Palace Music Concert Series. Boris Bloch
Palace Music Concert Series.
Boris Bloch – piano
Programme:
Mykola Lysenko Elegia
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sonata in Do major KV 309
Frederik Chopin Polonaise f-sharp minor Op. 44
Frederik ChopinSix etudes: Op. 25 No. 1 and No. 2, Op. 10 No. 11 and No. 5, Op. 25 No. 5, Op.10 No. 4
Scherzo No. 1 in B-minor
Born in Odessa, the pianist and conductor Boris Bloch has long been regarded as one of the most important interpreters of classical and romantic piano music. He studied at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the world-renowned pianists and pedagogues Dmitri Bashkirov and Tatyana Nikolayeva. Following his graduation, he won the first prizes at the “Ferruccio Busoni” International Piano Competition in Italy, the Schumann Competition and the Young Concert Artists Award. His repertoire extends from Scarlatti and Bach, the Viennese Classicists, Chopin and Liszt and covers the German and Russian Romantics to the most important composers of the 20th century. Bloch’s detailed knowledge of the piano literature of the last three centuries, his familiarity with the entire history of music and its protagonists along with his stupendous pianism and strong artistic personality form the basis for his playing, which features depth of expression, abundance of color, stylistic originality and an incomparable “singing tone.” He has performed as soloist with European orchestras such as Vienna, Leipzig, Berlin, Bergen, Rome, Budapest and Moscow, and with US orchestras including Cleveland, Houston and Pittsburgh. With the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich he performed all of Rachmaninov’s piano concertos and, under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach the rarely played Busoni concerto, along with all of the Tchaikovsky piano concertos with the Staatskapelle Berlin and Scriabin’s Concerto with the Duisberg Philharmonic. Bloch has also made a name for himself as a conductor, especially during his time as the Music Director of the Odessa Opera; he recently conducted Rimsky-Korsakov’s chamber opera Mozart and Salieri at the Ruhr Festival. His repertoire as a conductor also includes operas by B. Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky and P.Tchaikovsky. Bloch has recorded extensively, to great acclaim. Several of his recordings have acquired benchmark status, especially his recordings of Liszt’s opera paraphrases, which were awarded the Grand Prix International du Disque Liszt by the Liszt Society of Budapest and the Diapason d’Or of Paris. Other discs include Mussorgsky’s piano works, Mozart’s “Coronation Concerto,” Tchaikovsky’s Third Piano Concerto and Busoni’s Piano Concerto along with recordings of Schubert, Bach, Chopin, and many others. His latest CD releases are six CDs with complete cycles of Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage” and “Harmonies poétique et religieuses” and a box of selected Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. He recently completed the Boris-Bloch Edition, 10 cd’s bearing the title “Aveu passioné,” comprising 3 Bach discs, Tchaikovsky and a variety of Russian repertoire. Since his appointment as professor at the Folkwang Hochschule in 1985, Bloch has lived in his adopted home of Germany. In 2007 Boris Bloch was awarded the Pedagogy Prize of the City of Duisburg for his music education activites. Boris Bloch regularly conducts master classes as part of the Vienna Music Seminar and is honorary professor of the music institute “Reingold Glier” in Kiev. Due to his special commitment to the works of Franz Liszt, Bloch was honored with the Golden Badge of Honor of the International Liszt Society Vienna and the Grand Prix du Disque Liszt from the Liszt Society Budapest.