The name of pianist Vestards Šimkus is well known not only to hardened connoisseurs of piano music. Described as inspiring and phenomenal, charming and expressive, surprising and original, the talented master of the black and white keyboard has enthralled countless audiences with his playing, including juries of prestigious international competitions and erudite critics, both in his native Latvia and in distant lands. The winner of the Great Music Prize has dedicated his latest concert programme to Ludwig van Beethoven's monumental cycle 33 Variations on a Theme of Diabelli. This masterpiece has its origins in an 1819 invitation by the Austrian composer, teacher and music publisher Anton Diabelli to nearly fifty composers, including Schubert and Liszt, to write variations on a waltz theme he had composed. The youngest of the Viennese classical composers also responded to the call, producing a masterpiece that is often described as "the finest example of the variation genre" and "a microcosm of Beethoven's art", as well as "the most important piano opus of all time" and "Beethoven's most daring composition".
PROGRAMME
Ludwig van Beethoven's 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120
PARTICIPANTS
Vestards Šimkus, piano
