Consummate Pianist Krystian Zimerman Performs Brahms and Beethoven at UCLA Live’s Royce Hall April 23
Date: April 15, 2003 Contact: Krista Fleischner ( kristaf@ucla.edu ) Phone: 310-794-4044
UCLA Live presents internationally acclaimed pianist Krystian Zimerman in concert performing at 8 p.m., Wednesday, April 23, at UCLA's Royce Hall. This one hour, 45-minute performance has one intermission.
Zimerman's program will feature Brahms' Six Klavierstucke, Op. 118; Beethoven's Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Op. 110; and Brahms' Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5.
Zimerman is devoted to Russian and Polish music, as well as the works of Prokofiev and Beethoven. Critics praise his "warmth and brilliance" and his ability to reveal music's inner voices and hidden melodies, which leaves audiences begging for more. The Washington Post has written of his work, "Zimerman gave more than an inkling to his audience as to why the Grand Prix du Disques and other recording industry awards fall to him like so much confetti. Zimerman has wonderful control … he seems to build phrases from the inside out — finding each pivotal point, then working out to the ends."
Born in Poland into a family of rich music-making traditions, Zimerman began playing piano at the age of 5, later studying with Andrei Jasinski at the Music Conservatory in Katowice. Having achieved early success at a number of piano competitions, he embarked upon his international career after winning the Grand Prix at the 1975 Warsaw Chopin Competition, where he was the youngest competitor.
Since then he has toured extensively and has made numerous recordings, developing his repertoire to encompass works from Bach to Lutoslawski. He has worked with the greatest orchestras in Europe and the United States under such esteemed conductors as Pierre Boulez, Carlo Maria Giulini and Andre Previn. He has also performed with artists Kaja Danczowska, Kyung-Wha Chung, Gidon Kremer and Yehudi Menuhin.
In 1989 he began recording the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with conductor Leonard Bernstein. The cycle was left incomplete at Bernstein's death, but, as a tribute to him, Zimerman recorded the remaining two concertos — in keeping with Bernstein's style but without a conductor. This recording, incidentally, won the CD Compact Award in 1993.
Zimerman however does not regard his greatest achievement as his prize-winning performances, but rather the devotion he gives each season to the learning of new repertoire. Every year he adds one or more piano concertos, chamber works and a large number of solo pieces to his repertory. Over the past 21 years, this repertory has grown so large that he now commands more than 30 different programs of solo works, and an equal number of piano concertos.
He signed his first exclusive contract with Deustche Grammophon in 1976, including acclaimed performances of concertos by Schumann and Grieg, with Herbert von Karajan; Brahms, with Leonard Bernstein; Chopin, with Carlo Maria Giulini; and Liszt, with Seiji Ozawa. His 27-year collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon has yielded 22 records, for which he has received the most prestigious awards.
His 1994 release of Debussy's "Preludes" is one of the most highly honored recordings of the past few years and received numerous awards, namely the "Record of the Year" and won the "Instrumental" category at the 1994 Gramophone Awards. He was also honored as "Solo Instrumentalist of the Year" at the Cannes Classical Awards in 1995. His most recent releases feature a recording of Maurice Ravel's piano concertos recorded with the Cleveland Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez.
Zimerman lives with his wife and two children in Switzerland, dividing his time between family, concert life, performing chamber music and, in the last several years, teaching. He manages himself; studies concert-hall acoustics, sound recording technologies and instrument construction; and also studies psychology, computer science and the recording process.
Tickets to Krystian Zimerman are available for $45, $35, and $30 at the UCLA Central Ticket Office at the southwest corner of the James West Alumni Center, online at www.uclalive.edu/ and at all Ticketmaster outlets. For more information or to charge by phone, call (310) 825-2101.
An internationally acclaimed producer and presenter of music, dance and theater, UCLA Performing Arts' dynamic program UCLA Live brings hundreds of outstanding and provocative artists to Los Angeles each year. Committed to supporting the development of new work, UCLA Performing Arts has commissioned pieces by major artists including Pina Bausch, the Kronos Quartet, Bill T. Jones, Philip Glass and Robert Wilson, and also works by emerging artists. Lectures, residencies and extensive outreach programs expand the impact of its unparalleled performances, which include a lively mix of distinguished masters and innovators from around the world.
