Lisztomania: The Bicentennial of Franz Liszt festival celebrates the 19th-century Hungarian Romantic era composer’s 200th birthday from October 20 through November 5. Presented by Northwestern University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, the fest showcases Liszt’s influence on the development of classical music with the following events in Lutkin Hall at 700 University Place, on the University’s Evanston campus.
1:00 pm on October 20
Presented by Thomas Mastroianni, president of the American Liszt Society, Liszt and Transcendence is a lecture and recital that focuses on Liszt’s Annees de pelerinage. Admission is free.
7:30 pm on October 21
After an introduction by noted scholar and pianist Richard Zimdars, Bienen School faculty pianists Sylvia Wang and Elizabeth Buccheri will perform the tone poem Les Preludes in Liszt’s four-hand arrangement and pianist Read Gainsford will play Liszt’s Six Paganini Etudes. A reception follows. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.
7:30 pm on October 22
Marking Liszt’s 200th birthday, Bienen School faculty pianist James Giles will perform a Largely Liszt program that incorporates works by some of Liszt’s composer friends, including Schumann and Chopin. Birthday cake will be served to audience members at a post-performance reception. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.
7:30 pm on October 29
Pianists Yoshikazu Nagai and Dmitry Rachmanov will share a program of Liszt solo works that include transcriptions of music by Schubert and Wagner as well as Liszt’s famous Mephisto Waltz. They then will form a duo to play Liszt’s two-piano paraphrase of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Tickets are $10 for the general public and $6 for students with valid IDs.
7:30 pm on November 4
Bienen School faculty pianist Alan Chow will perform Liszt’s Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude and Dante Sonata, as well as Chopin’s Second Sonata. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.
7:30 pm on November 5
Distinguished Lisztian pianist Mykola Suk will close the festival with music by Liszt and Liszt’s onetime rival, Sigismund Thalberg. Tickets are $10 for the general public and $6 for students with valid IDs.
For a full schedule, call 847-491-5441 or visit www.pickstaiger.org. To order tickets by phone, call 847-467-4000.
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