Musica Viva: Garrick Ohlsson

A titan of the piano returns in Garrick Ohlsson. Virtuosic yet powerful, Ohlsson showcases his favourite composers while debuting a world premiere by Australian Thomas Misson.

In 1970 Garrick Ohlsson – a gangly pianist from White Plains, New York, all of 22 and unknown beyond his hometown – pulled off an astonishing feat: from nowhere he won the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the only American to have done so. He somehow missed the announcement, a kindly audience member informing him that his life would never be quite the same.

In the subsequent 50 years Ohlsson has owned Chopin’s music like few others, playing it with authority, humility, a sense of discovery and deep commitment.

Ohlsson has other heroes too. Scriabin is one such example, his powerful, impressionistic music an ideal match for Ohlsson’s authoritative playing. He adores Barber and Schubert, Debussy and Liszt too, choosing this Australian tour for his first performance of the latter’s Sonata in B Minor in many years. His program also features a new work by the Australian composer Thomas Mission.

Saturday 3 Program:  Franz Schubert: Impromptu in C Minor, Op.90, No.1;

Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S.178;  Thomas Misson: New Work

Alexander Scriabin: Étude in C-Sharp Minor, Op.2, No.1; Étude in D-Flat, Op.8, No.10; Étude in C-Sharp Minor, Op.42, No.5; Two Poems, Op.32: Andante cantabile; Piano Sonata No.5, Op.5

Tuesday 13 Program: Claude Debussy: Suite bergamasque; Samuel Barber: Piano Sonata in E-Flat Minor, Op.26

Thomas Misson: New Work; Frédéric Chopin:  Variations brillantes, Op.12; Piano Sonata No.1 in C Minor, Op.4: Larghetto; Scherzo No.2 in B-Flat Minor, Op.31