Thursday November 29, 2007
EMANUEL AX, piano soloist
Presented by Wilmington Concert Association
Thursday, November 29, 2007 / 8 pm/ UNCW's Kenan Auditorium
Tickets: $35 General Public / $15 Students
Subscription and Single Ticket information available at the Kenan Auditorium Box Office Mon.-Fri., 10am-6pm at 910.962.3500 or 800.732.3643.
For more information about Emanuel Ax and Wilmington Concert Association please visit the Wilmington Concert Association Web site.
PROGRAM & ARTIST INFORMATION:
Emanuel Ax is renowned not only for his poetic temperament and unsurpassed virtuosity, but also for the exceptional breadth of his performing activity. Each season his distinguished career includes appearances with major symphony orchestras worldwide, recitals in the most celebrated concert halls, a variety of chamber music collaborations, the commissioning and performance of new music, and additions to his acclaimed discography on Sony Classical.
Mr. Ax captured public attention in 1974 when, at age 25, he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists and, four years later, took the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. He has been an exclusive Sony Classical recording artist since 1987, making his debut on that label with a collection of Chopin scherzos and mazurkas. Mr. Ax's third volume in the recording cycle of Haydn Piano Sonatas (Nos. 29, 31, 34, 35, 49) received a Grammy Award in February 2004 the previous recording in the cycle (Sonata Nos. 47, 53, 32, 59) also won a Grammy. Other recent releases include two discs of two-piano programs (with Yefim Bronfman) of works by Brahms and Rachmaninoff; period-instrument performances of Chopin's complete works for piano and orchestra (on two discs); and the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with Bernard Haitink and the Boston Symphony. Other notable recordings are the two Liszt concertos paired with the Schoenberg Concerto, three solo Brahms albums, an album of tangos by Astor Piazzolla, and a recording of John Adams' "Century Rolls" with the Cleveland Orchestra for Nonesuch.
Born in Lvov, Poland, Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada with his family when he was a young boy. His studies at The Juilliard School were greatly supported by the sponsorship of the Epstein Scholarship Program of the Boys Clubs of America, and he subsequently won the Young Concert Artists Award. His piano teacher was Mieczylaw Munz. Additionally, he attended Columbia University, where he majored in French. Mr. Ax resides in New York City with his wife, the pianist Yoko Nozaki. They have two children together, Joseph and Sarah.
Photo of Emanuel Ax courtesy of the artist
Brought to you by Kenan Auditorium.
