Few American pianists are as accomplished as the masterful Emanuel Ax. Between 1986 and 1996, Ax was awarded five Grammy^® Awards for Best Chamber Music Performance for his collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Jaime Laredo, Isaac Stern and Richard Stoltzman. Additionally, Ax has twice been recognized for his solo work, winning the Grammy^® Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) in 1995 and 2004. Ax’s all-Beethoven recital focuses on widely and lesser known masterpieces of the iconic master’s large piano canon in celebration of the 250th Anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in Bonn, Germany in 1770.

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM:

Bagatelle No.25 in A minor (WoO 59, Bia 515), “Für Elise”
Piano Sonata in A major, Op.2, No.2
Six Variations on an original theme in F major, Op.34
Piano Sonata in F minor, Op.2, No.1
Five variations on “Rule, Britannia!,” WoO 79
Piano Sonata in C major, Op.2, No.3

PETER SERKIN CANCELLATION: Peter Serkin has had to withdraw from his upcoming performances with Pamela Frank due to health issues.

Violinist Pamela Frank and pianist Stephen Prutsman appear in a rare performance of all six Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard by J.S. Bach. Pamela Frank has established an outstanding international reputation across an unusually varied range of performing activity. As a soloist she has performed with leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Berlin Philharmonic and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Pamela performed regularly with the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra, recording the complete Mozart Violin Concertos with them and David Zinman and has also recorded a Schubert album and the Beethoven sonata cycle, both with her father Claude Frank. Pamela is a sought-after chamber musician and has performed at many international festivals including Aldeburgh, Verbier, Edinburgh, Salzburg, Tanglewood, Marlboro and Ravinia. Stephen Prutsman has been described as one of the most innovative musicians of his time. Moving easily from classical to jazz to world music styles as a pianist, composer and conductor, Prutsman continues to explore and seek common ground and relationships in the music of all cultures and languages.

PROGRAM:

J.S. BACH – THE COMPLETE SONATAS FOR VIOLIN AND KEYBOARD

Sonata No.1 in B minor, BWV 1014
Sonata No.2 in A major, BWV 1015
Sonata No.3 in E major, BWV 1016
Sonata No.4 in C minor, BWV 1017
Sonata No.5 in F minor, BWV 1018
Sonata No.6 in G major, BWV 1019

CAMA’s 101st Concert Season opens appropriately with the return of the highly regarded British pianist Stephen Hough. Named by The Economist as one of 20 Living Polymaths (“a person of great and varied learning”), he is a true renaissance man—a leading concert pianist, writer, composer, teacher and painter who has won global acclaim for his outstanding interpretations of the piano repertoire and has continued to amass awards, accomplishments, and accolades, gracing many of the most important concert stages in the world in recital and appearing as soloist with the most renowned international orchestras. He was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur (Genius) Fellowship. In 2014, Queen Elizabeth appointed him a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to music.

PROGRAM:

J.S. BACH (arr. Busoni): Chaconne for Violin Solo, from Partita II for Violin, BWV 1004 (BV B 24)
BUSONI: Berceuse élégiaque, Op.42 (BV 252a)
CHOPIN: Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.35
HOUGH: Sonata No.4 (Vida Breve)
LISZT: Funérailles, from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (Poetic and Religious Harmonies), S.173
LISZT: Bagatelle sans tonalité, S.216a (Mephisto Waltz No.4)
LISZT: Mephisto Waltz No.1, S.514