December 2022
Repertoire
The program includes Chopin’s 24 preludes interspersed with small masterpieces by authors such as Francesco Tristano, György Ligeti, Nino Rota, Chilly Gonzales, Toru Takemitsu, Arvo Pärt and an arrangement by Alice Sara Ott herself.
Performers
Alice Sara Ott, piano
Hakan Demirel, video projections
Programme notes
It’s a pleasure to welcome back one of the most individual and sought-after pianists in the world. Appearing in recital on this occasion, Alice Sara Ott will present, for the first time in this country, a programme focused on Chopin’s 24 Préludes, op. 28. During the recital, her pianistic depictions will be accompanied live by a full-length video installation created by artist Hakan Demirel, whose subtle and evocative images will allow us to travel through landscapes beyond the music.
ECHOES OF LIFE
Alice Sara Ott, one of today’s most outstanding pianists, makes a return visit to our auditorium, this time to perform a solo recital. This former child prodigy has established herself as a mature artist of the utmost sincerity and authenticity. As she herself says, “I play as I feel at any given moment, so I don’t find it contradictory to perform certain works again and again at different times in my life.” Having recorded an album of music by Chopin for Deutsche Grammophon a decade or so ago, when she was in her early 20s, she has now returned to the challenges of his music with a project entitled “Echoes of Life”. Her programme is based on the 24 Préludes op. 28, a central work of the piano repertoire and one which encompasses a sweeping emotional range. She intersperses the preludes with short 20th-century works by composers such as Rota and Pärt, with the aim of offering a personal reflection on the thoughts that influence and change our lives: “In interpreting music from composers who, in their own time, challenged the system and redefined music, I see it as my role as a classical musician to carry this spirit forward by not insisting on reproducing bygone traditions and limitations.”