Grammy Award Winning Pianist Garrick Ohlsson
Performs Brahms First Piano Concerto
Conductor Johannes Wildner Returns with a
Programme of Debussy and Britten (18 & 19 May)

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[3 May 2012 – Hong Kong] Grammy Award winner and the first American winner of the prestigious Chopin International Piano Competition Garrick Ohlsson lights up the Cultural Centre Concert Hall with Brahms' Piano Concerto No.1. Conductor Johannes Wildner led the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO) in four full-house performances in 2009 and 2011. This time he will return with Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes and Debussy's La Mer.

Great Performers: 'Ohlsson Plays Brahms' will be held on 18&19 May 2012 (Fri & Sat), 8pm in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets at $400, $300, $220 and $140 are available now at URBTIX. Programme Enquiries: 2721 2030. Free Pre-concert Talks will be given on both nights at 7:15pm, also at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Garrick Ohlsson, piano

'He's a born Brahmsian'
 

--- BBC Music Magazine

Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although he has long been regarded as one of the world's leading exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire.
Last season, in recognition of the bicentenary of Chopin's birth, Mr. Ohlsson presented a series of all-Chopin recital programs in Seattle, Berkeley and La Jolla, culminating at Lincoln Center in fall and winter of 2010. In summer of 2010, he was featured in all-Chopin programs at the Ravinia and Tanglewood festivals, as well as appearances in Taipei, Beijing, Melbourne and Sydney.

A prolific recording artist, Mr. Ohlsson can be heard on the Arabesque, RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel, Bridge, BMG, Delos, Hänssler, Nonesuch, Telarc, and Virgin Classics labels. His ten-disc set of the complete Beethoven sonatas for Bridge Records is now complete and has garnered considerable critical praise, including a Grammy for Vol. 3.

Johannes Wildner, conductor
Austrian conductor Johannes Wildner studied conducting, violin and musicology and has established himself as one of the foremost Austrian conductors.

Wildner was Chief Conductor of the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Kosice (Slovakia, 1990-93), Chief Conductor of Prague State Opera (1994-95) and First Permanent Conductor of Leipzig Opera (1996-98). For 10 years from1997 he served as the General Music Director of the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia (Germany), and last year was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra.

As a guest conductor Johannes Wildner has conducted major orchestras all over the world including the Royal Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Russian State Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Orchestra of the Arena di Verona, Tokyo Philharmonic.

Wildner has always devoted a lot of his time to opera. In addition to his performing at the Prague State Opera, Leipzig Opera and at the Musiktheater im Revier / Gelsenkirchen, he also regularly appears at opera houses and many major music festivals across the globe.

He has recorded more than 60 CDs, videos and DVDs, including Die Fledermaus, Cosi fan tutte, Carmen andBruckner's Symphonies 3 and 9.


Programme
Grammy Award winner and the first American ever to win the Chopin International Piano Competition, Garrick Ohlsson is said to be 'A pianist completely consumed in musical life'. He is also a giant at the keyboard, so Brahms' equally massive First Piano Concerto should hold no terrors for him.

We head off to the seaside for the other works in this concert, with Britten evoking the bleak and desolate sea off the coast of his native East Anglia while Debussy conjures up images of the sea in all its moods and colours.

Great Performers: 'Ohlsson Plays Brahms'
18&19 | 5 | 2012
FRI & SAT 8PM
HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$400 $300 $220 $140
Available at URBTIX now
 

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Ticketing Information

Credit Card Booking
(852) 2111 5999
Online Booking
www.urbtix.hk

For programme enquiry, please call HKPO at
(852) 2721 2030

HONG KONG PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Edo de Waart
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO) is one of Asia's leading orchestras. Enriching Hong Kong's cultural life for over a century, the Orchestra has grown into a formidable ensemble of Chinese and international talents, attracting world-class artists to collaborate on its stage. The HKPO annually touches the lives of over 200,000 music lovers through more than 150 performances. Under the leadership of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Edo de Waart, the HKPO has scaled new heights of musical excellence, and will continue to do so under the artistic leadership of Jaap van Zweden, the Orchestra's Music Director from the 2012/13 season.

The HKPO stays in tune with our city by presenting the Orchestra in unexpected venues and bringing the excitement of the concert experience to every home through radio and television broadcasts including the largest symphonic event of the year, Swire Symphony under the Stars, at Happy Valley. The Orchestra runs a comprehensive schools education programme, HSBC Insurance Creative Notes, bringing the joy of classical music to primary, secondary and special school kids. The Orchestra also collaborates regularly with other performing arts organisations such as Opera Hong Kong in addition to its crossover series with Western and Chinese pop artists.

The Orchestra also builds its reputation and raises its artistic standards by touring. In September 2010, de Waart and the HKPO returned to China, performing at the Expo 2010 Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing to critical acclaim.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
SWIRE is the Principal Patron of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is the Venue Partner of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre

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