Concert Program to Include Bach, Mozart, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff

Sensationally gifted Russian pianist Rustem Hayroudinoff returns to the Performing Arts Series with a public concert on Friday, January 13, at 8 p.m. in the Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall. His program will include Bach’s Partita No. 2; Mozart’s Sonata in D major, KV 576; Liszt’s Étude d’exécution transcendante No. 10 in F minor and Grande Étude de Paganini “La Campanella;” and Rachmaninoff’s Sonata No. 1 in D minor.

rustem_hayroudinoff3a-credit_ulli_richterHayroudinoff last performed at Middlebury two years ago, in January 2010. His performance of works by Franck, Chopin, Shostakovich, and Rachmaninoff was widely acclaimed as a highlight of the 90th anniversary season, prompting series director Paul Nelson to pursue the pianist for a re-engagement.

Hayroudinoff has earned worldwide critical acclaim for his powerful, nuanced performances. BBC Radio 3 commented, “Rachmaninoff asks everything of his pianist: a steely rhythmic sense, coruscating virtuosity, spiritual depth and introspection . . . Rustem Hayroudinoff marshals all these qualities.” After his sold-out January 2010 performance at the Frick Museum in New York City, Vanity Fair exclaimed, “Somebody give Rustem Hayroudinoff directions to Carnegie Hall!” Esteemed Soviet pianist Lazar Berman praised him as “a serious artist and master, whose emergence in today’s atmosphere of pseudo-artistic and shallow music-making is specially valuable and welcome.” London’s Classic FM Magazine described Hayroudinoff as a “sensationally gifted” musician of “stunning artistry.”

Hayroudinoff graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied with Lev Naumov, and received his postgraduate degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Christopher Elton. His performances have been broadcast on most major classical radio stations around the world. He has recorded for NAMI Records (Japan), Decca, and Chandos. His recordings of Shostakovich’s Theatre Music and the Dvorak Piano Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic were greeted with universal acclaim, garnering praise such as “dazzling and . . . electrically compelling” (Gramophone) and “utterly magical” (Classic FM) and were selected amongst the Best CDs of the Year by BBC Music and the Gramophone magazines respectively. His CD of the Rachmaninoff Complete Preludes was selected by Classic FM as a part of the “four disc essential Rachmaninoff collection,” alongside the recordings by Arthur Rubinstein and André Previn, and the recording of the Complete Études-Tableaux by Rachmaninoff became the Instrumental Choice of the Month with the BBC Music Magazine and was nominated for its Best Instrumental CD of the Year in 2008.

Hayroudinoff has performed to great critical acclaim in Japan, his native Russia, and Europe. His 2011-12 season will include performances of the Dvořák piano concerto with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia; recitals in the USA, Mexico, and UK; and chamber music series with the principals of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the U.K. and Germany.

Hayroudinoff is a professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Residency activities associated with this performance are made possible by the Rothrock Family Fund for Experiential Learning in the Performing Arts, established in 2011, which supports opportunities that broaden the scope of Middlebury students’ experience in the performing arts. As part of his Middlebury visit, Hayroudinoff will work with Middlebury College composition students, performing their new works and providing feedback.

The concert by Rustem Hayroudinoff will take place on Friday, January 13, at 8 p.m., at Middlebury College’s Mahaney Center for the Arts, in the Concert Hall. Tickets are $25 for the general public; $20 for Middlebury College faculty, staff, alumni, emeriti, and other ID card holders; and $6 for Middlebury College students. For more information, call (802) 443-MIDD (6433) or go to http://go.middlebury.edu/arts.