Honens Piano Podcast

Roman Rabinovich performs Chopin's Ballade No. 4 Op. 52.

Today we'll hear from 2009 Honens Laureate Gilles Vonsattel. In this episode, Gilles performs Louise Farrenc’s Air russe Varié Op. 17.  Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn could be counted among Farrenc's admirers and for good reason; Farrenc wrote in an imaginative and knowledgeable international style, prizing transparency and clear forms. Enjoy!

Today is the final episode of the Honens @ Home: Meet the Quarterfinalists series. In this episode, we meet Dominic Muzzi. Dominic is no stranger to winning competitions—he started winning when he was only a teenager. He is currently enrolled in the doctoral program at Indiana University, where his teacher, 2003 Honens Laureate Roberto Plano, might have put the Honens bug in his ear.

In this video, Dominic shares the third movement, Vivo, from Grażyna Bacewicz's Piano Sonata No. 2. 

Let's listen.

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Watch the video edition of this excerpt here. 

You might recognize today's featured Quarterfinalist from the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition—Austrian pianist and 2018 Semifinalist Philipp Scheucher has returned for the 2022 Competition.

Today, Philipp shares with us his own arrangement of Radetzky March by Johann Strauss. Philipp says: "We are exposed to so much negative news, the joy of music and music making can be healing." We couldn't agree more. 

Enjoy. 

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Watch the video edition of this excerpt here. 

Today, we hear from Honens Quarterfinalist Zhora Sargsyan with a performance of Rachmaninov's Étude-tableau Op. 39 No. 5.

Zhora poetically describes this piece as very dramatic and a little bit Wagnerian: symphonic and polyphonic. He suggests listening for the single melodic line pitted against the mass of chords. The melody has to overcome the heaviness and insist on its existence. In the end, Zhora says the drama resolves and through the storm the spot of light can be seen, symbolizing hope for survival.

Let's listen.

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Watch the video edition of this excerpt here. 

This week, we are pleased to feature KaJeng Wong. KaJeng, born in Hong Kong, has studied in the US, UK, and Sweden. He is the Artistic Director of Music Lab (a non-profit organization in Hong Kong that believes in the value of performance and its power to connect with people), and is interested in collaborative projects involving dance and theatre. He's also the subject of an award-winning documentary about his growth as a young musician called KJ: Music & Life.

Today we hear KaJeng perform an arrangement of J.S. Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring by Dame Myra Hess.

Enjoy.

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Watch the video edition of this excerpt here. 

In this episode, enjoy J.S. Bach's theatrical Toccata in D Major BWV 912 performed by Italian pianist and Honens Quarterfinalist Danilo Mascetti. 

Since 2014, Danilo has been the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Arte Solidate Festival at Lake Como, an annual international classical music festival and charity in Italy. In addition to supporting young artists, the festival collaborates with local social organizations to support minors in need, a cause close to Danilo's heart. 

Let's listen. 

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Watch the video edition of this excerpt here.