MUSIC TITANS

Tuesday, August 7
Church of the Holy Spirit, 9:30 p.m.
MUSIC TITANS

LEONIDAS KAVAKOS, violin (Greece)
YUJA WANG, piano (China)

Program:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
Sonata for violin and piano in B-flat major, K 454
Largo – Allegro
Andante
Allegretto

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Sonata for violin and piano in F minor, No. 1, Op. 80
Andante assai
Allegro brusco
Andante
Allegrissimo – Andante assai, come prima

Béla Bartók (1881–1945)
Rhapsody for violin and piano, No. 1

Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
Sonata for violin and piano in E flat major, Op. 18
Allegro, ma non troppo
Improvisation: Andante cantabile
Finale: Andante - Allegro

Friend of the Concert: Confucius Institute

LEONIDAS KAVAKOS, violinist, is recognized across the world as a virtuoso and an artist of unique quality, performing with the most distinguished artists of today. The three most important mentors in his life have been Stelios Kafantaris, Josef Gingold, and Ferenc Rados. By the age of 21, Kavakos had already won three major competitions – the Sibelius Competition (1985), and The Paganini and Naumburg Competitions (1988), following which he became the first violinist to record the Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius. He has made recordings for several labels, including Decca Classics, for which, as their exclusive artist, Kavakos has recorded with Enrico Pace, the Gewandhausorchester and conductor Riccardo Chailly, and Yuja Wang, as well as for Sony Classical, collaborating on recordings with Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax. Leonidas Kavakos was the winner of the prestigious Danish award the Léonie Sonning Music Prize (2017), thus joining an esteemed, select group of artists whose past winners include Bernstein, Britten, Rubinstein, Menuhin, Shostakovich, Rostropovich, Boulez, Ligeti, and others. In the current season, he is collaborating as the Artist in Residence with the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Vienna Musikverein, performing on a European and Asian tour, as well as holding concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Kavakos plays the ‘Willemotte’ Stradivarius violin of 1734.

YUJA WANG, one of the leading pianists and performers in the world today, is recognized by her unique blend of technical bravado, musical contemplation, and emotional depth. She began piano lessons at the age of six, studied at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music, and continued her education in Canada in the summer program of Calgary’s Mount Royal College as the youngest student in the history of the institution. In 2001, she was appointed as a Steinway Artist before entering Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music. Yuja Wang has collaborated with many eminent conductors, including Abbado, Barenboim, Dudamel, Gergiev, Tilson, Pappano, Dutoit, and Mehta. She was selected as a cultural ambassador of the Rolex company (2009) and uses her love for fashion as a “weapon” in changing attitudes regarding appearances in a concert hall. In 2009, Yuja Wang became an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist and her release with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Maestro Abbado was nominated for a Grammy Award. Her current concert season features recitals, concert series, and extensive tours with the London Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Munich Chamber Orchestra, and Chamber Orchestra of Europe, as well as performances at the Verbier Festival.