A magnifique, mostly French concert
It’s all going to be very French.
French-born guest conductor Stéphane Denève, whose previous work here has won many fans, returns to Benaroya Hall to lead a French-accented Seattle Symphony program today and Saturday. The concert fare: Ravel’s G Major Piano Concerto (with soloist Frank Braley), Fauré’s “Pelléas et Mélisande” Suite and Debussy’s “Ibéria” (from “Images”). The program starts with Stravinsky’s “Jeu de cartes” (”Game of Cards”), a neoclassical piece in the style for which Stravinsky is best known.
The globe-trotting Denève is now in his third season as music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and he has also led a spectrum of international orchestras including the Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony and Verdi Orchestra Milan; the Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Rotterdam, Royal Stockholm and St. Petersburg philharmonics; the Cleveland and Minnesota orchestras; the National Symphony Orchestra; and the Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis and Toronto symphonies.
Denève’s career got a big boost when he was chosen as Sir Georg Solti’s assistant the same year as his graduation from the Paris Conservatoire (where he won a unanimous First Prize in 1995). Not surprisingly, Denève has a special connection with French music.
As for the soloist, the 39-year-old Braley launched his career with a first-prize win at the 1991 Queen Elisabeth Competition of Belgium, and went on to perform with a long list of top orchestras and conductors. He has toured China as soloist with the Orchestre National de France (Charles Dutoit, conductor); his world tours have also extended from Japan and China to France and Italy. Like so many keyboard stars, Braley began his studies early (at 4) and was already performing with major orchestras at 10.
Concert details: A matinee at 1 p.m. today, and 8 p.m. Saturday, Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle; $17-$95 (206-215-4747, 866-833-4747 or www.seattlesymphony.org).
Music of Remembrance
Soprano Jane Eaglen is the star of this weekend’s Music of Remembrance concert, when she will sing the very moving “Letter to Warsaw” song cycle of Thomas Pasatieri. (Eaglen also sang the work’s premiere and in a subsequent recording on the Naxos label.) Gerard Schwarz will again conduct the work, based on poetry of Polish singer/poet Pola Braun, who died in a concentration camp in World War II.
Also featured is the world premiere of a new commission by Gerard Schwarz, “Rudolf and Jeanette,” in honor of his grandparents, who also perished in the Holocaust. An earlier Schwarz composition, “In Memoriam,” was performed two years ago by his son Julian, a cellist and recipient of the first David Tonkonogui Memorial Award, presented by Music of Remembrance in honor of a late and beloved Seattle Symphony cellist.
The concert, which marks Music of Remembrance’s 10th anniversary, also features the return of renowned bassist Gary Karr to the stage; he will come out of retirement to perform Bloch’s “Prayer.” The other performers: Leonid Keylin, violin; Jeannie Wells Yablonsky, violin; Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola; Mara Finkelstein and Julian Schwarz, cello; Jonathan Green, double bass; Scott Goff, flute; Ben Hausmann, oboe; Laura DeLuca, clarinet; Paul Rafanelli, bassoon; John Cerminaro, French horn; David Gordon, trumpet; Valerie Muzzolini, harp; and Mina Miller, piano.
Concert details: 4 p.m. Sunday, Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall; $36 (206-365-7770 or www.musicofremembrance.org).
More concerts of note
The 27-year-old Russian pianist Yevgeny Sudbin, called “potentially one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century” by the London Daily Telegraph, opens the President’s Piano Series with an 8 p.m. recital Wednesday in Meany Theater, University of Washington; $20-$34 (206-543-4880 or www.uwworldseries.org). He has chosen to play a pair of Haydn sonatas, Medtner’s “Remeniscenza” Sonata, two Chopin Mazurkas and a set of Scriabin works (with which the pianist has been particularly associated).
Also, the Autumn Piano Festival is a new series from Gallery Concerts, featuring historic pianos, including the 1867 Governor’s Chickering, in three keyboard concerts at Queen Anne Christian Church of Seattle. First off is a Sunday’s “Masterpieces in Miniature,” with pianist Tamara Friedman in a set of small-scale works by Romantic composers (Chopin, Schumann, Grieg, Dvorák and Brahms). 3 p.m. Sunday, Queen Anne Christian Church, 1316 Third Ave. W., Seattle; $10-$25, with kids 7-14 admitted free on a one-to-one basis with paid-ticket adults (206-726-6088 or www.galleryconcerts.org).
Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com