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Stephen Kovacevich

Piano

SUNDAY CONCERTS

International Student House of Washington DC, 1825 R Street, NW.

Tickets are $40, $20 for members and students with ID, and free for youth, ages 8-18 with reservation (please present ID at will call); museum admission for that day is included. Advance reservations are strongly recommended.

Members: please sign in to receive member discount, which will be applied at checkout.

Concert sold out? You’ve got options! Check our website on Fridays at 5 pm for available rush tickets. Standby Tickets may become available (credit card only) at the entrance to the International Student House.

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Program

Revered pianist Stephen Kovacevich studied with Dame Myra Hess in London before making his sensational debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1961 with a program including Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. Kovacevich’s distinguished recording career, stretching over more than half a century, includes definitive readings of works by the great Viennese Classical composers as well as Brahms and more recent music, especially Bartok. Kovacevich’s eagerlyawaited return to the Phillips includes one of Beethoven’s late Piano Sonatas and a group of Bagatelles alongside music by J. S. Bach.

PROGRAM:

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)
Prelude & Fugue No. 4 in C-sharp minor, (The Well-Tempered Clavier), BWV 849

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op 109
     Vivace ma non troppo. Adagio espressivo
     Prestissimo
     Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Pollonaise in E-flat minor (Maestoso), Op. 26 No. 2
Selection of 3 Mazurkas
Nocturne in E Major, Op. 62 No. 2

INTERMISSION

FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat Major, D. 960
     Molto moderato
     Andante sostenuto
     Scherzo. Allegro vivace con delicatezza
     Allegro ma non troppo

About the Artist

Stephen Kovacevich is one of the most searching interpreters, never afraid to take both technical and musical risks in order to achieve maximum expressive impact. As a pianist he has won unsurpassed admiration for his playing, non-more than from Leopold Stokowski who wrote: “You do with your feet what I try to do with my Philadelphia Orchestra.”

Born in Los Angeles, Kovacevich laid the foundation for his career as concert pianist at the age of 11. After moving to England to study with Dame Myra Hess, Stephen made his European debut at Wigmore Hall in 1961. Since then he has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors including Hans Graf, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, Simon Rattle, Georg Solti, and Yannick Nezet-Seguin. In addition, he has forged many longstanding professional relationships, most notably with Colin Davis with whom he made numerous outstanding recordings, including the legendary Bartok Piano Concerto No.2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. 

Recent and upcoming recital highlights include a duo performance with Martha Argerich at the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles and the Philharmonie de Paris, and recitals at the Mariinsky International Piano Festival (by invitation of Valery Gergiev), the prestigious Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, the Flagey “Piano Days” Festival in Brussels, the Singapore International Piano Festival, the renowned Pyeong Chang ‘Great Mountains’ Festival in South Korea (with Kyung-Wha Chung), the Beijing National Centre for Performing Arts, an extensive tour of the Far East, recitals in Paris, Berlin, Boston, Zagreb, Dublin, and Cardiff, alongside two live BBC Radio 3 broadcasts from St George’s Hall, Bristol, and Wigmore Hall.

His recent and upcoming concerto highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla) and the Orquestra Camera Musicae, Barcelona in 2017, a triumphant return to Montreal Symphony Orchestra (David Zinman), Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (Sylvain Cambreling), Malaysian Philharmonic (Jacek Kaspszyk), Orchestre de chambre de Paris (John Nelson), and Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Vladimir Ashkenazy). Stephen recently performed to a sell-out audience for his recital at the International Piano Series at the Queen Elisabeth Hall in London. In addition, Kovacevich is a regular soloist at the Verbier and Lugano festivals. He will also appear at the 2016 Buxton International Festival, the Settimane Musicali Festival in Ascona (for a solo and chamber performance with Alina Ibragimova and Francesco Piemontesi), and will make a welcome return to the 2016 Le Domaine Forget Festival in Quebec.

Kovacevich is a committed chamber musician who has collaborated with Jacqueline du Pré, Martha Agerich, Steven Isserlis, Nicola Benedetti, Nigel Kennedy, Lynn Harrell, Gautier Capuçon, Renaud Capuçon, Kyung-Wha Chung, Truls Mørk, Emmanuel Pahud, Anna Larsson, Alina Ibragimova, Philippe Graffin, Joseph Suk, and the Amadeus, Belcea and-Cleveland Quartets.

Kovacevich has enjoyed an illustrious long-term relationship with recording companies Philips and EMI. To celebrate his 75th birthday, Decca has released a Limited Edition 25 Box Set of his entire recorded legacy for Philips. In 2008 Stephen Kovacevich recorded Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations exactly 40 years after his first recording of the work. This Onyx recording won him the 2009 Classic FM Gramophone Editor’s Choice Award and the Top Choice” by Gramophone Magazine in September 2015, to quote: “his seasoned yet fearless mastery reveals something new with each hearing.”

Watch & Listen