Kempf And Osborne To Appear At Malvern
The fifth series coincides with Yamaha’s 125th Anniversary year of celebrations and to mark the occasion Freddy Kempf and Steven Osborne will both perform an inspiring programme of works using Yamaha’s CFX Concert Grand Piano.
Freddy Kempf, Thursday 21 February
Freddy Kempf is one of today’s most successful pianists, performing to sell-out audiences all over the world. Exceptionally gifted with an unusually broad repertoire, Freddy has built a unique reputation as an explosive performer not afraid to take risks as well as a serious, sensitive and profoundly musical artist. The Guardian wrote, ‘Kempf shaped lines with delicacy and insight, yet it was the balance with an impetuous Beethovenian fire that lifted the performance of the third concerto on to a higher level.’
Programme: Beethoven: Sonata Op81a ‘Les Adieux’; Liszt/Verdi: Miserere from Il Trovatore; Chopin: Ballades Nos 3 & 4; Schumann: Kreisleriana
Steven Osborne, Friday 8 March
Steven Osborne is one of Britain’s most highly regarded pianists. His awards and prizes have included a Gramophone Award in 2009 (he was also a finalist in the BBC Music Magazine Awards in the same year), the German Schallplattenpreis (three times), and first prize at both the Naumburg International Competition in New York and the Clara Haskil Competition.
Programme: Schubert: Impromptu D935 No 1, Sonata in G D894; Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles Op 119, Sonata Op 111
The series has already included recitals by Joanna MacGregor and Marc-Andre Hamelin. Previous seasons have featured sellout concerts by internationally acclaimed pianists, HJ Lim, Steven Kovacevich, François-Frédéric Guy, Paul Lewis, Peter Donohoe, Freddy Kempf, John Lill, Noriko Ogawa, Nikolai Demidenko, Angela Hewitt, Stephen Hough, Benjamin Grosvenor, Artur Pizarro and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.
Yamaha’s CFX Grand – played by all artists for the series, it has redefined Yamaha’s reputation on many prestigious concert venues throughout the world, including London’s Queen Elisabeth Hall, Paris Theatre des Champs Elysses, Warsaw Philharmonie, and was the choice of the winner of the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2010, its year of introduction.Yamaha’s Leanne Barrell comments, ‘At Yamaha pianos we are absolutely thrilled to be welcoming Freddy Kempf and Steven Osborne to our partnership with Malvern Theatres. Yamaha pianos are now becoming an increasingly popular feature in the world’s concert halls and we are proud that these recitals allow us to continue to present some of the world’s finest pianists in an idyllic setting’.