December, 2011
2011 BNDES International Piano Competition comes to an end
The soloists Fabio Martino, Lukas Geniusas and Kotaro Fukuma closed the young pianists phase of BNDES International Piano Festival in Rio de Janeiro. They performed throughout this week (Tuesday, Friday and Saturday), at Leopoldo Miguez Music School. The Festival national tour – with recitals in Aracaju, Fortaleza, Recife, Belem and Manaus – ends on Monday, December 12, with the presentation of Kotaro Fukuma at Amazonas Theater.
On Sunday, Nelson Freire’s performance at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro closes the Festival in the city.
Watch Fabio Martino playing SCHUMANN – Drei Fantasiestucke op. 111
Kotaro Fukuma, winner of second prize in the BNDES International Piano Competition in 2010, plays in Rio on Saturday December 10, and in Manaus on December 12.
The young pianist Kotaro Fukuma, who won second prize in the BNDES International Piano Competition in 2010, gave an interview between concerts, by email, to the Competition site (“I am writing as I leave from Berlinfor New York”). Kotaro will play in Rio de Janeiroon Saturday December 10, in the Salão Leopoldo Miguez of the Escola de Música of UFRJ, at 7 p.m., and in the Amazonas Opera House, in Manaus, on Monday the 12th.
Narrating how music came early into his life (“my older sisters studied piano and I insisted on lessons – which started on my fifth birthday”), he shows how extremely happy he is to return toBrazil– and very interested in going to the Amazon.
- I’m dying to know the region,” he says. “I was very honoured by last year’s prize, when I came toBrazilfor the first time. I had ten fantastic days there, especially plaing the Liszt Concerto nº 2 with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra inRio’s beautiful Opera House in the finals. I loved the Brazilian food, the nature and also the cordiality.”
Kotaro knows Bossa-Nova: “Elisa (sic) Reginasinging Águas de Marco!”; and he likes Techno music (“for dancing!”), pop, jazz and French songs. “But obviously I listen to classical music most of the time”. His study routine normally comprises three to five hours at the piano per day; but at times of great demand, such as before a competition, the time dedicated to piano practice goes up to six hours. Despite this, he cultivates a number of interests such as sport and gastronomy, and wants to learn a lot of languages, including Portuguese.
Before arriving in Rio, Kotaro will play in the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. His Brazilian programme has pieces by Bach, Beethoven, and 3 Ls: Liszt, Ligeti and Liapounov.
The Festival continues: Evgeny Brakhman plays in the Salão Leopoldo Miguez in the Escola de Música of UFRJ, in Rio, and Fábio Martino plays in Fortaleza
The first two recitals of the BNDES International Piano Festival, after the opening with Daniil Trifonov in the Rio Opera House, took place on Tuesday November 29 and Wednesday November 30. On Tuesday the Russian pianist Evgeny Brakhman, who won third place in the II BNDES International Piano Competition of Rio de Janeiro in 2010, played in the Salão Leopoldo Miguez of the Escola de Música of UFRJ, playing on the new Steinway acquired by BNDES. “The Salão has wonderful acoustics and the piano is outstanding” Brakhman later declared. The programme was Bach- Busoni (Chaconne in D minor), Rachmaninov (Three preludes op. 23 eand 32), Brahms (Six pieces op. 118) and Prokofiev (Sonata nº 7 in B flat major op. 83 ). Brakhman will play this Saturday, December 3, in the Biblioteca Epifâneo Dórea, in Aracaju.
Fábio Martino, the outright winner of the BNDES International Piano Competition in 2010, inaugurated the series of recitals in the North and North-east playing in the Teatro José de Alencar in Fortaleza. The programme was Brahms (Sonata nº 1 op. 1), Liszt (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses / Pater Noster / Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude) and Scriabin (Sonata nº 5 op. 53).
Martino goes next to Belém, where he will play with the Orquestra Altino Pimenta of the Escola de Música of the Universidade Federal do Pará conducted by Phillippe Forget on December 4, in the Teatro da Paz, interpreting Beethoven’s Concerto no. 5 (the Emperor).
On December 6 he will give a recital in Rio, in the Salão Leopoldo Miguez of the Escola Nacional de Música da UFRJ.
The book “Guiomar Novaes of Brazil” will be sold in the Livrarias Cultura from December 12.
The book, by the journalists Luciana Medeiros and João Luiz Sampaio, follows the career of the great Brazilian pianist in New York, and is accompanied by two CDs with three of the pianist’s concerts with the New York Philharmonic with additional bonus tracks recorded during recitals.
“Guiomar Novaes of Brazil” will be on sale in the shops and on the website of Livraria Cultura.
Click here to hear SCHUMANN – Papillons Op. 2 recorded at Hunter College on October 22 1966 (16’55”)