Noticias
In its twenty-second edition
Black & White Festival brings great piano evenings at Cenart
August 22, 2018A total of 12 recitals are part of this year's program of the 22nd edition of the International Black & White Piano Festival, which will be held from September 1 to 30 at the National Center of Arts (Cenart, for its acronym in Spanish).
Ricardo Calderón, director of this venue, assured that this festival "is reaching its twenty-second very mature edition, with enormous public acceptance thanks to the effort we have made over the last few years with the support of Lázaro Azar as artistic curator, looking for elements of originality, renewal in the performers, new repertoire proposals and the public has responded in a truly amazing way".
In an interview with the Department of Culture, he said that this is the oldest annual festival of Cenart celebrating 24 years of existence, while Blanco & Negro celebrates 22 years of existence, being one of the most desired by the public, due to the quality and variety offered.
For his part, Lázaro Azar commented that all the invited pianists this year are first class worldwide and the difficult thing was to decide what to play, since although the piano is the instrument with the greatest repertoire, generally the same works are played.
After analysing the major gaps, the festival will give a great deal of space to Liszt, the father of today's piano technique, with the presentation of the 12 Transcendental Performance Studies by Russian Vyacheslav Gryaznov, which will be heard for the first time in 22 years.
Also playing will be Liszt's Complete Concert Studios, the Sonata in B Minor which is the great work of the 19th century romantic repertoire, as well as a well-known but little programmed work, Dream of Love, to be performed by Israeli pianist Amir Katz.
This year, Black & White joins the commemoration of the mournful anniversaries of Debussy and Rachmaninov, and pays tribute to the memory of a great pianist who lived in Mexico for 67 years, Nadia Stankovich (1924-2017).
Debussy's works that have never been heard at the festival will be enjoyed, such as Children’s corner, Suite Bergamasque, Berceuse Heroïque, as well as a piano version of the composer's most famous work, the Prelude to the Nap of a Faun, a piece for orchestra.
As part of Sergei Rachmaninov's 75th mournful anniversary, the audience will be able to listen to the 24 preludes of the Russian pianist Konstantin Lifschitz's recital.
This year's program also includes works by Schubert such as his Fourth Impromptu to be performed by Daniela Liebman, while Mexican Ricardo Acosta will play Sonata No. 19.
Ricardo Calderón indicated that one of the most popular recitals will be by the duo Jost-Costa from France and Portugal and Gerwig-González from Germany and Mexico, who will offer an attractive eight-hand repertoire, which includes a version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
He pointed out that most of the pianists invited this year to Black & White will make their debut at the festival and some will perform for the first time in Mexico and several of them will generously offer master classes for Mexican students.
The International Black & White Piano Festival will begin on September 1st with a concert by Amir Katz and will be closed with the Russian Alexei Volodin, the pianist with the biggest international line-up at the moment, who will perform on September 30 at 6 pm.
The director of Cenart specified that these piano concerts will take place in the Blas Galindo Auditorium on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, except September 15 and 16
All the recitals will be broadcast live so that they can be enjoyed by the public at any latitude, through the website https://interfaz.cenart.gob.mx and to find out about the program you can visit the website http://www.blancoynegro.cenart.gob.mx/.
Mexico
