Nikolai Demidenko - From Russia with Liszt

21st Aug 2011 5:00pm

As part of a tour of New Zealand including  concerto performances with the Auckland Philharmonia, Christchurch Symphony and Southern Sinfonia orchestras Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko returns to the Academy after his sell-out concert here in 2007. His programme will be an exciting mix of the delightful and the challenging,  with a first half of works by Chopin, Glinka, Kalinnikov and Blumenfeld, and a second half devoted to Hungarian composer Franz Liszt.

Trained at the Moscow Conservatory Demidenko is now based in the UK and plays regularly with some of the leading conductors and orchestras in Europe. His recordings of Chopin, Mussorgsky, Medtner and Busoni are particularly highly regarded.

“If this was a different Chopin from the one we are used to, the way it was delivered took the breath away……Supreme technical control and high-speed accuracy are its foundations. More to the point is the clarity with which he invests the most dense and complex structures and the expressive poetry he finds.” Michael Church, The Independent (UK)

"His extraordinary intimacy with the piano, which withholds no secrets of keyboard brilliance or expressive colouring from him, maximises the potential in the scoring, however modest or extravagant, of whatever he chooses to play." Gerald Larner, The Times (UK)

Programme:
GLINKA: Notturno in F minor La Separation
KALINNIKOV: Notturno in F sharp minor
BLUMENFELD: Notturno - Fantasia in E major Op 20
CHOPIN: Nocturne in C minor Op 48 No 1
CHOPIN: Nocturne in F sharp minor Op 48 No 2
CHOPIN: Nocturne in E flat major Op 55 No 2
CHOPIN: Nocturne in C sharp minor Op post
Interval
LISZT: Ballade No 1 in D flat major
LISZT: Sonata in B minor

Tickets: A Reserve Adult $50, B Reserve Adult $45, B Reserve Concession $40, B Reserve Children $15, B Reserve Student Rush (from Fri 19 Aug) $15

Or 0800 TICKETEK (0800 842 538), or in person at the Academy or Ticketek outlets.

Booking Fees may apply