MIKHAIL PLETNEV

On the 13th of January 2024, Zabeel Theatre will be graced with the presence of a live legend as the pianist, conductor and composer Mikhail Pletnev, Gold Medal and First Prize winner at the 1978 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, and recipient of the 1996 Gramophone Award and 2005 Grammy Award, arrives to present a special piano recital as part of the VIP Classical initiative, organised by SAMIT Event Group. The programme will open with Johann Sebastian Bach’s English Suite No. 3, which will be followed by Johannes Brahms’s 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117, three character pieces composed in 1892 that showcase a deep, melancholic intimacy, with Brahms himself describing the works as the “lullabies of my sorrows”. After these two pieces will come the Alexey Shor-Mikhail Pletnev Piano Sonata, a contemporary work composed in collaboration between Pletnev himself and the award-winning composer Alexey Shor, that draws upon the legacy of European Classical and Romantic traditions, with a clear focus on melody and tonality. Following a brief intermission, the maestro will then conclude with his interpretation of Frédéric Chopin’s 24 Preludes, Op. 28, a cycle of twenty-four preludes that was released in 1839 which covers all the major and minor keys of the chromatic scale, with one piece for each of the twenty-four keys.

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏

Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)

Piano Sonata in A minor, D 537

Allegro ma non troppo

Allegretto quasi andantino

Allegro vivace

Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)

Three Intermezzi for piano, Op. 117

Andante moderato

Andante con moto, e con molta espressione

Andante con moto

Alexey Shor – Mikhail Pletnev

Piano Sonata A minor

Allegro ma non troppo

Adagio mosso

Moderato

INTERMISSION

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 2

Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849)

24 Préludes op. 28