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| From left, pianists Andras Schiff and Rudolf Buchbinder / Courtesy of Mast Media and Vincero |
By Park Ji-won
There's good news for classical music fans who missed performances in 2020 marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some upcoming performances are featuring renowned pianists and Beethoven specialists from outside of Korea.
Pianists Andras Schiff and Rudolf Buchbinder will arrive in Korea for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic and play famous works by Beethoven and other composers in various locations across the country.
Schiff, a Hungarian who is known as a specialist of Beethoven's sonatas, will be holding a recital at Seoul Arts Center on Oct. 7 where he will play Beethoven's Sonata No. 17, 26 and 32 as well as Bach's "Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor," "Capriccio in B-flat major" and "Musical Offering, BWV 1079." After he turned 50, Schiff went on tour to play the complete Beethoven sonatas in 20 cities around the world, receiving multiple awards in various countries.
He will be holding a recital at Daegu Concert House with the same program on Oct. 7. He will have special joint concerts with Korean pianist Kim Sun-wook under the title, "Four Hands Concerts," at Tongyeong Concert Hall on Oct. 12 and at Seoul Arts Center on Oct. 14 where they will play the duets of Mozart and Schubert.
Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder, who released recordings of Anton Diabelli and Beethoven in 2020 and 2021, will hold concerts playing the works of the two composers at Seoul Arts Center from Oct. 19 to 20. The concerts were originally planned for last year, but were delayed to this year due to the pandemic. He has released about 100 albums over the course of his career spanning more than 60 years, winning multiple awards with his performances and recordings.
At the first concert at the art center, he will focus on playing Beethoven's famous sonata works: sonatas No. 8, 10, 14, 20 and 21. On the second day, he will present his program on Anton Diabelli, which he came up with last year along with the release of his album "The Diabelli Project."
He will play variations of the composer's works created by contemporary composers Lera Auerbach, Brett Dean, Toshio Hosokawa, Christian Jost, Brad Lubman, Philippe Manoury, Max Richter, Rodion Shchedrin, Johannes Maria Staud, Tan Dun and Jorg Widmann as well as classical Diabelli variations made in the 18th and 19th centuries.
He will be also playing Diabelli variations at Daejeon Arts Center on Oct. 21 and playing Beethoven at Daegu Concert House on Oct. 24.
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