RAFAL BLECHACZ

Sunday, February 6 – 3:00 p.m. | Sundin Music Hall
THIS CONCERT IS SOLD OUT.

In 2005, at the age of twenty, Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz (pronounced Rafow Blehatchz), unanimously won the 15th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. So closely did he approach the jury’s conception of the Chopinesque ideal that for the first time in the Competition’s history, they did not award a second prize. He also made a clean sweep of the ‘Best Performance’ prizes in the Mazurkas, Polonaise, Concerto, and Sonata categories. The Warsaw Gold Medal opened doors to the world’s major concert halls, and Blechacz’s calendar is now fully booked two years in advance. In 2006 he signed an exclusive five-year contract with Deutsche Grammophon. His debut recording of the Chopin Preludes and two late Nocturnes won critical praise upon its release in 2007 and barely two weeks later sales attained “platinum” status in Poland. His 2008 CD, of sonatas by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, received similar acclaim, and his third disc, of Chopin Piano Concertos 1 and 2 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, came out last fall. Blechacz, now 25, is considered the kind of rare talent that comes along once every few decades, while the fluency, sincerity, and directness of his playing invite comparison to the artistry of pianistic legends from a bygone era.

Artist's Website

PROGRAM

• MOZART  Variations in C Major (“Lison dormait”), K. 264
• DEBUSSY   L’Isle joyeuse
• SZYMANOWSKI   Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 8
• CHOPIN  Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
  2 Polonaises, Op. 26
  4 Mazurkas, Op. 41
  Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38

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Photo: © Felix Broede/DG

“… a musician in service to the music, searching its depths, exploring its meaning and probing its possibilities.”

—Washington Post