|
|
|
| | Arts Calendar / April 17 / Concerts |
|
|
|
19:00 | Valery Afanassiev (France) |
|
|
|
|
 Pianist Valery Afanassiev will perform works by Chopin and Beethoven. Afanassiev was renowned for his strikingly individual and deeply introspective interpretations of the music of Franz Schubert. A pupil of Emil Gilels at the Moscow Conservatory, Afanassiev's international career took off after he won the 1972 Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition in Brussels. His recordings feature music by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Mussorgsky and Chopin, as well as Schubert. On principle, Valery Afanassiev takes in upon himself to write the accompanying texts to his recordings. His aim is to give the listeners a comprehensive image of their insights into the composer's thoughts - a guided tour through his alchemistic laboratory where poetry, philosophy, painting, the cabbala and good wine serve as a reference just like the musical manuscript. He has a second career as a writer Under a pen name, Valery Afanassiev has written nine novels, seven of them in English, two in French. Four novels were published in France, one in Germany, two in Russia. Furthermore, he wrote five cycles of poems, one volume of narrations, a collection of short stories as well as two plays, inspired by Modest Mussorgsky's piano cycle the Pictures at an Exhibition and the and Robert Schumann's Kreisleriana. In both plays, he performs as a pianist and actor (in four languages). Valery Afanassiev is among the most unconventional contemporary artists. He is a man of extraordinary education and culture, which can also be seen in the fact that he is widely regarded as a formidable expert on great wines, as well as being a dedicated collector and connoisseur of antiques. In Versailles, the pianist, poet and philosopher lives on his own. Here he works, writes his books and keeps more than 3000 bottles of wine in his cellar. He half-jokingly refers to himself as a renaissance man.
Tchaikovsky Concert Hall  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The virtual community for English-speaking expats and Russians
