Achúcarro’s 90th Anniversary Tour with Raul Canosa in Washington, DC

  • Music
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Wed, March 23, 2022
  • 6:30 pm — 8:30 am
Achúcarro’s 90th Anniversary Tour with Raul Canosa in Washington, DC

The Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain welcomes Spanish pianist Raul Canosa for a recital around Spanish classical music.

The 90th Birthday Tour, an initiative of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation, will celebrate world-renowned Spanish pianist Joaquín Achúcarro’s milestone birthday. The tour will feature multiple performances by the Foundation’s Legacy Pianists and by Maestro Achúcarro himself, across the United States. The Legacy Pianists represent a group of current and former students of Maestro Achúcarro, at the brink of major careers.

The mission of the Foundation is to educate and benefit the careers of pianists, while developing and maintaining the legacy of pianist Joaquín Achúcarro in perpetuity. This tour, in collaboration with the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain is the fruit of the Foundation’s work and vision, and the celebration of one of the most important figures in the classical music world.

Program

  • Serenata Andaluza, M. De Falla
  • Becerril de la Sierra, M. Vallés
  • Gaspard de la nuit, M. Ravel (Ondine, Le Gibet and Scarbo)
  • Habaner, X. Montsalvatge
  • Habanera, E. Halffner
  • Serenata: Torre Bermeja, I. Albéniz
  • A l’Ombre de Torre Bermeja, J. Rodrigo
  • Après une lecture du Dante, F. Liszt

About the program

The Spanish repertoire is broader and richer than what is usually known. This program combines works by famous composers like Falla or Rodrigo with less-well-known Spanish authors including a piece written in 2015 by Miguel Vallés in a style that resembles the evocative atmospheres of Albéniz. The pieces are assembled in couples in order to appreciate the different way in which each composer treats the same genre: two serenades, two habaneras and two pieces closely related to each other since Rodrigo wrote A l’Ombre de Torre Bermeja as an homage to Albéniz’s Torre Bermeja and build it around thesame thematic material.

The other part of the program features two of the most famous and demanding programmatic compositions of the piano literature. The virtuosity is in this case always at the service of the music and the content behind it. Gaspard de la nuit illustrates with sound the magic and mystery encapsulated in the three poems by Aloysious Bertrand and Après une lecture du Dante depicts the horrors of La Divina Commedia’s Inferno and the angelical sonorities of Heaven in a piece that that represents, though musical allegories, the eternal struggle between Good and Evil. Both Ravel and Liszt made use of the piano to its full potential creating some of the most original and magic sonorities ever written for the instrument.

About Raul Canosa

Raul Canosa is a Master’s graduate from the Colburn School, currently pursuing Performance Diploma at SMU with Maestro Joaquín Achúcarro. He has been praised for his “great technical skill and what is less frequent, solid musicality” (Codalario, 2018). A. Ruiz Tarazona described him as the possessor of “an overwhelming pianism of great sound quality and true expressive delicacy.”

He has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Argentina and Spain with frequently appearances at the National Auditorium with the Andrés Segovia Orchestra. He has also played in Vienna Musikverein, Bayreuth der Zentrum, Sweden Trollhättan Cultural Center, Steinway Society of Puerto Rico, Los Angeles Walt Disney Concert Hall to mention a few. He has participated in classical musical TV and radio programs in Spain, Los Angeles and Argentina.

His studies have been supported by national and international scholarships as Excellence of the Community of Madrid, Juventudes Musicales Madrid, Wagner Association, Lieven Foundation, Alvargonzález Foundation, A Mas Música Association. He has also been awarded in several piano competitions: Tucuman’s International piano Competition, Ciudad de Linares Piano Competition, Esteban Sánchez, International Pedro Bote Competition, Shigueru Kawaii Spain, Mexico’s Villahermosa International Piano Competition among others. The most important teachers in his musical development have been Bruno Gelber, Joaquín Achúcarro, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Jura Margulis and Nino Kereselizde.

Canosa’s interest in Spanish music has led him to recover and perform works like Turina’s Symphonic Rhapsody for piano and orchestra. As a result of his research and interest he recorded a CD entitled Spanish Serenade and Dances, where he juxtaposes various popular musical genres as treated by different Spanish composers; Albéniz, Granados, J. Rodrigo, Mompou, Montsalvatge and contemporaneous works from González Vallés, C. Danés and one of his own.

Venue

Venue map

Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain, 2801 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20009

Admission

Credits

Presented by the Achúcarro Foundation in collaboration with the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C.

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