chopin

Ohlsson’s His Name, and Chopin’s His Game

This week on Open Air Brevard, piano legend Garrick Ohlsson takes the stage to perform Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2. You may be asking, “Who is this Mr. Ohlsson, and why should I want to hear him play?” Fair question. WDAV features a lot of talented pianists on its airwaves.

But Garrick is more than your average piano player. He is a three-time international piano competition champion – this includes a gold medal win in the 8th annual Chopin Competition. Reviews from Ohlsson’s concerts have earned him nicknames such as “The Bear/Butterfly” and “The Thousand-Handed God of the Piano.” (Who wouldn’t want a nickname like that last one!). Even though it’s Brahms he’ll be conquering alongside the Brevard Music Center Orchestra this weekend, his nearly eighty-work repertoire is very Chopin heavy.

Learn more about Mr. Ohlsson below, and keep scrolling to hear him perform. There’s even an excerpt from his Chopin Competition appearance in 1970!

Ohlsson Infographic

 

Ohlsson performs after winning the Chopin Competition in 1970.

Ohlsson returns to the Chopin Competition as a guest performer.

Ohlsson’s career summed up by the pianist himself.

Must-Have New Release: Night Stories – Nocturnes, Jenny Lin

When I was a child, my mother read to me sweet bedtime stories, and I did the same when my two daughters were little. But, as a parent I had something my mother did not, and that was a portable CD player in my children’s rooms so I could play them nighttime classical music to help ease them to sleep.

Night Stories by Jenny LinOver the years there have been many musical albums designed to bring both children and adults peaceful sounds into the evening hours. I remember turning the lights down so that the moonlight would shine through the window, with music playing to enhance the beauty of the moonlight. Pianist Jenny Lin’s new album of nighttime piano music is entitled, “Night Stories – Nocturnes,” and proves to be the perfect gentle evening companion for both the young and not so young.

Jenny Lin is an outstanding artist comfortable with many genres, most notably from the Romantic, Impressionism and mid 20th century Modernism, all represented here. Beginning with Claude Debussy’s iconic “Clair de Lune,” the tone is immediately set for a splendid hour of musical nocturnal delights from the likes of Schumann, Glazunov, Tchaikovsky, Faure, Chopin, Grieg, Turina, Griffes, Paderewski, Glinka and Liszt. Many of the selections may not seem familiar, but their gentle beauty will definitely warm your senses and inspire your imagination as you spend the evening gently easing away the tensions of the day gone by. Whether or not the music elicits memories of childhood storytelling, this program is a perfect coda to a peaceful evening spent with Jenny Lin’s Night Stories.

 

Ted WeinerTed Weiner is a WDAV veteran. This San Francisco Bay Area native became WDAV’s Music Director in 1991 and has been maintaining the WDAV recording library and choosing much of the music we hear ever since. Night owls and early birds can hear Ted Weiner on WDAV from midnight until 5 each morning on WDAV’s Early Shift on 89.9fm or online.

WDAV Launches Radio Chopin™

Today, the world marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fryderyk Chopin, often called the “poet of the piano.” In a year-long celebration of the anniversary, WDAV announces the launch of Radio Chopin: 200 stories for the 200 years of Fryderyk Chopin. Each two-minute story recounts the people, places and particulars behind the composer and his timeless works.

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