2024 EIF : Seong-Jin Cho
The piano virtuoso contrasts two exquisite pieces by Maurice Ravel with the second of Franz Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage.
Seoul-born Seong-Jin Cho made waves when he won the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, aged just 21. He is now a piano superstar, celebrated for his sensitivity and exceptional technical command. His International Festival recital is a rare opportunity to experience his poetry and power up close in an intimate setting.
Cho opens his recital with two exquisite pieces by Maurice Ravel: the poignant but virtuosic Sonatine, and the sophisticated waltz collection Valses nobles et sentimentales, written as a tribute to the easy-going melodiousness of Franz Schubert.
Franz Liszt documented his years of travel and discovery – as well as his scandalous love for the married Marie d’Agoult – in three visionary piano collections he titled Années de pèlerinage. The second volume celebrates the composer’s love for Italian art and literature – from Raphael to Michelangelo, Petrarch to Dante – in some of the most dazzling music he created, and forms the visionary climax to Cho’s recital.
© Christopher Koestlin
