The Macao Orchestra (OM, from the Portuguese acronym), under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, presents the concert “Piano Encounter – Meet Louis Again”, part of the Orchestra’s Maestros with Charisma series, on Saturday, 10 June, at 8pm, at the Macao Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium. The acclaimed Hungarian conductor Gilbert Varga was specially invited again to lead the OM and the Swiss-Chinese pianist Louis Schwizgebel. Tickets are now available at the Macao Ticketing Network.
World-renowned Hungarian conductor Gilbert Varga studied under three very different and distinctive maestros: Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celibidache and Charles Bruck. Varga was Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Philharmonia Hungarica in Marl and the Basque National Symphony Orchestra respectively, being renowned for his meticulous and refined conducting technique. His last recording, launched in 2011, in which he led and collaborated with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and pianist Anna Vinnitskaya, was awarded five stars by the BBC Music Magazine.
Born in 1987, Swiss-Chinese pianist Louis Schwizgebel began to perform on world stages at the age of 9 and was described by The New York Times as an “insightful musician”, dazzling early on the music circles and becoming a star pianist. In 2012, he conquered the second prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition and was invited to become a BBC New Generation Artist from 2013 to 2015. Schwizgebel developed his own performance technique, putting emphasis on the delicate changes and contrasts of music tones and piano touches. This concert’s programme includes works he recorded last year in cooperation with the BBC Symphonic Orchestra, namely Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Mendelssohn’s Overturn to The Fair Melusina and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major. It is certainly a concert audience members must not miss.
Additionally, in tandem with this concert season’s theme “My Time with Music”, OM offers especially to music fans the sharing session “Music hour with Louis Schwizgebel”, allowing participants to understand the perseverance and devotion behind musicians. The sharing session will be held on Friday, 9 June, at 7pm, at the Macao Cultural Centre Conference Room. Admission is free. All interested parties can register from today through tel. no. 2853 0782, during office hours, or through OM’s official WeChat account.
Tickets for the concert “Piano Encounter – Meet Louis Again” are available through the Macau Ticketing Network and are priced at MOP250, MOP200 and MOP150, with various discount packages available. Ticketing hotline: (853) 2855 5555. For details and enquiries about the programme, please visit Macao Orchestra’s webpage www.icm.gov.mo/om.
