at the Tallinn, Lucerne, Chorinner Musiksommer, Heidelberger-Frühling International festivals, and in Canada, China, Japan, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and New Zealand. In the UK he performed at Saffron Hall, at the Aldeburgh, Harrogate, Bath International Festivals, and Birmingham International Piano Festival.  

Recently Daniel performed Beethoven’s “Emperor Concerto” in Guildford and Mozart’s Concerto in C major K.467 at Royal Festival Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He performed Liszt’s Totentanz with  Konzerthausorchester Berlin and made his debut with Bilkent Symphony Orchestra performing Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1. He also performed Beethoven with the Hallé Orchestra in Blackburn, Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Concerto with the National Philharmonic of Ukraine and Mozart with the European Union Chamber Orchestra and debuted at Barbican Hall, and Birmingham Symphony Hall as soloist.  

Daniel has won multiple international prizes including 1st Prize at the Young Concert Artists auditions in Paris and New York and in 2016 the Most Promising Pianist prize at the Sydney International Competition. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest with Gyöngyi Keveházi and István Gulyás, and at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Pascal Nemirovski. He is based in London.

Daniel Lebhardt a star shining brightly at the Wigmore Hall

Daniel Lebhardt Emperor for the night

What a surprise to find Adam Heron on my doorstep in the centre of Richmond, in the beautiful church of St Mary Magdalene. I had not heard Adam for three years since a concert at the National Liberal Club promoted by the Keyboard Trust and the Asia Circle at the NLC of Yisha Xue.

A magnificent Steinway D concert grand stood proudly in this church which was frequented by Richard Attenborough and his family who lived on the Green opposite and who are now permanent residents within its hallowed walls.

A piano that belongs to the church bequeathed by generous sponsors in what is sure to become a major classical musical venue in this beautiful riverside town just twenty minutes from the centre of London and the inevitable hussle and bussle of tourists in a major metropolis.

A very imposing poster was a great draw for an enthusiastic audience that was greeted by an even more authoritative Adam Heron.

I had written ‘An eclectic musician of refined taste and eloquence’ quoted in the programme but three years on I would add :’ with a commanding authority and musical curiosity that illuminates his whole being.’

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/14/adam-heron-at-the-national-liberal-club-an-eclectic-musician-of-refined-taste-and-eloquence/

A graduate from the class of Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy with a postgraduate degree from Cambridge University. And now a Ph D research scholarship at Glasgow University to delve into the world of the little known Franco- Caribbean composer Chevalier de Saint-Georges whose Sonata in C was to open his recital today.

A sonata in C that has yet to be published! Playing of brilliance, finesse and rhythmic energy, Adam imbuing the knotty twine with a ‘joie de vivre’ of hypnotic drive. A clarity to his playing, where seated at the piano he immediately established an authority and extraordinary mastery with playing almost without pedal but imbuing the music with style and a great sense of communication. Adam tells me he returns to Glasgow to begin a recording project of some of the chamber works of this composer in the hope that he will once again gain the same recognition with which he was held in the time of Mozart! Certainly this one work was enough to want to hear more works that are in the style of the period but with a unique voice of its own.

Adam’s own composition ‘Wistful Dawn’ revealed many of the sumptuous sounds of this magnificent piano, in an outpouring of Rachmaninov type finesse. Washes of sounds, where single notes were absorbed with masterly pedaling into a radiance and beauty of subtle colours.

Handel’s Suite n 3 in D minor HWV 428 is one of 8 suites that are rarely heard in the concert hall on the piano . But Adam made a very persuasive case with playing of absolute clarity and rhythmic drive, from the continuous outpouring of scales of the ‘Präludium’ to the final decisive ‘Presto.’ A fugue played without pedal with clarity and refined stylistic shape and an Air and variations each played with extraordinary character and sense of architectural shape.

Adam had even more surprises for us after the interval on a voyage of discovery that he introduced with such enticing scholarship. A suite of Four Rags by William Bolcom under the title of ‘The Garden of Eden’ . A composer who must be the Scott Joplin of our time . Four movements played with beguiling character, with the Serpent’s Kiss the most elaborate, incorporating rhythmic knocking on the wood of the piano which Adam did with great respect for this wonderful instrument. Chopin wrote ‘con legno’ in his second piano concerto and you can see violinist tapping very gently and respectfully the strings with the back of the bow. I had the answer ready when Stockhausen asked me if he could use our Steinway D in Rome rather than the piano that had been hired for the occasion . How could one turn down Stockhausen and I agreed so long as he would use it in the traditional manner with two hands and two feet!

An interesting suite of four contrasting pieces but I must say that I would have preferred to have less Balcom and more Saint-Georges.

But it was in Chopin that Adam could show us his sense of style and colour with an ‘Andante Spianato’ of refined good taste, but above all of a radiance and a sense of balance that could allow Chopin’s most beautiful Bel Canto to sing with glowing beauty. Embellishments thrown off with featherlight ease as a gentle Mazurka rhythm took over. An imposing introduction to the Grande Polonaise which Adam played not only with grandeur but also brilliant jeu perlé playing, producing streams of notes that undulated with teasing insinuation before bursting into moments of commanding authority and showmanship. This was one of the early works of Chopin that took the Parisian salons by storm.Not the barnstorming showmanship of Liszt or Thalberg but the innovative genius who could create a new world for an instrument that now had a sustaining pedal. Adam played with commanding authority but above all with musical intelligence and poetic understanding.

Chevalier de Saint-Georges – Wikipedia

Some extraordinary playing from Cristina Bruno for the first in the series of Opus Musica concerts at St James’s Sussex gardens directed by Alberto Portugheis, the eclectic veteran pianist and Renaissance man par excellence.

A pianist of Swedish-German descent with a curriculum that would strike fear into any musicians setting out today.

Working with Lipatti’s teacher Florica Muzicescu and later with Maria Curcio in London. A personal invitation from Celibidache to play Schumann opened a career that has spanned many years of playing with some of the finest musicians and orchestras throughout the world .

But she was more interested in the potential of the human being, and new faculties arose in her which enabled her to broaden her professional activity by developing a totally intuitive capacity for empathy and connection with other people, for whom she improvises their personal music.

Improvising too for significant situations concerning Humanity and the Earth.

Although a classical concert pianist she has also been an instrument of therapy or healing since 1991, and as such she improvises inspirationally in individual or group sessions, or concerts for general situations or purposes.

Rosemary Brown springs to mind being visited by composers during the night and dictating to her new works, or Eurythmy conceived in 1911 when a widow brought her young daughter, Lory Smits, who was interested in movement and dance, to Rudolf Steiner.

It also coincides with how the winner of the Busoni competition was introduced to us by the directer of the competition. A young Chinese pianist who had to soak up the atmosphere before starting to improvise arriving eventually at works written by others.

https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2026/01/26/yifan-wu-on-the-road-to-el-dorado-marco-scolastra-presenting-the-2026-concert-season/

As Fou Ts’ong explained when he was awarded the Mazurka prize in the Chopin competition in Warsaw much to the surprise of a populous who thought their National Dance could only be understood by them. ‘But the soul is universal and knows no barriers, and Chinese poetry contains the same sentiments as the music of Chopin!’ https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/01/13/roberto-prosseda-pays-tribute-to-the-genius-of-chopin-and-the-inspirational-figure-of-fou-tsong/

Madame Bruno opened her programme with music bequeathed to us by Mompou, Albeniz and Scriabin and immediately revealed a sound that I have not heard from this piano before. A luminosity and glowing radiance that belied its proud Bostonian pedigree. An arch of the hand that like Argerich or Rubinstein defies age as it can feel every key with an extraordinary sensibility as ten fingers are transformed into an orchestra of infinite colours. Some ravishing playing with passionate outbursts in Albeniz and refined good taste in Scriabin.

So this was the real thing and maybe we should sit up and open our ears to listen to what she has to say.

Since the piano cannot reflect the sounds and vibrations that would mirror the higher spiritual world or the earthy profundities ,Madame Bruno compensates by giving taps, light or strong if necessary, on the wooden part of the instrument; at the right corner for expressing high spiritual sounds ,at the left for deep earthy sounds.

There was not a big audience but such were the vibrations that we gave off that Madame Bruno whose pseudonym is Elyseï overran her improvisations time and as the church clock struck two, orchestral musicians started to appear for the rehearsal for the evening concert in this beautiful church.

So no time for Schubert or Bach but we had been treated to some wondrous sounds of glowing luminosity and beauty from a true artist with a soul and a pianistic mastery of enviable pedigree.