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| Sarah Grunstein |
Internationally acclaimed Australian pianist
Sarah Grunstein
“Passion and Intimacy”
Sydney Opera House, Utzon Room
Thursday 3 October at 7.30pm - Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann’s Carnaval
Sunday 3 November at 5.00pm - Debussy, Beethoven, Chopin
“penetrating musical intelligence… tempestuous…imbued with a luminous calm” - The New York Times
Internationally acclaimed Australian pianist, Sarah Grunstein, returns to the Sydney Opera House by popular demand, to perform two concerts in 2019. While Grunstein is distinguished for her interpretation of Bach’s works, described by The New York Times as “tempestuous” and “imbued with a luminous calm", the praise she has received is not limited to her performances of this composer. Her two different 2019 recital programs include works by Beethoven as a prelude to his 250th birthday celebration, as well as Chopin, Schumann, and Debussy.
The first Sydney Opera House concert on October 3 presents a canvas of contrast and textured landscapes: Beethoven’s PastoraleSonata, Op. 28, Chopin’s Funeral March Sonata, Op. 35, and Schumann’s impassioned and deeply personal Carnaval, Op. 9. Grunstein remarks, “We journey through the pastoral nature of Beethoven’s Op. 28, then -- in Chopin’s 2nd Sonata -- through Chopin’s structure of drama and evocation of death. Finally, with Schumann, we find ourselves amidst the parade, characters, and dances at the masked ball depicted in his Carnaval.
Of Grunstein’s Beethoven performance The New York Times wrote: “Beethoven's Sonata in D was delivered with a directness that only heightened the tragedy that propels the central Largo; the surrounding three movements danced with appropriate grace..."
In the second concert, Sarah Grunstein juxtaposes Debussy’s Impressionist Estampes, Beethoven’s heroic Waldstein Sonata (Op. 53), and Chopin’s pianistic, nostalgic romanticism: a selection of Chopin’s mazurkas and nocturnes, his Berceuse, and his passionate first Ballade (Op. 23).
Many will remember Sarah Grunstein as the pianist who, as a young teenager, performed the soundtrack for Bruce Beresford’s early Australian film, “The Getting of Wisdom.” Sarah Grunstein soon after moved to New York, graduating from The Juilliard School (where she was later appointed as a Teaching Fellow), and earned her doctorate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her career has included concerts at London’s Southbank Centre, New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Italy, Austria, Hungary, the U.K., New Zealand, and her homeland.
"Her performance was an epic journey of musical concentration through Bach's landscapes of musical wonder." - Peter McCallum, The Sydney Morning Herald
"Introspective and poetic, Sarah Grunstein's performance was profoundly sensitive... Sarah really came into her own, playing with a spontaneity and abandon that stemmed from her technical mastery and intimate knowledge of this hybrid...
Against [the Utzon Room] backdrop, for just a few hours, Sarah Grunstein mesmerised us with some of the most beautiful piano music ever written." - Shamista de Soysa, SoundsLikeSydney
"Sarah Grunstein... produces the most lovely liquid tones from the piano; each note is like a tiny pearl, released gradually from beneath her talented hands … she gave an impression of heat, dust, and at times a profound silence."
- Stuart Thomas, Melbourne Report
"In a city rich in pianists par excellence, Sarah Grunstein is la crème de la crème. Grunstein's masterful rendition of the Goldberg Variations held her audience in a sparkling web of enchantment” - Eve Rifkah, The Classical Voice of New England.
"This Australian native … is an artist worth hearing." – Harris Goldsmith, American Record Guide
Acclaimed by The New York Times for her “penetrating musical intelligence” these two concerts will be a rare chance to hear one of Australia’s finest international pianists.
Facebook: facebook.com/sarahgrunstein4 Twitter: @SarahGrunstein
Venue Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House
Bookings 02 9250 7777 or sydneyoperahouse.com
Thursday 3 October at 7.30pm
Beethoven: Sonata in D major, Op. 28 (Pastorale)
Chopin: Sonata no. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 (Funeral March)
Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9
Sunday 3 November at 5.00pm
Debussy: Estampes
Beethoven: Sonata in C major, Op. 53 (Waldstein)
Chopin: Selection of Nocturnes and Mazurkas
Chopin: Berceuse in D-flat major, Op. 57
Chopin: Ballade no. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
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