Horsecross has announced an exclusive one-off recital by world famous concert pianist Mitsuko Uchida.
The award-winning performer will appear at Perth Concert Hall on 21 September 2009, her only performance in Scotland this year.
Uchida, who chose Perth Concert Hall to make her first Scottish appearance in fifteen years when she last performed there in 2006, will play Beethoven's last three piano sonatas - Opus 109,110, and 111, launching an extensive series of Beethoven concerts at the Perth venue.
Svend Brown, creative director (classical music) at Horsecross said:
"It is very rare to hear these three piano sonatas all in one sitting - especially played by someone as famous as Mitsuko Uchida. The pieces are all fantastically demanding and difficult, both mentally and physically. Beethoven was deaf by the time he wrote them, so they are very much music he heard in his mind and through the vibrations under his fingers only."
Mitsuko Uchida's recent Royal Festival Hall performance of Beethoven's Op109, 110 and 111 was described by John Allison, The Times critic, as ‘one of the most transporting concerts London has heard all year'.
In 2008, Uchida was awarded BBC Music Magazine's award for ‘Instrumentalist of the Year' and ‘Disc of the Year' for her recording of Beethoven's Op101 and Op106 described by Michael Church of BBC Music Magazine as ‘Beethoven in all his grandeur and with all his capacity to express spiritual agony (the slow movement) and heroic struggle and triumph (the first and last movement) revealed with shattering directness ....This disc is of a calibre that I count myself lucky to encounter once in a decade.'
Svend Brown concluded:
"This is a rare opportunity to see Mitsuko Uchida play outside of London or top European venues. She is the perfect performer to launch our ‘epic Beethoven journeys' and we are thrilled to welcome her back to Perth."
The epic Beethoven journeys continue at Perth Concert Hall with performances by Llyr Williams and Belcea Quartet in 2010 and 2011 playing the full cycle of piano sonatas and the full cycle of string quartets respectively - fourteen concerts in total. A series of talks about the life and work of this fascinating composer will accompany the events.
For tickets, call the Horsecross Box Office on 01738 621 031 or visit www.horsecross.co.uk