The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Award-winning prodigy pianist Maxim Lando performs a recital at Farley’s on Sunday afternoon and gives a free public master class on Saturday afternoon | November 15, 2019

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ALERT: At noon this Saturday, Nov. 16, Grace Presents offers a FREE one-hour concert by Lawren Brianna Ware and friends. The concert is at Grace Episcopal Church, 116 West Washington Avenue, downtown on the Capitol Square.

Pianist and composer Ware, the 2017 Grand Prize Winner of the Overture Rising Stars Competition, will perform a program of original, contemporary and classical solo and chamber works entitled “These Are a Few of My Favorite Things.” Featured are works by Aram Khachaturian, Fazil Say, Frederic Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert W. Smith, Martin Ellerby  and Eric Ewazen.

By Jacob Stockinger

You have to hand it to Farley’s House of Pianos and its Salon Piano Series: They sure know how to book young up-and-coming performers to stay ahead of the curve.

Last season, they presented Kenneth Broberg, a silver medalist at the last Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, before he was accepted into the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, where he won a bronze medal.

This weekend, the Salon Piano Series presents another timely choice.

This Sunday afternoon, Nov. 17, at 4 p.m., the 17-year-old American piano prodigy Maxim Lando (below, in a photo by Matt Dine) will perform a solo recital at Farley’s showroom, 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.

Once again, Lando was booked just before winning a big award and honor.

In addition, at his Salon Piano Series premiere, Lando will have grandparents in the audience, as well as an aunt, uncle and cousins, all from the Madison area.

The son of pianist Pippa Borisy, who grew up in Madison, and clarinetist Vadim Lando, Maxim was raised in Great Neck, Long Island, New York, and has a full-time career as a touring pianist while still finishing high school.

Lando first received national attention in 2017 when he performed with superstar Chinese pianist Lang Lang and jazz great Chick Corea with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall’s Gala Opening Night.

He won the 2018 Young Concert Artists auditions at the age of 16 and Susan Hall of Berkshire Fine Arts has described him as having “a very old musical soul.”

This fall he received a Gilmore 2020 Young Artist Award, which recognizes the most promising of the new generation of U.S.-based pianists, age 22 or younger. He will perform a series of concerts this season at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival as part of the recognition.

For this Salon Piano Series concert, Lando will perform the same program he performed for recent sold-out performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Lando’s program includes: Nikolai Kapustin’s Concert Etude “Toccatina”; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109 (you can hear the opening movement in the YouTube video at the bottom); Alexander Scriabin’s Prelude in B major and Etude in D-sharp minor; and Franz Liszt’s “Transcendental Etudes.”

Tickets are $45 in advance (full-time students are $10) or $50 at the door (if any remain). Service fees may apply.  Student tickets can only be purchased online and are not available the day of the concert.

Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4275212

An artist’s reception will follow the concert.

For more information, go to: https://salonpianoseries.org/concerts.html

MASTER CLASS

Also, on this Saturday, Nov. 16, at 4 p.m., Maxim Lando will teach a master class at Farley’s House of Pianos, where he will instruct four local students.

This is a free event that the public is invited to observe.

For a complete list of the music by Beethoven, Prokofiev and Clementi to be performed as well as the names of the local students and their teachers, go to: https://salonpianoseries.org/concerts.html

The master classes for the 2019-20 season are supported by the law firm of Boardman and Clark LLP.

This concert is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

 


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4 Comments »

  1. Has your position changed? Or does it make all right that the people ripping off others are local and not superstars like Yo Yo Ma?

    Here’s what you wrote in a very good column (called “Classical music: Are super-high concert fees morally right or wrong? Do they contribute to the wealth gap and lack of young audiences? What can music consumers do?”) about high ticket prices for Ma (who is a much bigger name than the aspiring pianist in this story where ticket prices are $45-50 with ZERO discount for seniors and window-dressing discounts for students:

    “Are really high artist fees morally right or wrong?

    We all hear about the widening wealth gap, and especially about the astronomical pay given to CEOs versus their workers as compared to the same ratio several decades ago.

    Well, what about well-known and in-demand concert artists?”

    Again, I ask: what about not well-known artists whose promoters are asking high prices (with very limited or no discounts)? Is it o.k. if the person promoting the high priced tickets is local and that that promoter is making money through advertising and self promotion plus the high prices?

    At the very least, I’d say your positions are contradictory.

    Classical music: Are super-high concert fees morally right or wrong? Do they contribute to the wealth gap and lack of young audiences? What can music consumers do?

    Like

    Comment by fflambeau — November 15, 2019 @ 9:07 pm

  2. “As the preview says, included in a ticket to the Salon Piano Series is a post-concert reception and meet-and-greet with the artist that offers fine snack food and wine.”

    Sorry, but where does it say that in this story, and what is the “preview” that you are talking about? This sketchy language is all that I can find in the story: “An artist’s reception will follow the concert.”

    Note too that the high ticket prices and “free” Master Class are coming despite funding from a law firm and some public entities and that students are required to buy tickets online in advance (something they will not likely do) to get a discount. Why is that? Is this a cultural event for the community or is it a promotion/self-enrichment concert for Farley pianos and the Farley family?

    Like

    Comment by fflambeau — November 15, 2019 @ 8:48 pm

  3. Nice.

    My only concern is that the Farley tickets (At $45 and $50/day of concert) are pricey (why no discount for seniors?). For those prices, maybe there should be an extra something? ((Cake and tea/coffee with the pianist?).

    It’s good that they do have a student price.

    Like

    Comment by fflambeau — November 15, 2019 @ 1:33 am

    • As the preview says, included in a ticket to the Salon Piano Series is a post-concert reception and meet-and-greet with the artist that offers fine snack food and wine.

      Like

      Comment by welltemperedear — November 15, 2019 @ 7:01 am


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