globe-trotting pianist alessio bax joins eugene symphony on january ...

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GLOBE-TROTTING PIANIST ALESSIO BAX JOINS EUGENE
SYMPHONY ON JANUARY 17
Bax is the 2009 Avery Fischer Career Grant recipient and a regular soloist on world stages.
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EUGENE, OR (January 2, 2013)—Hold on to your hats—the Eugene Symphony’s first concert
of 2013 leads off with Rossini’s heroic and ever-popular William Tell Overture, followed by the
technical firepower and superb artistry of Alessio Bax, who performs Mozart’s hauntingly
beautiful Piano Concerto No. 24 on Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 8 p.m. at the Hult Center for
the Performing Arts. Music Director Danail Rachev conducts this program which also includes
Prokofiev’s powerful Symphony No. 5.
Praised for creating “a ravishing listening experience” with his lyrical playing, insightful
interpretations and dazzling facility, Bax earned first prize at the Leeds and Hamamatsu
international piano competitions and was a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient. A
Steinway artist now based in New York, Bax began his musical career in his native Italy, where
he graduated with top honors from the Bari conservatory. Bax’s appearance with the Eugene
Symphony this month comes on the heels of his performance with the St. Petersburg
Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov at the opening concert of the St. Petersburg Winter
Festival in December. Closer to home, a New York Times critic observed that a recent
performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art left “an audience unwilling to let Mr. Bax go.”
And yet go he does. Bax’s colorful blog (“Have Piano, Will Travel”) chronicles his musical
expeditions around the <strong>globe</strong> through remarkable photographs—of Icelandic fjords, Bavarian
alpine flowers, and quirky camels—and provides generous insight into his artistry along the way.
As Bax writes, “Beauty, simplicity, immediacy is what makes music so universal. I've been
lucky to experience that feeling in some of the most remote corners of the <strong>globe</strong> and see first

hand [sic] the amazing effect that music has on people. No matter how long we work on every
single minuscule detail, we should never forget that gut feeling, that visceral emotion that
inhabits great music and is able to touch every soul in the exact same way, regardless of
geographical, religious or cultural differences.” Concert dates this season also include solo
recitals in Venezuela, South Korea, Japan, as well as at major concert halls across the United
States. In March, Bax will make his Carnegie Hall debut with cellist Sol Gabetta.
In his first performance with the Eugene Symphony, Bax performs Mozart’s celebrated Piano
Concerto No. 24. The piece is considered one of Mozart’s greatest works and has influenced
composers from Beethoven to Strauss and Haydn.
On Tuesday, January 15 at 4:00 p.m., Bax will conduct a piano master class in The Studio of the
Hult Center as part of the Laura Avery Visiting Masters program. The following day, January 16,
he and Maestro Rachev will present a pre-concert lecture sponsored by the Eugene Symphony
Guild at noon, also in The Studio. Both events are free and open to the public.
Tickets to Mozart Piano Concerto are available through the Hult Center box office (541-682-
5000) or online at <strong>eugene</strong><strong>symphony</strong>.org. This concert is supported by Oakmont Family Dental,
Dr. Matthew McLaughlin.
Related Calendar Events
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FORTHCOMING CONCERTS – Mozart Piano Concerto, January 17, 2013, 8:00 pm; The Planets, February 14,
2013, 8:00 pm; Beethoven Violin Concerto, March 21, 2013, 8:00 pm; Carmina Burana, April 18, 2013, 8:00 pm;
Dvořák Symphony No. 8, May 16, 2013, 8:00 pm.