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JOINT CONCERT:

TAMARA SVANIDZE
   on Piano and Violin
with Graham Jackson on piano

SATURDAY, January 28, 2011, 7.30 pm

Richmond Hill United Church
10201 Yonge St.
at Centre St.

Tamara Svanidze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, (bordering Russia), both of her parents
professional musicians.  She was a child prodigy, playing her piano on TV at four, and her first violin concerto with orchestra at seven.  She continued performing for 25 years as a star on stage, on radio and TV, in Georgia, Russia, Germany and Italy until 2004, when political unrest made most concert life impossible.  She then came to Toronto, knowing no one at first, and has been living quietly, giving only four modest recitals, including at Toronto Waldorf School and the last one in 2005 at Heliconian Hall in Yorkville. Now a Canadian citizen, she is planning to resume her concert career.

Audiences are astonished to find she can perform equally on violin or piano, and has played all the major concertos with orchestra on both instruments.  Her dazzling technique is however combined with the soul of an artist, and Richmond Hill is fortunate to be able to hear her before she breaks out onto the concert stage again.

She will play the violin, accompanied by Graham Jackson in the first part of the program, in works by Gluck, Tartini, Saint-Saens, Wieniawski, Paganini and Sarasate.  In the last part she will solo on piano in pieces mainly by Chopin.

                                    Admission:  $15 ;  Seniors/Students:  $10

 

CHOPIN CONCERT:
Friday, June 4th 2010 - click the poster below for full image.
At the Church of the Christian Community, 901 Rutherford Road, just west of Bathurst.

Well, the concert happened.  It was advertised publicly.  The poster you see here was put up around Richmond Hill, there was a photo and short article about it in The Liberal (the local newspaper) and an announcement  in WholeNote magazine (the Toronto area monthly about classical music).

There was a modest audience of nearly sixty people, but from my point of view, it was a mixed success.  I had slept little the night before, so there were an embarrassing number of mistakes, even memory lapses.  The audience seemed forgiving, however, when I explained the reason, and even gave me two standing ovations!  So I guess it was OK.

Afterwards, I recorded the program on a CD and issued it as Graham Jackson plays Chopin.  I was not satisfied with it, however, so re-recorded it during the summer of 2011, re-issuing it as a 2nd Edition.  For purchase, see under Recordings.

The three selling points that make it unique are, first, the tuning system, as I am doing it on my own piano, secondly, that the performer is an 80-year-old making his debut on CD as a classical pianist. Thirdly, people might also like the way the pieces are played, the style of interpretation having been matured over about 75 years of playing the piano.

My first two CD's (q.v) had the first version of  Maria Renold's new tuning system, but this one has the improved system, sometimes called Renold II, which includes the expanded octaves that give it even more resonance. And I believe this is the very first classical recording anywhere in this tuning.

It includes Chopin's Ballades Nos. 1 and 3, four Etudes (including The Winter Wind) and his 24 Preludes, ending with a little Waltz in Gb.  As the Preludes are in all 12 major and 12 minor keys, this can serve as a demonstration record to show that the tuning works in all keys, just as the 48 Preludes and Fugues of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavichord did for the tuning of his day.

 

Having played Beethoven’s “Waldstein Sonata” Op. 53 for many years--decades in fact--I gradually found a dramatic, pictorial story emerging from the music, as if by itself. It has to do with the resolving of an inner problem and turmoil, through a visionary experience which shows the redemptive power of music.

On Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009, in the Music Room of The Toronto Waldorf School, I performed this sonata, first telling and demonstrating this story. Then I ended with three of the beautiful Impromptus from Schubert's Opus 90.

Without telling me ahead of time, a friend video-taped the concert and put in on YouTube.  You can find details and a  link on this website under Recordings.