Season Opener: Daniil Trifonov

SEASON OPENING CONCERT
 

“Few artists have burst onto the classical music scene in recent years with the incandescence of the pianist Daniil Trifonov.” - The New York Times

“Without question the most astounding pianist of our age.” - The Times [of London]
 

FEATURED ARTIST:

Daniil Trifonov, piano

PROGRAM:

TANEYEV Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor, Op. 29
     Prelude, Andante
     Fugue, Allegro vivace e con fuoco

PROKOFIEV Vision Fugitives, Op. 22
     Lentamente
     Andante
     Allegretto
     Animato
     Molto giocoso
     Con eleganza
     Pittoresco (Arpa)
     Comodo
     Allegro tranquillo
     Ridicolosamente
     Con vivacita
     Assai moderato
     Allegretto
     Feroce
     Inquieto
     Dolente
     Poetico
     Con una dolce lentezza
     Presto agitatissimo e molto accentuato
     Lento irrealmente

MYASKOVSKY Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 13

INTERMISSION

SCHUMANN Sonata No.1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11
     Introduzione: Un poco adagio – Allegro vivace
     Aria
     Scherzo: Allegrissimo – intermezzo: Lento
     Finale: Allegro, un poco maestoso

Grammy Award-winning pianist Daniil Trifonov (dan-EEL TREE-fon-ov) is a solo artist, champion of the concerto repertoire, chamber and vocal collaborator, and composer. Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are a perpetual source of wonder to audiences and critics alike. He won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo Album of 2018 with Transcendental, the Liszt collection that marked his third title as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist.

In 2024-25, Trifonov undertakes season-long artistic residencies with both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic. A highlight of his Chicago residency is Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto with incoming music director Klaus Mäkelä, and his Czech tenure features Dvořák’s Concerto with Semyon Bychkov at season-opening concerts in Prague, Toronto, and at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Trifonov also opens the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra’s season with Mozart’s 25th Piano Concerto under Andris Nelsons; performs Prokofiev’s Second with the San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen; reprises Dvořák’s concerto for a European tour with Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberg Symphony; plays Ravel’s G-major Concerto with Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Alan Gilbert; and joins Rafael Payare and the Montreal Symphony for concertos by Schumann and Beethoven on a major eight-city European tour. In recital, Trifonov appears twice more at Carnegie Hall as part of two U.S. tours, with a solo program and with violinist Leonidas Kavakos. Due for release in fall 2024, My American Story, the pianist’s new Deutsche Grammophon double album, pairs solo pieces with concertos by Gershwin and Mason Bates.

Trifonov’s existing Deutsche Grammophon discography includes the Grammy-nominated live recording of his Carnegie recital debut; Chopin Evocations; Silver Age, for which he received Opus Klassik’s Instrumentalist of the Year/Piano award; the best-selling, Grammy-nominated double album Bach: The Art of Life; and three volumes of Rachmaninov works with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, of which two received Grammy nominations and the third won BBC Music’s 2019 Concerto Recording of the Year. Named Gramophone’s 2016 Artist of the Year and Musical America’s 2019 Artist of the Year, Trifonov was made a “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government in 2021. 

During the 2010-11 season, Trifonov won medals at three of the music world’s most prestigious competitions: Third Prize in Warsaw’s Chopin Competition, First Prize in Tel Aviv’s Rubinstein Competition, and both First Prize and Grand Prix in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition. He studied with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music.