By Signe Hammer
After captivating audiences three years ago with his stunning playing and engaging commentary, Ilya Yakushev returns to St. Paul’s on Friday and Sunday, February 18 and 20, at 5pm. Seating will be socially distanced at a maximum of 50 percent capacity, and standard Covid hygiene protocols will be in place.
Yakushev has mesmerized audiences at major venues and performed with great symphony orchestras on three continents, including his Carnegie Hall solo recital, the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Singapore’s Victoria Hall and Seoul’s Sejong Performing Arts Center. As well as possessing a fabulous technique, he engages effortlessly with audiences.
At age 12, Yakushev received his first award at the Young Artists Concerto Competition in his native St. Petersburg. In 1998, he won the Russian Federation Award for Excellence in Performance, and in 2005, the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, Ohio. Most recently, he won the prestigious Gawon International Music Society’s Award in Seoul, Korea. “Yakushev is one of the very best young pianists,” says “American Record Guide;” “it doesn’t seem to matter what repertoire he plays–it is all of the highest caliber.”
On Friday, February 18, at 5pm, the program starts with two popular masterpieces: Beethoven’s “Moonlight” and “Appassionata” Sonatas. Named “Moonlight” by a poet, the Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor was dedicated to a 17-year-old countess. The composer long considered the enormously challenging Sonata No. 23 in F minor, the “Appassionata”—also named posthumously—his most tempestuous.
The second half features pieces by composers who were themselves great pianists. When Liszt played his Six Consolations, wrote an American student, he “would dwell slightly here or there on a note as if entranced.” Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C-sharp minor was one of his most popular compositions; his Etude-tableaux in G-sharp Minor contains bell sonorities and chant-like melodies. Finally, Gershwin’s Three Preludes are flavored by popular and Latin influences fused with art music.
The Sunday, February 22, 5pm program begins with Beethoven’s Sonata, No. 8 in C minor, named “Pathetique” by the composer himself and dedicated to a patron prince. Next, Chopin’s Nocturne in C Sharp Minor was one of his last works before leaving his beloved Poland forever. His Ballade No. 2 in F major was composed while living with French writer George Sand (Aurore Dupin) in Nohant and on Majorca.
In the second half, “Two Preludes for the Left Hand” were written after a serious injury to composer Scriabin’s right hand. Despite the infirmity, sales of his sheet music sales boomed and made him feel “immensely popular.” Lastly, we hear Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major. “In the notoriously difficult Prokofiev,” wrote the “New York Times,” Yakushev “showed superb control… a consistent gentleness [and] a fluid touch even in forceful passages.”
Tickets for the concerts at St. Paul’s are $200, $400 and $600 pesos donation each, and are on sale through our website, and at the concert 45 minutes before performance time. Details of all Pro Musica’s concerts and Patron Membership are on our website, www.promusicasma.org, or contact us at promusicasma@aol.com.
Pro Musica Concert Series
Ilya Yakushev, Piano
Fri & Sun, Feb 18 & 20, 5pm
St. Paul’s Church, calle Cardo
Tickets 200, 400, 600 pesos
