Acclaimed pianist plays Kapiti
Internationally-acclaimed pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk plays in Kapiti next week following his rave reviews performance at the recent BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall.
His Sunday 22 October afternoon concert at the Waikanae Memorial Hall will be the third visit to the district by the Ukrainian pianist, described by the great Vladimir Ashkenazy as a ‘‘major talent’’.
Waikanae Music Society concert manager Wendy van Delden says at the end of Gavrylyuk’s concert last year the crowd ‘‘leapt to their feet in a spontaneous standing ovation’’. She said the general consensus was that this was the best ever concert in the 38 years of Waikanae Music Society.
Gavrylyuk first reached the notice of the musical world when he won first prize and the gold medal at the 1999 Horowitz International Piano Competition, followed by first prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan in 2000, when the Japanese press lauded him as the ‘‘most talented 16-year old pianist of the second half of the 20th century’’. Most significantly, in 2005 he took the coveted Gold Medal at the renowned Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition. Gramophone magazine described Gavrylyuk as ‘‘vivid and characterful as he was dextrous’’.
The Waikanae concert programme would likely include Busoni’s virtuoso transcription of Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue, as well as Haydn, Chopin etudes, Rachmaninov preludes and fiery second sonata, plus Scriabin’s sonata, described as ‘‘a great poem for piano’’.
The concert, in the Waikanae Memorial Hall, starts at 2.30pm on Sunday 22 October.
Tickets cost $35, otherwise $25 for society members or $5 for students under 25; available at Waikanae New World, Moby Dickens Books in Paraparaumu Beach and at Lush Design Gallery in Raumati.
For more information, phone 04 905 6070 or visit www.waikanaemusic.org.nz