The May recital of the Enescu Concert Series features Luiza Borac, winner of the coveted BBC Award 2007 for the best instrumental CD of the year. Luiza has gained international recognition through her dazzling stage presence, her passionate interpretations and her sovereign technique. Enjoy the opportunity to hear a timeless piano repertoire that includes pieces by Schubert, Debussy and of course Enescu.
Programme: Franz Schubert - Songs (Transcriptions for Piano Solo by Franz LISZT) Claude Debussy - 3 Preludes (Debussy - 150th Birthday Celebration), Le Vent dans la pleine, La sérénade interrompue, Les collines d'Anacapri George Enescu - Sonata Op. 24 No. 3 in D Major, Vivace con brio, Andantino cantabile, Allegro con spirito
Hailed as "a virtuoso of fantastic brilliance" and "poetic artist" by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Luiza Borac held a scholarship from the Hannover Chopin Society to complete her studies at the Hannover Music Academy, where she graduated with the highest degrees. She has also studied at the Bucharest Conservatoire and Juilliard School of Music in New York. Luiza Borac has performed solo recitals at Carnegie Weill Hall in New York, Steinway Hall in London, Cologne Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Athenaeum Bucharest, Puccini Hall Milan, Radio Hall Hamburg, Liederhalle Stuttgart and she has appeared in festivals including Aldeburgh Music Festival of Music and the Arts, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Oslo Grieg, Prokofiev at the Barbican Centre London, Enescu Bucharest, Chopin Festivals in Vienna and Milan, Bohemian Music Festival, Braunschweiger Classix, I Palpiti Los Angeles.
She has performed as soloist with Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of Nations, Bucharest and Cologne Radio Orchestras, Utah Symphony Orchestra and has worked with artists like Vladimir Jurowski, Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu among others.
She has recorded for the Radio Bucharest, Radio Bremen, Ambitus, BMG Ariola and Avie Records as well as for many CD, radio and TV productions around Europe and the USA and has taught piano and chamber music classes at Hannover Academy of Music and Mozarteum Salzburg. Luiza played in charity concerts for the homeless and orphan children in Romania. The 1991 UK Tour for the Romanian Relief featuring concerts in the Barbican Centre and Coventry Cathedral as well as the 2001 charity event of the Melanchton Church Hannover enabled fund raising to be delivered directly in Romania.
Her 2003 recording of George Enescu's Three Piano Suites for AVIE Records was highly acclaimed throughout the world not only for her wonderfully idiomatic performances - "excellent playing" Gramophone, "formidable interpreter" San Francisco Chronicle, "best performance" BBC Music Magazine - but also for the truthful quality of the recorded sound. For the German leading music magazine Fono Forum the recording was the "Star of the Month" in December 2003 and a hybrid-SACD version was subsequently released about which What Hi-Fi magazine UK said - "Luiza Borac's take on Enescu's Piano Suites is a testing mix of rapid-fire notes, an uncluttered acoustic and moments of breathtaking subtlety."
When: 3 May 2012, 7pm; Where: Romanian Cultural Institute, London.
Admission is free, but places are limited. Early booking is well recommended.
Please reserve your seats at T: 020 7752 0134, E: office@icr-london.co.uk.
Images: Ralf Bauer and Henrike Schunck.
