Yundi, piano

All-Chopin Program:
Five Nocturnes
Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise Brilliante, Op. 22
Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35 ("Funeral March")
Polonaise in A-Flat Major, Op. 53 ("Heroic")
So beautiful, so elegant and so familiar is the piano music of Frédéric Chopin that you could be forgiven for thinking that it has little else to reveal to us. But you haven't heard Yundi play it yet. The spectacular young Chinese pianist is bringing an all-Chopin recital to NJPAC that will remind us how combustible this music can be in the hands of a great artist. The program encompasses Chopin's arch-Romantic art in every respect, from a selection of the limpid and haunting Nocturnes and the sparkling Andante spianato with its accompanying polonaise, to the fierce, almost Byronic drama of the Second Piano Sonata (best known for its mesmerizing "marche funebre" movement) and the swaggering brilliance of the "Heroic" Polonaise. Not yet 30, Yundi stunned the music world a decade ago when won the 14th annual Chopin International Competition in Warsaw. Not only was he the youngest ever and first Chinese pianist to win the competition's first prize, he was the first pianist of any kind in fifteen years to win its first prize. He recently signed with EMI Classics and began a plan to record all of Chopin's music for piano, with the release of a set of the complete Nocturnes. The New York Times described Yundi as "the brilliant young Chinese pianist has proved a technically astounding pianist who is by turns elegant and rambunctious, coolly expressive and white hot." Could there be a better match of artist and repertoire than this?
One hour prior to the performance, ticketholders are invited to a free - an enlightening, pre-performance discussion about the evening's program, hosted by George Marriner Maull, music director and conductor of The Discovery Orchestra.