Vassily Primakov
Russian born, multi-award-winning pianist Vassily Primakov makes his first appearance at the Adelphi University Performing Arts Center (AUPAC) Concert Hall, One South Avenue, Garden City, NY on Saturday, February 4, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. Primakov has been hailed as a world class importance and is known as the musician with the right touch producing music of exceptional quality. He is recognized for his playing of Chopin by the American Record Guide, “In Chopin, no one currently playing and recording sounds as good as this! This is a great Chopin pianist.” In 2009, Primakov’s Chopin Mazurkas recording was named “Best of the Year” by National Public Radio, and that same year, he began recording the 27 Mozart piano concertos in Denmark. His recording of the Mozart concertos was released last summer and won rave reviews, including a “Grade A” from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The concertos continued to receive high praise with BBC Music Magazine, calling Primakov a “Mozartian to the manner born; fit to stand as a role model to a new generation.” In November 2010, the first CD in a series of live performances, Primakov in Concert, Vol. 1, was released including works by Brahms, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.
The newest recording, Rachmaninoff Recital, released in May 10, 2011 under Bridge Records, Inc., includes Primakov’s renditions of some of Rachmaninoff’s most admired works, played on an extravagant Bechstein Concert Grand. The CD offers an enticing selection of the best known preludes, jumping between opus 23 and 32, with the Corelli Variations organized in the middle. The last piece of the disc is opus 3/2, one of the oldest and earliest works performed. Primakov’s dynamic and highly modulated renditions pay full justice to Rachmaninoff’s music, with ArtivMusic.com calling his frequent and liberal use of rubato and tempo modifications “tasteful and judicious, effectively linked to an expressive purpose.”
Primakov has played at a large number of venues over his illustrious career; from Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts where he won the William Petschek Piano Recital Award, to Bloemfontein and Johannesburg in South Africa for his show, “In Concert – All Chopin.” He has also played at the Gina Bachauer International Arts Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was awarded the Audience prize and silver medal; and the Young Concert Artists (YCA), where he won the first prize and the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Texas to perform his recital of “La Valse.”
Tickets for Vassily Primakov are on sale now and can be purchased online, at pac.adelphi.edu, or call the Lucia and Steven N. Fischer Box Office in the AUPAC at 516.877.4000. Prices are $35 and $42 with discounts for groups, students and seniors.