RECITAL

Carnegie Hall
Stephen Hough - Piano

• DEBUSSY La plus que lente
• DEBUSSY Estampes
• CHOPIN Ballade No. 2 in F Major
• CHOPIN Ballade No. 1 in G Minor
• CHOPIN Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major
• CHOPIN Ballade No. 4 in F Minor
• DEBUSSY Children's Corner
• DEBUSSY L’isle joyeuse

Watch this video by Stephen Hough about the concert...

Pianist Stephen Hough Returns to Carnegie Hall with Works by Debussy, Chopin Tonight

Pianist Stephen Hough makes his second appearance this season in Carnegie Hall as part of the Keyboard Virtuoso Series in a solo recital pairing two French masters of the piano: Debussy and Chopin. He performs all four Chopin Ballades and Debussy's La Plus que lente, Estampes, Children's Corner Suite, and L'isle Jouyeuse. A uniquely insightful concert pianist, Mr. Hough is known for his innovative programming and regarded as a Renaissance man, distinguishing himself over the course of his career as a writer and composer, as well as a concert pianist.

Mr. Hough says of the program, "No two composers were more totally at home in front of the piano than Debussy and Chopin, hands to keys to strings to sound waves to pen and paper in one perfect gesture of inspiration. They both changed the way we hear the sound of the piano, both of them inventors of sonority: Chopin took bel canto singing lines and reproduced them on the keyboard above richly upholstered counterpoint; Debussy somehow preserved vibrations in the air, blending their ephemeral magic into music that reaches far back into deep memory." 

Mr. Hough recorded works by Chopin and Debussy for two recent releases for the Hyperion label, In the Night (2014) and Stephen Hough's French Album (2012). Mr. Hough has recorded more than 80 albums on 15 record labels (more than 50 of which were released on Hyperion) with works by more than 100 composers, including his own. Upcoming releases from Hyperion include a solo recital album of Grieg's Lyric Pieces and a recording featuring Mr. Hough's choral work Missa Mirabilis performed by the Colorado Symphony and Chorus, both to be released on May 5; and a recording of cello sonatas with Steven Isserlis that includes works by Grieg, Mendelssohn and Mr. Hough's own, Sonata for cello and left hand "Les adieux" (premiered by the duo in 2013) to be released in June. Mr. Hough has received four Grammy nominations and eight Gramophone Awards including two "Record of the Year" awards. 

About Stephen Hough - Stephen Hough is regarded as a renaissance man of his time. Over the course of his career he has distinguished himself as a true polymath, not only securing a reputation as a uniquely insightful concert pianist but also as a writer and composer. Mr. Hough is commended for his mastery of the instrument along with an individual and inquisitive mind which has earned him a multitude of prestigious awards and a longstanding international following. 

In 2001, Mr. Hough became the first classical performing artist to win a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. He was awarded the 2008 Northwestern University's Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano and went on to win the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award in 2010. In December 2013 Mr. Hough was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). He has appeared with most of the major European and American orchestras and plays recitals regularly in major halls and concert series around the world. He has given recitals in Chicago, Berlin, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Montreal, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Stockholm, and Sydney. He has also appeared with the BBC, Czech, London, Netherlands, Royal, Los Angeles, and New York Philharmonics; the Atlanta, Baltimore, BBC, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Montreal, National, NHK, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Toronto symphonies; and the Cleveland, Budapest Festival, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Russian National, and Tonhalle Zurich orchestras. His performance with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle was televised worldwide. He is a regular guest at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Aspen, Blossom, Edinburgh, Hollywood Bowl, Mostly Mozart, Musica Viva, Ravinia, Salzburg, Tanglewood, Verbier and the BBC Proms, where he has made more than 20 concerto appearances, including performing all works for piano and orchestra by Tchaikovsky over the summer of 2009 - a series he later repeated with the Chicago Symphony. 

A noted writer, Mr. Hough has contributed regular articles for The Guardian, The Times, The Tablet, Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine and was invited by The Telegraph in London in 2008 to write a blog that has become one of the most popular and influential forums for cultural discussion. His book, The Bible as Prayer, was published by Continuum and Paulist Press in 2007. Also an avid painter, Mr. Hough gave his first exhibition in London at the Notting Hill-based Broadbent Gallery in 2012. Entitled "Appassionato," this solo show displayed nearly twenty abstract acrylic paintings dating from 2007. Mr. Hough is also the featured artist in an iPad app on the Liszt Sonata in B Minor, which includes a fully-filmed performance and commentary, released by Touch Press. 

To find out more about Mr. Hough, visit his website www.stephenhough.com, his Facebook fan page (facebook.com/houghhough) or his Twitter page (@houghhough).