Media Release 8 October 2015

World Acclaimed Norwegian Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes makes welcome return to the National Concert Hall for solo recital

Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
International Concert Series 2015
Thursday 29th October 2015, 8pm
National Concert Hall

One of the top pianists of our age, the world acclaimed Leif Ove Andsnes from Norway, will perform at the National Concert Hall, Thursday 29 October 2015 at 8pm as part of its Nordic themed International Concert Series 15/16.

For his solo recital he will perform a selection of the seldom heard piano music of Sibelius, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.18 in E flat major (nicknamed La Chasse or The Hunt) three of the ferocious Douze Études of Debussy, and, to finish, Chopin’s exquisite Ballade No. 4 in F minor.

After 55 cities, 22 countries, four years and three CDs, Leif Ove Andsnes’s popular and acclaimed "Beethoven Journey" (in which he performed and recorded the five Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra), came to a spectacular climax with a performance of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto in front of 6,000 people at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall this year.

Award-winning film maker Phil Grabsky has been with Leif Ove Andsnes throughout his Beethoven journey, the result of which is Concerto: Beethoven Piano Journey which is being screened in cinemas across the UK and in Ireland.

‘Leif Ove Andsnes’ performance in 2013 with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra was one of the musical highlights of the year’ said Chief Executive of the National Concert Hall Simon Taylor. ‘It is great to be welcoming him back for a solo recital, which I am sure will be another revelatory experience.’

Described by The New York Times as ‘…a pianist of magisterial elegance, power and insight’, he has been awarded six Gramophone Awards (some of the most significant honours in the world of classical music) and eight Grammy nominations. In 2005 Vanity Fair acknowledged his many achievements by naming him one of their ‘Best of the Best’.

The National Concert Hall’s International Concert Series 2015/2016 is sponsored by Dublin Port and supported by The Irish Times as print media partner.

Tickets are available from the National Concert Hall Box Office, telephone 01-417 00 00 or visit www.nch.ie. Tickets: €55, €44.50, €37.50 (€22.50 choir balcony)

Watch Concerto: Beethoven Piano Journey by Leif Ove Andsnes

ENDS
For further information please contact Sinead Doyle, Marketing & PR Manager, National Concert Hall, Tel: 01 417 0057/ 087 1775334

Leif Ove Andsnes

• Concerto: Beethoven Piano Journey screened in cinemas across UK & Ireland this year
• Co-artistic director of the Risør Festival of Chamber Music for nearly two decades.
• Music director of California’s 2012 Ojai Music Festival.
• Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, Norway’s most distinguished honour.
• Recipient of the prestigious Peer Gynt Prize, awarded by members of parliament to honour prominent Norwegians for their achievements in politics, sports, and culture.
• Recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award and the Gilmore Artist Award.

LEIF OVE ANDSNES Programme
Sibelius
Kyllikki - Three Lyric Pieces, Op. 41
The Birch, Op. 75, No. 4
The Spruce, Op. 75, No. 5
The Forest Lake, Op. 114, No. 3
Song in the Forest, Op. 114, No. 4
Spring Vision, Op. 114, No. 5

Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major, ‘The Hunt’, Op. 31, No. 3

Interval

Debussy
Estampes: No. 2 La soirée dans Grenade
Étude 7 Pour les degrés chromatiques
Étude 11 Pour les arpèges composes
Étude 5 Pour les octaves

Chopin
Impromptu No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 29
Étude No. 2 in A flat major (Trois nouvelles études)
Nocturne No. 4 in F major, Op. 15, No. 1
Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
Please note this programme has been amended from what was previously advertised.