Conor Hanick to Play Russian Piano Sonatas at PS21

Conor Hanick (photo Joshua Wool)

(CHATHAM, N.Y.) – Pianist Conor Hanick will tackle 20th century Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya’s Piano Sonatas No. 4, 5, and 6 live at PS21 on Saturday, August 15, as part of PS21’s Modern Music Fest.

Seating in PS21’s 350-seat outdoor Pavilion Theater will be distanced and limited to 50. Each concert will run approximately one hour. The concert will be live-streamed free of charge:

Conor Hanick is a concert pianist living in Brooklyn. He performs music new and old, on his own, and with others. Hanick is regarded as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master.” (New York Times)

Although his playing “defies human description” for some (Concerto Net), Hanick’s performances have received wide critical acclaim from others, described as “brilliant,” “effortlessly elegant,” and reminding the Times’ Anthony Tommasini of a “young Peter Serkin.” His performance of John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes was, according to the Times’ critic David Allan, “probably the best instrumental concert I have seen all year”; praise echoed by the Boston Globe, which named the performance “Best Solo Recital” of 2019.

A fierce advocate for the music of today, Hanick has premiered over 200 works and collaborated with composers both emerging and iconic. Among them, Hanick has worked with Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, and Charles Wuorinen, in addition to championing music by leading composers of his own generation, including Caroline Shaw, Matthew Aucoin, Samuel Adams, and Eric Wubbels. As the “soloist of choice for such thorny works” (NYT), Hanick recently performed Milton Babbitt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Juilliard Orchestra and Jeffery Milarsky at Alice Tully Hall; György Ligeti’s Piano Concerto with Alan Gilbert at the New York Philharmonic Biennale; Pierre Boulez’s sur Incises with Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony; and the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin’s Piano Concerto with Carlos Izcaray and the Alabama Symphony, a work he later performed and recorded with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

 

 

 

 

 

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