Pianists Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung — acclaimed as soloists, with first prizes at the Leeds, Hamamatsu, and Stravinsky International Piano Competitions — are also a renowned duo. Describing the artistry of the husband-and-wife team, the UK magazine Music and Arts states: “Theirs is a marriage of wondrous colours and dextrous aplomb, subtly balanced to make a musical performance sound as one.” They have released four highly praised albums as a duo featuring music of Poulenc, Stravinsky, Brahms and Piazzolla on the Signum Classics label, and Ligeti on the Dynamic label.
This dual piano concert of the 2017- 2018 IPS season will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. The program will include Mozart Sonata K. 521 in C major for 4 hands, Shostakovich Concertino for 2 pianos, Lutoslawski Variations on a Theme of Paganini for 2 pianos, and Rachmaninov Suite no. 2 for 2 pianos.
The concert will take place on Tuesday, November 14 at 7:30 p.m., in the Sottile Theatre, 44 George St. General admission is $20 and free for all students and College of Charleston employees. Tickets can be purchased online, at the door, or by calling (843) 953-6315.
The real life marriage of concert pianists Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, with their abundant artistic chemistry, passion, and stunning virtuosity, has led to one of the most appealing and impressive piano duos of our time.
First Prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu international piano competitions, a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, and a winner of Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, Alessio Bax has appeared as soloist with more than 100 orchestras, including the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, NHK Symphony in Japan, St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, and the City of Birmingham Symphony with Sir Simon Rattle. His much-lauded discography includes a 2015 album of Russian favorites by Scriabin and Mussorgsky, Mozart Piano Concertos K. 491 and K. 595, Alessio Bax Plays Brahms, Rachmaninov: Preludes & Melodies (an American Record Guide “Critics’ Choice”), Bach Transcribed, and Baroque Reflections (a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”). Most recently he released the collection Lullabies for Mila on Signum Classics, which also features Chung and is dedicated to their young daughter, born in 2014. Bax will be making the most out of his Charleston visit as he will play alongside famed violinist Joshua Bell at the Gaillard Performance Hall on November 9th.
First-Prize winner of the Stravinsky International Piano Competition, Lucille Chung has been celebrated by Gramophone for her “stylish and refined” performances. She was born in Montreal, and made her debut at the age of ten with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, after which Charles Dutoit invited her as soloist on the orchestra’s tour to Asia. She has since performed with orchestras around the world, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Seoul Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, and Israel Chamber Orchestra, as well as all the major orchestras in Canada, among them the Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver Symphonies and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. She has appeared with conductors such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Vladimir Spivakov, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Vasily Petrenko. Her solo discography includes the first volume of her recording of György Ligeti’s complete piano works on the Dynamic label, as well as Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Transcriptions, Mozart & Me, and a 2016 all-Poulenc album for Signum Classics.