Classical Recital
Leonidas Kavakos, Asmik Grigorian, Eric Lu, Lester Lynch, and more!
Sun, Sep 29, 3pm, Hertz Hall
Dynamic violinist Njioma Chinyere Grevious visits in her Cal Performances debut with a program that showcases her superb technique and remarkable versatility. A 2024 winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the up-and-coming artist is a featured performer in the Sphinx Soloist Program, which showcases top Black and Latinx string players who are laureates of the prestigious Sphinx Competition. The solo work Blue/s Forms is a rarely performed gem by Black American composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, who was active in New York’s classical and jazz music worlds from the 1950s through the ’90s. Beethoven’s brilliant Kreutzer sonata and Mozart’s elegiac E minor sonata round out the program.
PERKINSON
Blue/s Forms for Solo Violin
MOZART
Violin Sonata No. 21 in E minor, K. 304
BEETHOVEN
Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47, Kreutzer
Sun, Oct 13, 3pm, Hertz Hall
A regal presence on stages the world over, dramatic baritone Lester Lynch has recently sung many of the most iconic opera roles to great acclaim: Crown in Porgy and Bess; Wotan in Das Rheingold; Conte di Luna in Il Trovatore; and the title roles in Macbeth and Rigoletto. Lynch can sing with great power and silken subtlety, and brings dramatic flair and gravitas to his rare recital performances. For his Cal Performances debut, he presents songs by Schubert, Brahms, and Mussorgsky exploring the profound themes of love, loss, and mortality, as well as works by American composers Charles Ives and Gordon Getty. "The greatest singing actor of the production…[his] vocal beauty and emotional honesty made for a deeply touching, vulnerable portrayal. Lynch’s gift…left me mesmerized" (San Francisco Classical Voice).
Sun, Oct 27, 3pm, Hertz Hall
A young master with a poet’s sensibility, American pianist Eric Lu makes audiences lean in to appreciate the full magnitude of his artistry. Lu is known for patience, restraint, and a refined, delicate touch at the keyboard, and returns after his rapturously received Cal Performances debut during the 2021–22 season. His recital is centered on works by Chopin, a composer with whom he has been closely associated since he won the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw at age 17. "[Lu’s] emotional depth and dynamic range are particularly striking, bringing light and shade to everything he touches" (International Piano).
Listen to a clip of Eric Lu playing Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2.
see full program
Sun, Nov 10, 3pm, Hertz Hall
Commanding Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov is best known as a powerhouse soloist with the world’s great orchestras, but his recital appearances harness all the same musical force and beauty on a more intimate scale. His eclectic Cal Performances debut program foregrounds story and image, including Prokofiev’s piano adaptation of music from his ballet Romeo and Juliet, and Uzbek composer Dilorom Saidaminova’s 1973 programmatic opus The Walls of Ancient Bukhara (in what is likely its first West Coast performance). Florence Price’s Fantasie nègre No. 1, a rarely performed gem enjoying newfound popularity thanks to revived interest in Price’s body of work, showcases Black American folk melodies and idioms. "[Abduraimov] coaxed sound of gossamer beauty from the keys and created shimmering halos around the notes" (The Times, London).
Fri–Sat, Nov 15–16, 8pm, Zellerbach Hall
Towering works in the repertoire, Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin conjure vast sonic landscapes with just four gut strings and a horsehair bow. Considered both an invitation and a challenge to violinists since they were first published more than 220 years ago, these touchstones of European music come with a title—"Sei Solo"—that in Italian both describes the work itself ("Six Solos") and acts as a sobering reminder to the player ("You are alone"). In this rare and powerful musical experience, Greek virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos performs the complete set over two nights. "Kavakos’s sound is intense, silken, mercurial—a modern, characterful performance aware of history, playful in its ornamentation, but without exaggeration" (The Guardian).
Tue, Nov 19, 7:30pm, Zellerbach Hall
A superlative interpreter of Beethoven, whose power is always cumulative in effect.”
Truly an artist of our global, connected era, German pianist Igor Levit enjoys assembling bold recital programs that place masterworks of the canon alongside lesser-known gems. Praised for his extraordinary technique and musicianship, Levit is also one of classical music’s most politically outspoken figures, a cultural omnivore who has cited Thelonious Monk and hip-hop among his influences. His artistry revels in extremes—here, he matches Brahms’ sensual Ballades with Liszt’s fiendishly challenging transcription of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.
Patron Sponsors: Art Berliner and Marian Lever
Sat, Nov 23, 8pm, Zellerbach Hall
Blazing virtuosity and breathtaking expressiveness have been the hallmarks of Russian-born violinist Maxim Vengerov’s sound for decades. The multiple Grammy and Gramophone Award winner has taken a fascinating path from his formative years as a child prodigy in Siberia, through studies with mentor Mstislav Rostropovich, to a phenomenal international career that has included prestigious posts as a conductor and educator. Vengerov returns to Berkeley with frequent collaborator pianist Polina Osetinskaya to charm us anew with "that gloriously rich, focused sound; that nimble, immaculate technique; that sense of meaning and purpose he injects into even single notes; and, above all, that effortless charisma" (The Strad).
Major Support: Lance and Dalia Nagel; The Sir Jack Lyons Charitable Trust
Sun, Dec 15, 3pm, Hertz Hall
Lest there be any doubt that Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian is among the most electrifying performers of her generation, the Guardian has compared her voice to “velvet-wrapped steel” and Classical Source has described “words pouring from her like streams of molten lava.” Having sung lead roles in Madama Butterfly, Jenůfa, and Salome to great acclaim in recent seasons, Grigorian makes a rare US
visit in an all-Russian-language Cal Performances debut recital, performing rarely heard songs—“small pieces of opera in a few minutes,” she calls them—by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. She is joined by frequent collaborator, pianist Lukas Geniušas.
Patron Sponsors: S. Shariq Yosufzai and Brian James
Songs by TCHAIKOVSKY and RACHMANINOFF
Sun, Mar 9, 3pm, Hertz Hall
Certain words seem to recur in nearly every review of a performance by the electrifying young American violinist Benjamin Beilman: tone, sound, intensity. A few seasons ago, Beilman’s debut with the Berkeley Symphony in Jennifer Higdon’s Violin Concerto brought the house down, and now he returns in his Cal Performances debut with a recital that explores influence and inspiration between the composers Clara Schumann and Brahms, and works by French composers Lili Boulanger and César Franck. "Playing with rich sound and plenty of brilliance, Beilman conveyed both dreamy lyricism and heated intensity" (The New York Times).
Sun, Mar 16, 3pm, Hertz Hall
Since making his debut with the Minnesota Orchestra at age 11, the dynamic young pianist Evren Ozel’s star has been steadily on the rise. Ozel is a member of the Bowers Program at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, where he is performing, touring, and teaching alongside its esteemed veteran artists. His artfully crafted Berkeley debut program features an evocative and poetic collection of works by Debussy, Bartók, Robert Schumann, and Ravel, plus Beethoven’s famous Moonlight Sonata. "A marvelous musician…one with disarming confidence in his interpretations and a gift for smooth and engaging mood shifts" (The Star Tribune).
Tue, Apr 1, 7:30pm, Zellerbach Hall
The New York Times calls Leif Ove Andsnes “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight.” Known for his commanding technique and searching interpretations, the Norwegian virtuoso has a special affinity for the music of his homeland, and here pairs Edvard Grieg’s sole piano sonata with Geirr Tveitt’s Sonata Etere, a colorful work from the 1950s that reflects the composer’s deep immersion in Norwegian folk music. “Andsnes reminds you of his capacity to go directly to the heart of the matter. Taking you on a journey of increasing subtlety and introspection, he makes you aware that so much of this music is for those long winter nights” (Gramophone).
Major Support: The Bernard Osher FoundationPatron Sponsor: Anonymous
Solo Piano
Solo Violin
Violin and Piano
Voice and Piano
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