For Immediate Release – January 6, 2009
Pianist Ivan Ilić makes Canadian recital début
When: Thursday, February 19, 2009, 8:00 pm
Where: Glenn Gould Studio,
250 Front Street West, Toronto
Programme: Includes several Canadian premières by new music composers and
excerpts from Ivan Ilić’s new Debussy CD; complete programme is listed on page
two.
Pre-concert talk with composer Brian Current at 7:30 pm.
Tickets: $30 / $25 – (416) 872-4255
The artist will sign copies of his new Debussy CD following the concert.
Live-to-air performance: Classical 96.3 FM, Tuesday, February 17, 11:20 am –
11:40 am
Press contact: Laura Adlers (416) 467-0634 Website: www.IvanCDG.com
"A pianist of real personality, his name is one to remember." – Le Monde de la
Musique
TORONTO– January 5, 2009 – Recently praised by the New Yorker as an
"adventurous pianist" who "likes his music on the brainy side,” Ivan Ilić is
rapidly gaining a strong international reputation.
A disciple of the legendary François-René Duchâble, Ivan studied music and
mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley before moving to Paris on
a fellowship. Shortly afterwards, Ivan won a Premier Prix in piano performance
at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris. The City of Paris sponsored his last
recording.
Ivan's first CD of music by Claude Debussy, lauded as "masterly" by Gramophone
Magazine, recently received Mezzo Television's Critics Choice Award in France.
The disc is broadcast on BBC Radio 3,
Dutch Radio, Radio France, American Public Radio, and on major classical music
stations on 5 continents.
60 engagements in 2007 included recital débuts in Boston, Washington, Dublin,
Bristol, Glasgow, and Cardiff. Current season highlights include début recitals
at Carnegie Hall (New York), Wigmore Hall (London), the National Concert Hall
(Dublin), the Belgrade Philharmonic, and Glenn Gould Studio (Toronto).
* * *
Ivan Ilić practices on a rare Pleyel piano, a six-and-a-half foot grand piano
made in Paris in the 1920s, which has been generously loaned to him by a
Parisian businessman. This man has owned the piano for 50 years and loans it
out to young soloists as a way of contributing to their future careers.
“It’s a beautiful instrument,” says Ilić. “Having worked with this piano for
the past six months, I realize that it has greatly influenced my sound and the
way that I think about phrasing. The mechanics and the balance between the
registers are quite different than what one finds on a modern instrument. I
look forward to exploring these insights in new repertoire, like the Godowsky
transcriptions of Chopin, as well as works I have been performing for years,
like the Debussy Préludes on my new CD.”
…/2
The programme Ilić has chosen for his Canadian début recital reflects his
eclectic tastes. It is the intersection of several projects, including new
works by Canadian composers, his ongoing interest in Debussy's Préludes, and
his current concentration on Romantic repertoire. "The programme demonstrates
the harmonious co-existence of Modern and Romantic aesthetics" says Ilić. "We
are living in a wonderfully creative time, a golden age during which there is
room for vastly different styles of composition. It is like the turn of the
last century, when Mahler, Strauss, Stravinsky and Debussy were part of the
same musical landscape."
If the mix seems unusual, there's an additional twist: part of the concert
includes repertoire written for one hand! Ilić explains: "There's a tremendous
wealth of repertoire written for the left hand alone, and Godowsky's
transcriptions are among the most difficult pieces for the instrument. And the
Brahms transcription of the famous Bach Chaconne is heart-breaking. These works
are rarely played and yet they are so enriching for the performer."
Ilić's concert is co-sponsored by the Alliance Francaise of Toronto and the
French Consulate in Toronto.
* * *
Recital Programme
Keeril Makan(b. 1972)
Afterglow (2007) Canadian première, written for Ivan Ilić
Claude Debussy
6 Préludes (1909-1912)
Canope - Ondine - Voiles - Les tierces alternées
La Cathédrale engloutie - Feux d'artifice
Brian Current (b. 1972)
Banjo/Continuum (2007), Canadian première
-----intermission----
Bach-Brahms
Chaconne for the left hand alone (1877)
Brahms
Two Ballades, opus 10 (1854)
No. 2 in D Major - No. 4 in B Major
Chopin - Godowsky
Four Études for the left hand alone (1903 - 1914)
Nos. 5, 28, 44, 43
John Metcalf(b. 1946)
Endless Song (1999) Canadian première
Appassionata (2008) Canadian première, written for Ivan Ilić
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