September 6, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Maggie Estes, Director of Marketing
mestes@cliburn.org, 817.738.6536
FORT WORTH, TEXAS, SEPTEMBER 6, 2011-The 35th season of the
celebrated Cliburn Concerts series will begin on Tuesday, September
13, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. at Bass Performance Hall with a thrilling
performance by acclaimed Canadian pianist Louis Lortie.
Commemorating the bicentennial of Franz Liszt's birth, Mr. Lortie
will perform the first two volumes of the composer's monumental
magnum opus, Années de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage). Single
tickets for this remarkable concert are available from $15-$90 and
can be purchased at Cliburn.org, by calling 817.212.4280, or in
person at the Bass Hall Box Office (525 Commerce Street, Fort
Worth, Texas).
Louis Lortie has been praised for the fresh perspective and
individuality he brings to a deliberately broad spectrum of the
keyboard canon. His wide-ranging repertoire includes works from
Mozart to Stravinsky, and he has received critical praise for his
interpretations of Ravel, Chopin, and Beethoven. Mr. Lortie has
appeared as a soloist with many of the world's most prestigious
orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland
Orchestra, National Symphony, Chicago Symphony, London
Philharmonic, and Orchestre National de France, among others. He
has also appeared in recitals in venues such as Carnegie Hall,
Vienna's Konzerthaus, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Bayreuth
Festival, London's Wigmore Hall, and the Berlin Philharmonie, to
name a few. A strong, yet sensitive player, London's Daily
Telegraph hailed Mr. Lortie as "one of the half dozen pianists who
it is worth dropping everything to go and hear."
Throughout his 2011 season, Mr. Lortie celebrates the 200th
birthday of composer Franz Liszt, performing the captivating
autobiographical masterwork Années de Pèlerinage. His recent
all-Liszt recital at Alice Tully Hall received rave reviews, and
The New York Times wrote, "[Lortie] played the nearly three hour
work with tireless elegance, precision, and flexibility. He brought
thunder to Liszt's explosions and breathtaking delicacy to the
filigree work at the top of the piano's range."
A native of Montréal, he made his debut with the Montréal Symphony
at the age of 13. In 1984 he captured first prize in the Busoni
Competition and was later a prize-winner at the Leeds Competition.
In 1992, Mr. Lortie was named Officer of the Order of Canada and
received both the Order of Quebec and an honorary doctorate from
Laval University. He has made over 30 recordings on the Chandos
label, ranging from Mozart to Stravinsky, which have garnered
critical praise in major music publications. His Chandos recording
of the complete Années de Pèlerinage was released in March
2011.
The complete program will include:
Liszt Années de Pèlerinage
Première année: Suisse
Chapelle de Guillaume Tell
Au lac de Wallenstadt
Pastorale
Au bord d'une source
Orage
Vallée d'Obermann
Églogue
Le mal du pays
Les cloches de Genève: Nocturne
Deuxième année: Italie
Sposalizio
Il Pensieroso
Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa
Sonetto 47 del Petrarca
Sonetto 104 del Petrarca
Sonetto 123 del Petrarca
Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi sonata
About the Van Cliburn Foundation
The Van Cliburn Foundation disseminates classical music worldwide,
and launches and nurtures young artists' careers through the
quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the
ensuing three-year international concert tours of its medalists,
award-winning documentaries, and a syndicated radio series
dedicated to the competition and its most memorable performances.
By making the competition available in its entirety on the
Internet, the Foundation has extended its outreach to listeners in
every corner of the globe.
For audiences in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, the Van Cliburn
Foundation promotes great music and world-class artists through the
annual Cliburn Concerts series. It reaches over 30,000 elementary
school students annually with the education programs of Musical
Awakenings®. In 1999, it established the International Piano
Competition for Outstanding AmateursT, which The Boston Globe
proclaimed "a celebration of music, and the people who have to make
music, no matter what." The sixth Amateur Competition was held May
23-29, 2011 at Ed Landreth Auditorium on the campus of TCU.
Visit Cliburn.org to learn more about the Cliburn as it approaches
the 50th anniversary of the first Van Cliburn International Piano
Competition.
ExxonMobil is the Principal Corporate Sponsor of the Van Cliburn
Foundation. American Airlines; "Crystelle Waggoner Charitable
Trust," Bank of America, Trustee; The Pangburn Foundation, JPMorgan
Chase, N.A., Trustee; Steinway & Sons; and XTO Energy Inc. are
Official Corporate Sponsors. Official Sponsors are the Amon G.
Carter Foundation, Arts Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County,
the Burnett Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the Sid W.
Richardson Foundation, and the T. Boone Pickens Foundation.
Star-Telegram is the exclusive print media sponsor, and WRR 101.1
FM is the official radio station of Cliburn Concerts.
