Andršs Schiff Launches Beethoven Sonata Project in North America | Playbill

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Classic Arts News Andršs Schiff Launches Beethoven Sonata Project in North America Andršs Schiff always had a healthy respect for Beethoven's piano sonatas — enough so that he had only played about half of them before he turned 40 and waited to reach that age before starting to study the rest. "I always had this plan to wait until my 50th birthday [to play all 32 sonatas]," he told Gramophone magazine. "Not because it held any particular significance but because I was not happy with the way I was playing Beethoven in my early years. I know of no other composer who has so many faces —heroic, metaphysical, lyrical, mellow — and of course there is his great humor."
Schiff celebrated his 50th birthday on December 21, 2003, and the following year he embarked on the Beethoven Sonata Project — a series of concerts, spread over two years and repeated in more than a dozen European cities, covering all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas in chronological order. Before long, tickets to hear Schiff play Beethoven became very hot items; his performances in the Zurich Tonhalle were made into a lavishly praised series of CDs on the ECM New Series label. (Volume 5 was released just last month.)

Beginning this week, Schiff brings his Beethoven Sonata Project to North America. Over the next two seasons, he will perform the complete sequence of 32 sonatas in four pairs of concerts, each given in Ann Arbor, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. In addition, he'll make one-night appearances in Santa Barbara, Washington DC, Boston, Ottawa and Princeton. A list of performance dates is below; complete information is available from the individual venues.


Ann Arbor, MI - Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan

    October 3 and 5, 2007 (Sonatas 1-8)
    April 20 and 22, 2008 (Sonatas 9-15, 19 and 20)
    October 24 and 26, 2008 (Sonatas 16-18, and 21-26)
    April 7 and 10, 2009 (Sonatas 27-32)

San Francisco, CA - Davies Symphony Hall

    October 7 and 14, 2007 (Sonatas 1-8)
    April 6 and 13, 2008 (Sonatas 9-15, 19 and 20)
    October 12 and 19, 2008 (Sonatas 16-18, and 21-26)
    March 29 and April 5, 2009 (Sonatas 27-32)

Los Angeles, CA - Walt Disney Concert Hall

    October 10 and 17, 2007 (Sonatas 1-8)
    April 2 and 9, 2008 (Sonatas 9-15, 19 and 20)
    October 15 and 22, 2008 (Sonatas 16-18, and 21-26)
    March 25 and April 1, 2009 (Sonatas 27-32)

New York, NY - Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall

    October 21 and 24, 2007 (Sonatas 1-8)
    April 16 and 18, 2008 (Sonatas 9-15, 19 and 20)
    October 28 and 30, 2008 (Sonatas 16-18, and 21-26)
    April 17 and 19, 2009 (Sonatas 27-32)


Santa Barbara, CA - Lobero Theater - October 12, 2007

Washington, DC - Kennedy Center Concert Hall - October 10, 2008

Boston, MA - Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory - November 2, 2008

Ottawa, ON - National Arts Centre - April 13, 2009

Princeton, NJ - McCarter Theatre - April 15, 2009

 
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