Vancouver Chopin Society
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Message from the President
Iko  
You have probably heard about the spectacular achievements of Daniil Trifonov who, after performing for us in Vancuver on May 8, won two major piano competitions: The Rubinstein in May and the Tchaikovsky in June. After presenting Wunder and Trifonov last season we are thrilled to bring you two other top prize winners from the 2010 Warsaw Chopin competition: Yulianna Avdeeva and Lukas Geniusas will perform in our 2011-2012 recital series. They will be complemented by internationally acclaimed: Lilya Zilberstein and Janina Fialkowska.

There is still time to subscribe here: http://chopinsociety.org/subscribe or give us a call 604.871.4450 as our first concert falls in November. Every subscription earns one free ticket for our special event commemorating the 200th anniversary of Liszt’s birth. We know that some subscribers already asked for free tickets for this event but could you please confirm once again how many tickets you wish to have by emailing us or leaving a message on our phone system.

We are already thinking about the celebration of the Society's 15th anniversary that will happen in the 2012-2013 season. We prepare surprises for our regular subscribers so please stay tuned!

 

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LILYA ZILBERSTEIN - piano

 
"She has an iron-clad technique, and puts her immense power at the service of a wonderfully natural musicality; there are no frills to her playing, with nothing done for show, yet the impression it leaves is indelible." -- The Guardian, 2009

Since winning First Prize in the 1987 Busoni International Piano Competition, Lilya Zilberstein has established herself as one of the finest pianists in the world. A captivating recitalist, also a sought-after collaborator, Ms. Zilberstein has been performing duos with Martha Argerich for many years. In addition to show-stopping performances in Norway, France, Italy and Germany, a CD of the Brahms Sonata for Two Pianos played by Ms. Zilberstein and Ms. Argerich was released in 2003. Recent collaborations include extensive tours in the United States, Canada and Europe with Russian violinist Maxim Vengerov.

Lilya Zilberstein has also made numerous recordings for Deutsche Grammophon; these include the Rachmaninoff Concerti Nos. 2 and 3 with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic, the Grieg Concerto with Neeme Järvi and the Göteborg Symphony, as well as solo works of Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Mussorgsky, Liszt, Schubert, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel and Chopin. A native of Moscow, Ms. Zilberstein is a graduate of the Gnessin Pedagogical Institute.

 

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The Vancouver Chopin Society at Magee Theatre

For a number of years, the Vancouver Chopin Society has featured piano recitals with some of the greatest keyboard artists alive at Kerrisdale's Magee Theatre at 49th Avenue and Maple Street. Though not exactly a venue that carries the same audience recognition or prestige of The Playhouse, The Chan Centre or the Orpheum, Magee has a few unique advantages over its better known rivals. .

The theatre was opened in 2000 largely due to the active fundraising efforts of the students, parents and staff of Magee Secondary School spearheaded by former principal Eric Schiemann. The last of the great school theatres and auditoriums built in Vancouver, it is used primarily as a training facility for the school's Music and Theatre Departments, but it is also available much of the time as a facility for outside groups and productions. With 525 seats, it is a medium sized hall with a large performance stage and available orchestra pit. It has spacious and comfortable backstage dressing rooms as well as rehearsal and warm up space as required.

The theatre is run by senior students with standard professional lighting and sound equipment in the control booth above the entrance area. The seats are comfortable and easily accessible with good sightlines from every vantage point and the acoustics are excellent and without the downtown sirens cutting through the performances. There is a very large lobby where the Chopin Society holds its traditional and often lavish receptions for the audience and artists to meet one another at the conclusion of every performance. And the parking is free and close by.

For a highly professional facility with better than average audience access and location, this venue has often provoked a condescending and negative reaction from those who feel that unless it is the Chan, Orpheum or Queen Elizabeth Theatre, the experience must be at best, doubtful.

It might interest some of these sceptics to learn that a number of prominent artists, actors and musicians have been graduates of the school's performing arts and related programmes, including Judith Forst, Margot Kidder, Heather Thompson, Tom Northcott, Bing Thom, Raymond Chow and Dal Richards. And that the Chopin Society has introduced to Vancouver audiences on this stage pianists of the highest international calibre including first place winners, laureates and jury members of the Tschaikovsky and Chopin Interrnational Piano Competitions, among others.

We continue to make our concerts available to our audiences in various parts of the city, making regular use of the Vancouver Playhouse and the Chan Centre, but the Magee Theatre is our home.

By Don Mowatt - Arts Producer at the CBC in Vancouver from 1964 to1997. In 1997, he joined the UBC Faculty of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing, where he remained for nine years.

 

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Next Concerts

LILYA ZILBERSTEIN

LILYA ZILBERSTEIN
Friday,
Nov 18, 2011 8 pm
Magee Theatre

Beethoven
Chopin

JANINA FIALKOWSKA

JANINA FIALKOWSKA
Sunday,
March 18, 2012 7:30 pm
Magee Theatre

Schubert
Liszt
Chopin

LUKAS GENIUSAS

LUKAS GENIUSAS
Sunday,
April 15, 2012 7:30 pm
Vancouver Playhouse

Liszt
Chopin

YULIANNA AVDEEVA

YULIANNA AVDEEVA
Friday,
May 11, 2012 at 8 pm
Chan Centre

Bach
Chopin
Ravel
Prokofiev

SPECIAL EVENT
commemorating
200th birthday of Liszt

The dialogues of Franz Liszt and his daughter Cosima Wagner by Don Mowatt

Sunday
Nov 27, 2011 at 7 pm
Vancouver Academy of Music

 

 
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604.871.4450 | info@chopinsociety.org | www.chopinsociety.org