The young Italian pianist Alessio Bax has won first prize in two international piano competitions, Hamamatsu in Japan and Leeds in England, and received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2009. While much of his effort has gone into building his reputation as a soloist, both in performance and on recordings, much of his attention during the first half of this year will be devoted to chamber music as a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In addition he will be making his debut at the 92nd Street Y on January 15 in New York by participating in The Life and Music of Felix Mendelssohn, a program prepared by cellist Steven Isserlis for the Y’s Family Music: Ages 6+ series. (Violinist Stefan Jackiw will be performing along with Isserlis and Bax.)
During the first half of February, Bax will join selected members of the Chamber Music Society for a North American tour. The program for this tour is entitled Winds of France, and it was first performed last November at Alice Tully Hall. As the title suggests, the theme is that of wind music by French composers. All of Bax’ colleagues on this tour form a wind quintet within the Chamber Music Society: Tara Helen O’Connor on flute, Stephen Taylor on oboe, David Shifrin on clarinet, Peter Kolkay on bassoon, and Radovan Vlatković on horn. The composers represented on this program will be Francis Poulenc, Jean Françaix, Jacques Ibert, the rarely-hear Maurice Emmanuel, and the contemporary composer Yan Maresz. Bax will serve as accompanist for an Emmanuel sonata and will also perform Poulenc’s sextet with the entire quintet. The dates and cities for this tour are as follows:
- February 5–6: Calgary, Alberta
- February 7: Vancouver, British Columbia
- February 12: Menlo Park, California
- February 14: New Haven, Connecticut
- February 15–16: Kennesaw, Georgia (where the ensemble will also give a master class at Kennesaw State University)
Bax will also join Society members Elmar Oliveira, Erin Keefe, and Paul Watkins for a recital of Russian music to be given at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, on March 31 and then performed in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on April 1. This Russian focus will continue at the Society’s Gala concert on May 2, when Bax will join pianist Inon Barnatan for a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s second suite for two pianos.
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