On Friday, 7 February at 7.30 pm, Maelicum Concerts presents in the Chamber Room of the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid the Lithuanian pianist Andrius Žlabys, in his first recital in Spain, with masterpieces by Bach, César Franck and two outstanding premieres.
Žlabys, an extraordinary Grammy-nominated pianist and composer, is acclaimed for his amazing technique and hypnotic, captivating piano, and is considered one of the greats of contemporary classical.
Internationally recognized for his refined romanticism, deep sensitivity and prodigious virtuosity, the Lithuanian proposes an exciting program, which includes the Partita no 6 of his admired Johann Sebastian Bach, the premiere in Spain of a work of his own, Echoes of Light, his homage to Mozart, the absolute premiere of New Work, commissioned by the composer Luis Gustavo Prado as a tribute to Spain and Preludio, Coral y Fuga, by César Franck, one of the great masterpieces of piano literature.
Zlabys’ play Echoes of Light, which gives its name to the Lithuanian’s debut at the Auditorio Nacional, is a premiere in Spain. Dedicated to the extraordinary pianist Sergei Babayan. The piece was commissioned by the Irving S. Gilmore International Piano Festival. Žlabys has written a reflection on the timeless durability of music’s beauty: “The core of Echoes of Light is a texture I stumbled upon during an improvisation. I found it at the centre of an interpretation of two fragments from Mozart’s Requiem”.
The interpretation by Andrius Žlabys himself is, in itself, something very special. Žlabys’ works are, while profound, eminently accessible; the public reaction is extremely warm whenever he interprets any of his own works, for its connection with the audience.
Andrius Žlabys, born in Lithuania and educated at the Curtis Institute of Music, was 18 when the Chicago Tribune wrote: “Pianist-composer Andrius Žlabys is one of the most gifted young keyboard artists who have emerged in years”. Žlabys was also announced by The New York Sun in a review entitled A Bright Hope among Pianists, about their recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
