The Discovery Series introduces our audience to four extraordinary artists: Rachel Cheung from China, Raluca Stirbat from Romania, eighteen year old piano and cello prodigy Sarina Zhang, and Russian virtuoso Leonid Egorov. The Discovery Series concludes on May 17, 2015 with a special performance of piano transcriptions from operas and are partnering this evening with Miami’s acclaimed Vocal Studio of Manny Perez. Beloved Arias by Bizet, Charpentier, Donizetti, Korngold, Mozart, Thomas and Verdi will be followed by piano transcriptions based on opera themes by Liszt & Busoni by the two featured pianists: Francesco Libetta & Kemal Gekic.
For Tickets CLICK HERE
Thursday May 14, 2015 7:45PM
RACHEL CHEUNG (China)
Uncommonly impressive & technically flawless
For classical pianist Rachel Cheung, performing at this year’s Miami International Piano Festival is a homecoming. Though she was born in Hong Kong, it was in Miami, in 2006 at the age of 14, that Cheung wowed the international community with a performance that was widely acclaimed and cemented her status as a prodigy. Now she’s back, after winning awards around the globe, to perform works by Ravel, Schumann and Bartok at the Colony Theatre. Ravel’s Miroirs, consisting of five movements devoted to five of the composer’s artist friends, will give the gifted young pianist plenty of room to dazzle.
PROGRAM: Ravel, Brahms, Schumann, Bartok
There will be a pre-concert lecture by Professor Frank Cooper, whom the Miami Herald called “South Florida’s cultural maven.”
Friday May 15, 2015 7:45 PM
RALUCA STIRBAT (Romania)
An Impressive Artists endowed with an enormous temperament
Exciting young Romanian pianist Raluca Stirbat takes the stage in South Beach, at the gorgeous art deco-style Colony Theatre, for a Miami International Piano Festival concert featuring works by Ensescu, Lizst and Ravel. Praised for her technical mastery and expressiveness at the keyboard, Stirbat is a former child prodigy who’s performed across Europe and Asia. She’s also a devotee of her countryman, Romanian composer George Enescu. Not only has she released several recordings of his music, but he’s the subject of a Ph.D. thesis she’s working on. She is possibly one of the greatest Romanian pianists today.
PROGRAM: Liszt, M. Jora, Enescu, Ravel
There will be a pre-concert lecture by Professor Frank Cooper, whom the Miami Herald called “South Florida’s cultural maven.”
PRODIGIES & MASTERS OF TOMORROW
Saturday May 16, 2015 3:00 PM
SARINA ZHANG (18 year old pianist & cellist)
A dual talent accumulating a mantel full of top awards as both pianist and cellist
The Miami International Piano Festival’s Discovery Series introduces compelling new artists who are destined for extraordinary things. Eighteen-year-old pianist and cellist Sarina Zhang falls into that category, and you can hear why when she takes the stage at Colony Theatre. Zhang was named a 2013 YoungArts National Finalist and a 2009 Davidson Fellow by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. She won both piano and cello concerto competitions during her time in the Juilliard Pre-College division. Her other accolades include ranking as a finalist at the 2013 Klein International String competition and taking home a prize at both the 2012 Cooper International Piano Competition and the 2011 Aspen Music Festival. All this and she’s only a sophomore at the Juilliard School in New York. Her concert includes works by Schubert, Kapustin, Poulenc, Chopin and Paganini.
PROGRAM
Piano: Schubert, Kapustin, Rachmaninoff
Cello: Paganini, Debussy, Sarasate
Saturday May 16, 2015 7:45 PM
Evening
LEONID EGOROV (Russia)
An artist of dazzling virtuosity powerful creativity & inspiration
Spontaneity and improvisation are not traits you find very often in a classical music concert, but that is where pianist Leonid Egorov truly shines. A master of the craft, he is able to take well-known works of the repertoire and bring them to new life through his improvisational art. In this way, he recalls the magic of past geniuses of the piano such as Ignacy Paderewski and Vladimir Horowitz. For his program at the Colony Theatre, Egorov will be performing works by Beethoven, Mozart, Mahler, Chopin, Liszt and more.
PROGRAM: Liszt, Egorov, Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, Mahler, Rachmaninoff, Busoni
There will be a pre-concert lecture by Professor Frank Cooper, whom the Miami Herald called “South Florida’s cultural maven.”
Sunday May 17, 2015 7:00 PM
GRAND FINALE
“THE MAGIC OF OPERA & PIANO TRANSCRIPTIONS”
In Collaboration with the Vocal Studio of Manny Perez
An Exciting Journey for Opera & Piano Lovers
Premier pianists Kemal Gekic and Francesco Libetta perform with nine top opera singers from the vocal studio of Manny Perez in the season finale of the Miami International Piano Festival’s Discovery Series, The Magic of Opera & Piano Transcriptions. The talented vocalists are set to take on famed arias by Bizet, Mozart, Verdi, Charpentier and others at Miami’s historic art deco Colony Theatre, while Gekic and Libetta play throughout the program.
Beloved Arias by: Bizet, Charpentier, Donizetti, Korngold, Mozart, Thomas and Verdi!
Opera Singers: Eglise Guetierrez, Maria Aleida Rodriguez, Betsy Diaz, Marinel Cruz, Susana Diaz, Andres Penalver, Hector Mir, Allie Lonestein, Mabel Ledo, and Nathalie Avila
Pianists: Kemal Gekic & Francesco Libetta.
Miami International Piano Festival Discovery Series
Colony Theatre
1040 Lincoln Road,
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Box Office: (305) 434-7091
www.miamipianofest.com
Be the first to comment