Vancouver Recital Society

International music mix

The Israeli Chamber Project’s semi-staged production of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire features soprano Hila Baggio. The Vancouver Recital Society presents the production on Dec. 1. (photo from Israeli Chamber Project)

Celebrating the 150th birth year of Arnold Schoenberg, the Israeli Chamber Project will present a semi-staged production of his expressionist cabaret Pierrot Lunaire on Dec. 1 at Vancouver Playhouse, hosted by the Vancouver Recital Society.

A collaboration with Israeli Opera star Hila Baggio and stage director Shirit Lee Weiss, this production premièred in 2016. The program also includes Igor Stravinsky’s Scenes from Petrushka and Maurice Ravel’s La Valse, both arranged by Yuval Shapiro into chamber versions created especially for the Israeli Chamber Project. Joining Baggio (soprano) in the performance will be Guy Eshed (flute), Tibi Cziger (clarinet), Daniel Bard (violin/viola), Sivan Magen (harp), Michal Korman (cello) and Assaff Weisman (piano).

The Vancouver Recital Society’s 2024-2025 season, which started in September, features performances from a diverse group of artists from Canada and around the world. The next event – Oct. 20 at the Playhouse – features pianist Tamara Stefanovich, whose broad repertoire reaches from before Johann Sebastian Bach to beyond Pierre Boulez.

A two-concert Brahms Fest Nov. 3 at Vancouver Playhouse brings together eight musicians from three countries to celebrate the work of Johannes Brahms. The Castalian String Quartet, violist Timothy Ridout, cellist Zlatomir Fung and pianists Angela Cheng and Benjamin Hochman join forces in various groupings to play iconic works such as the String Sextet No. 2 in G major, and the Piano Quintet in F minor.

Guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre – born in Djibouti, on the northeastern coast of Africa, and raised in the small city of Cholet in Western France – makes his Vancouver debut Nov. 24 at the Playhouse. Meanwhile, Montenegrin guitar virtuoso Miloš returns to the VRS Jan. 26, also at the Playhouse.

Grammy Award-winning Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan will make her VRS debut with French pianist Bertrand Chamayou. At the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts Nov. 30, her performance will feature works by Olivier Messiaen, Alexander Scriabin and John Zorn.

photo - Evgeny Kissin in 2021. The Russian-born Jewish pianist performs here April 16 — Evgeny Kissin in 2021. The Russian-born Jewish pianist performs here April 16. *(internet photo)*

Pianist Tom Borrow made his Canadian debut on the VRS stage in 2023 and wowed the VRS audience with his talent. He returns Feb. 16 for a concert at the Playhouse. And, on Feb. 23, tenThing, an all-female brass ensemble from Norway, led by trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, will blow the roof off the Playhouse when they play a varied program that includes works by Edvard Greig, George Gershwin and Astor Piazzolla.

South Korean pianist Yuncham Lim will make his Vancouver debut playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the Orpheum March 2, while Swedish/Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene, with pianist Sahun Sam Hong, makes his Canadian debut March 23 at the Playhouse.

British pianist Steven Osborne comes to the Playhouse March 30, and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and pianist Alexander Melnikov perform there April 6.

Pianist Evgeny Kissin’s April 16 performance at the Chan Centre will feature works by Ludwig von Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin and Dmitri Shostakovich. And, when cellist Yo-Yo Ma returns to the VRS May 6 at the Orpheum, he will play a selection of his favourite pieces and share stories about an extraordinary life dedicated to music.

Full details of the VRS 2024-2025 performances are available online at vanrecital.com. Tickets start at $28 and can be purchased on the website or by phone at 604-602-0363.

– Courtesy Vancouver Recital Society

Lanyi debuts in March

Israeli pianist Ariel Lanyi performs in Vancouver March 3. (photo by Kaupo Kikkas)

Israeli pianist Ariel Lanyi will make his Canadian debut on March 3, 3 p.m., at the Vancouver Playhouse in a concert presented by the Vancouver Recital Society.

Born in Jerusalem in 1997, Lanyi is now based in London, England, having recently completed his studies at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2023, he received the Prix Serdanag, a Swiss prize awarded by Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder, and was nominated as a Rising Star Artist by Classic FM. In 2021, he won third prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition and was a prize winner in both the Young Classical Artists Trust YCAT (London) and Concert Artists Guild (New York) International Auditions. Also in 2021, Linn Records released Lanyi’s recording of music by Schubert, with other releases also planned. Lanyi’s 2021 Virtually VRS recorded performance can be viewed on the Vancouver Recital Society’s YouTube channel.

Lanyi has appeared with orchestras in Israel, the United Kingdom, Argentina and the United States, and highlights include playing with the Israel Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the latter of which he will return to this season for Mozart K503. Other notable future engagements include his debut with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the Grafenegg Festival, a return to Australia at the Sanguine Estate Music Festival, followed by a tour to China, and the Stars & Rising Stars concert series in Munich.

An avid chamber musician, Lanyi has collaborated with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Concertgebouw Amsterdam, as well as with musicians such as Maria João Pires, Marina Piccinini, Charles Neidich and Torleif Thedéen. He also recorded with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg under the auspices of the Orpheum Stifftung, as part of their Next Generation Mozart Soloist series, and gave recitals at the Kissinger Sommer, Fundaçion Juan March in Madrid, and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Lanyi’s March 3 performance in Vancouver will feature Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, Frédéric Chopin’s Mazurkas, Op. 59, and Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, Op. 61, as well as Max Reger’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Bach, Op. 81. The concert will be followed by a talkback session. For tickets, visit vanrecital.com.

– Courtesy Vancouver Recital Society

Hochman joins Fung in VRS concert

Zlatomir Fung (cello) and Benjamin Hochman (piano). (photo from vanrecital.com)

The Vancouver Recital Society (VRS) presents American cellist Zlatomir Fung and Israeli pianist Benjamin Hochman at the Vancouver Playhouse Jan. 15. Fung has racked up a slew of awards: in 2019, he was the first American in four decades and youngest musician ever to win first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, cello division, and was the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2020 and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2022.

The Juilliard alum was originally booked for the VRS in 2020 but the pandemic thwarted plans. In January, Fung will perform with Hochman, who first performed in a VRS series in 2003, with violinist Elisabeth Batiashvili. Hochman is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Claude Frank, and the Mannes College of Music, where he studied with Richard Goode.

The concert repertoire will feature the music of Yuri Shaporin (6 Pieces, arranged for cello and piano by Viktor Kubatsky), Nikolay Sokolov (Romance for Cello and Piano, Op. 19), Leo Ornstein (6 Preludes for Cello and Piano), Alexander Glazunov (Entr’acte from Raymonda, Op. 57, arranged for cello and piano) and Dmitri Shostakovich (Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40).

Tickets for the Jan. 15, 3 p.m., concert can be purchased at vanrecital.com.

– vanrecital.com

VRS hosts Schiff, Rondeau

As part of the Vancouver Recital Society’s fall programming, both pianist Sir András Schiff (above), and harpsichordist Jean Rondeau will perform J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

The Vancouver Recital Society’s season opened last month with the Canadian debut of Italian pianist Filippo Gorini. It continues Oct. 16 with Steven Isserlis (cello) and Connie Shih (piano), and Oct. 18 and 20 with pianist Sir András Schiff.

Rounding out the fall program, Turkish cellist Jamal Aliyev makes his Canadian debut with Turkish pianist Fazil Say on Oct. 30, Jean Rondeau (harpsichord) plays on Nov. 6, and American violinist Randall Goosby and Chinese pianist Zhu Wang perform together on Nov. 27.

Sir András was scheduled to fly to Vancouver in March 2020 to help VRS celebrate its 40th anniversary. Instead, he was detained in Japan as the world went into lockdown due to COVID-19. His Oct. 18, 7:30 p.m., performance at the Vancouver Playhouse will be special – Sir András will announce and discuss what he is going to play from the stage. On Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m., at the Orpheum Theatre, he will perform the Goldberg Variations. Originally written for harpsichord, J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations were first published in 1741 and are named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may have been the first performer of the work.

Sir András’s Oct. 20 performance is a benefit concert. It will help the VRS set the stage for its next big milestone – its 50th anniversary season in 2030. In addition to the Variations, Sir András will play Bach’s Italian Concerto in F major and Bach’s Overture in French Style in B minor.

photo - Jean Rondeau will perform at Beth Israel Nov. 6 — Jean Rondeau will perform at Beth Israel Nov. 6. *(PR photo)*

Rondeau also will perform the Goldberg Variations – his Nov. 6, 3 p.m., concert, will take place at Congregation Beth Israel.

“An ode to silence” is how Rondeau has described the Variations. “I feel they were written for silence, in the sense that they take the place of silence,” he says. “All Bach is there in the Goldberg Variations … all music is there … and I will no doubt spend my life working on them.”

For tickets and more information, visit vanrecital.com.

– From vanrecital.com