- This Friday, 28th October, the Portuguese pianist will be opening the 2nd Iturbi Piano Festival with a recital performing works by Schubert and Debussy as part of the Palau de la Música’s autumn 2022 subscription, thanks to international collaboration
- Gloria Tello, the councillor responsible for the Iturbi Award and president of the Palau de la Música, emphasised that “we are beginning the second edition of this magnificent Iturbi Festival in the best possible way, with the musical excellence of Maria João Pires, one of the most beloved pianists admired by the Valencian public, who has earned excellent reviews in her recent concert with the Orquestra de València.”
· Tello also highly praised the institutional collaboration with the Palau de la Música, which apart from this recital, has also led to a programme within the cycle Chamber at the Palau and another subscription concert by the Orquestra de València, which “enriches the programme and joins forces to spread culture so that all citizens may enjoy it.”
- Justo Romero, artistic director, stresses that “this edition demonstrates its commitment to artistic excellence, to Spanish and contemporary music; quality without borders and a determined effort to become a reflection of today’s piano panorama.”
- From 28th October to 4thNovember, a total of 25 performers will be giving nine concerts in all, with three world premieres and demanding musical proposals.
- This year, there will be performances by the pianists Carlos Apellániz, Yulianna Avdeeva, Claudio Carbó, Josep Colom, Bartomeu Jaume, María Linares, Carles Marín, Óscar Oliver, Luis Fernando Pérez, Noelia Rodiles and Xavier Torres; as well as Diego Ares (harpsichord), Antonio Simón (fortepiano), and the conductor Manuel Hernández Silva with the Orquestra de València.
Valencia, 26th October 2022
The second Iturbi Piano Festival is being prepared with a programme offering nine concerts from 28th October to 4th November. A total of 25 musicians will be taking part in this year’s Iturbi Piano Festival, which will be inaugurated this Thursday by the Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires giving a recital in which she will perform Schubert’s Sonatas in A major, Op. 120 D 664 and his Sonata in B flat major, D 960, as well as Debussy’s Bergamasque Suite. This concert is part of the autumn 2022 subscription season at the Palau de la Música, and is the result of institutional collaboration with the venue.
Following Pires, there will be renowned performers such as Carlos Apellániz, Yulianna Avdeeva, Claudio Carbó, Josep Colom, Bartomeu Jaume, María Linares, Carles Marín, Óscar Oliver, Luis Fernando Pérez, Maria João Pires, Noelia Rodiles and Xavier Torres, all soloists, together with Diego Ares (harpsichord), Antonio Simón (fortepiano) and the Spanish-Venezuelan Manuel Hernández Silva, who will be conducting a “concerto of concertos” backed by the Orquestra de València.
The Valencia Provincial Government is thus continuing to provide a festival, under the artistic management of Justo Romero, which commemorated the 125th anniversary of the birth of José Iturbi in 2020 and which will take place in even-numbered years, whereas the Iturbi Prize will take place in odd-numbered years.
The festival can count on collaboration from the Valencia City Council, the Palau de la Música, the Institut Valencià de Cultura via the Assistant Directorate for Music and Popular Culture, the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía and the Piano aux Jacobins Festival. It will take place in different venues in the city of Valencia (Teatre Principal, Palau de les Arts, Centre Cultural la Beneficència and L’Almodí).
Gloria Tello, the councillor responsible for the Iturbi Award and president of the Palau de la Música, pointed out that “we are beginning the second edition of this magnificent Iturbi Festival in the best possible way, with the musical excellence of Maria João Pires, one of the most beloved pianists admired by the Valencian public, who has earned excellent reviews in her recent concert with the Orquestra de València.” Tello also highly praised the institutional collaboration with the Palau de la Música, which apart from this recital, has also led to a programme within the cycle “Chamber at the Palau” and another subscription concert by the Orquestra de València, which “enriches the programme and joins forces to spread culture so that all citizens may enjoy it.”
Justo Romero, artistic director, enthuses that “this edition is demonstating its commitment to artistic excellence, to Spanish and contemporary music; quality without borders and a determined effort to become a reflection of today’s piano panorama.” The artistic director believes that “the inspiring memory of José Iturbi requires and calls for the highest of artistic demands and an impressive level of piano and music,” summing it up in five words: “virtuosity, expressiveness, fidelity, clarity and commitment”.
25 musicians and three premieres
The recital by Maria João Pires will be followed by Quintets with piano I, the group made up of Luis Fernando Pérez (piano), Gjorgi Dimchevski and Santiago Juan (violins), David Fons (viola) and David Apellániz (volincello), who will be taking on the world premiere of the Las lógicas exquisitas Quintet, expressly created by the Valencian composer Francisco Coll in response to a commission made by the festival itself. The same concert will also hear the Quintets for piano and strings by Schumann and Shostakovich. This will be at the La Beneficència Cultural Centre next Saturday 29th at 12 noon.
The pianists Bartomeu Jaume and Xavier Torres, within the programme Work for piano by Javier Costa, will be performing Costa’s complete piano catalogue, including two world premieres: Preludios efímeros and Remember me!! (L’Almodí, 29th November, 7:30 p.m.). This concert can count on the collaboration of the Palau de la Música’s “Chamber at the Palau” cycle.
Among the 25 performers participating this year, the Asturian pianist Noelia Rodiles also stands out. She will be starring in a recital in which she will play a programme of contrasts and reflections alternating works by Schubert (Impromptus and Musical moments) and the Spaniards David del Puerto and Jesús Rueda, whose Sonata number 5, The Butterfly Effect will bring the performance to a close in L’Almodí, on Sunday 30th at 12 noon.
Liber Quartet, made up of the pianists Carlos Apellániz and Óscar Oliver, Javier Eguillor (kkettledrums and percussion) and Jesús Salvador Chapi (percussion), will perform Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, with a version for two pianos by the performers themselves inspired by the recording by José and Amparo Iturbi, as well as works by Bartók (Sonata for two pianos and percussion) and Stravinsky, playing the version for two pianos that the composer himself prepared for The Rite of spring (La Beneficència Cultural Centre, 30th October, 7:30 p.m.).
Yulianna Avdeeva and Carles Marin
Mid-way through the festival, the Moscow pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, brilliant First Prize winner and Gold Medalist at the Warsaw Chopin Competition in 2005, will be performing works by Chopin, Włbyeław Spilzman, Mieczysław Weinberg and Rachmaninoff, at the La Beneficència Cultural Centre on Monday 31st at 7:30 p.m. The programme Piano Quintets II will be presenting a group made up of the pianist Carles Marín, Roberto Turlo (oboe), Vicente Alberola (clarinet), Salvador Sanchis (bassoon) and María Rubio (French horn), who will give a concert that will confront the piano and wind quintets of Mozart and Beethoven, preceded by two fantasies for piano by the two composers (La Beneficència Cultural Centre, Wednesday, 2nd November, 7:30 p.m.).
The eighth date in the festival will be in collaboration with the Palau de la Música. The Orquestra de València, led by the maestro Manuel Hernández Silva, will be giving a “concerto of concertos” which for the first time together in the history of music will include the Concerto for four pianos and strings by Bach; the one with three pianos by Mozart, the Concerto for harpsichord, fortepiano and orchestra by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the Totentanz by Liszt (for piano and orchestra), and the seldom played Piano concerto for the left hand by Prokofiev. The pianists Carlos Apellániz, Claudio Carbó, María Linares, Óscar Oliver, Xavier Torres will be performing as soloists, as well as Diego Ares (harpsichord) and Antonio Simón (fortepiano and piano) in this unique event. It will be taking place at the Teatre Principal on Thursday 3rd November at 7:30 p.m.
Josep Colom, grand finale
The grand finale to the 2nd Iturbi Piano Festival will come on Friday, 4th November, when one of the big names in Spanish piano’s history of perfomances, the Barcelona pianist Josep Colom, will be playing an ambitious programme with works by Franck, Stravinsky, Falla (Baetic Fantasy), the 12 études (opus 25) by Chopin and the curiosity of a Little Spanish Dance composed by José Iturbi himself, all in L’Almodí, at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for the concerts are free until reaching the venue’s full capacity. The procedure for obtaining them is as follows: on the Tuesday of the week of the concert/recital, they can be booked through the website www.entradesvalencia.com. They are also handed out in person at the La Beneficència Cultural Centre’s information point. For the concerts in collaboration with the Palau de la Música (opening recital; piano work by Javier Costa; Concert by the Orquestra de València), tickets can be purchased at the Palau de la Música.
In addition, this year from 6th May to 23rd October, the Iturbi Recital Cycle will be holding a total of eleven concerts in Rome, Toulouse, Valencia and in Valencian cities and municipalities such as Gandia, Chiva, Xàtiva and Sagunto, given by the winners of the previous edition: Salome Jordania, Ryutaro Suzuki and Zifan Ye.
International impact
The first Iturbi Festival in 2020, which achieved great national and international impact, boasted renowned performers and groups such as Javier Perianes, the Quiroga Quartet, Gustavo Díaz Jerez, Marta Zabaleta, Josu de Solaun, Franziska Pietsch and the Quartetto Indaco; and included activities such as Do you play the piano? with instruments located in five central squares in the city and a concert with ten pianos in Valencia’s Plaza de la Virgen.
