WE HAD A BALL

Raul Melo, David Gvinianidze, Tamar Iveri, Arsen Soghomonyan, Ruslana Koval, Natasha Novitskaia, Olga Lisovskaya, Ludmila Fesenko, Alexandra Naumenko (accompanist) Victoria Ulanovskaya (accompanist), Anna Kolkhida, Zachary James, William Meinert, Shaina Martinez, Natasha Novitskaia, Wooyoung Yoon. (photo by Ellen Godfrey)

Guest review by Ellen Godfrey....

Talents of the World concluded their highly successful three day Festival at Carnegie Hall with a Christmas Ball, described as a merry evening of opera, operetta, international songs and Christmas Carols. And a merry evening it was. Right from the beginning, when several couples waltzed onto the stage, it was evident that this would be a joyful evening.  The wonderful baritone David Gvinianidze, who is the President and founder of Talents of the World, welcomed the audience to the concert.

The evening featured the four winners of the Talents of the World’s first vocal competition in New York City and they were all amazing. Tenor Wooyoung Yoon, brought down the house early in the evening with his performance of the difficult tenor bel canto aria…”Ah mes amis” from Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment.  I have heard him sing this aria several times, and each time he adds a little something different.  After he sang the first part of the aria, the audience erupted in applause…which was echoed even louder after the fast moving cabaletta with the 9 high C’s. He has wonderful resonance and is delightful on stage.  He immediately connects with the audience.

Following Wooyoung Yoon, was the mezzo soprano winner Megan Moore, who performed Cenerentola’s aria “Nacqui All’Affanno…non più mesta.”  Megan has a lightly colored mezzo-soprano, even from top to bottom and with excellent coloratura singing.  She also portrayed the character of Cenerentola well.

Shaina Martinez, the soprano winner, was totally delightful singing and acting the comic romanza, “Carcelaras" from the Spanish zarzuela Las Hijas de Zebedeo. She had great fun singing it. She related with the audience who showed their delight in her performance and her beautiful soprano voice.

For a change of pace, the bass winner, Zachary James sang Javert’s song “Stars,” from the musical Les Miserables. He has a fine bass voice and good presence on stage.

Another young bass was William Meinert who sang Varlaam’s song from Boris Godunov. He had a somewhat darker bass and he sang this song with the vigor it demanded. Mr. Meinert also performed a charming duet from Pergolesi’s rarely heard comic intermezzo La Serva Padrona, with Olga Lisovskaya, director of the U.S. branch of Talents of the World. They both projected their characters well as well as highlighting the comedy inherent in the piece. Olga’s coloratura and lovely singing voice combined well with Mr. Meinert’s deep bass voice. The pianist Alexandra Naumenko received great applause for her extraordinary accompaniment. 

Soprano Ruslana Koval, who enthralled all who heard her big beautiful voice on Friday, gave another great performance of Mozart’s "Queen of the Night" aria.  She fearlessly and precisely sang all of the high notes in this difficult aria. There was great clarity to her diction and she brought out all of the drama and anger in the aria.

Arsen Soghomonya performed a wonderful "Granada" with his great dramatic tenor voice.

To wind down the end of the first part of the concert, we were treated to some wonderful operetta excerpts and songs.

Tamar Iveri has a big beautiful voice and she can do anything she wants with it.  She sang the popular Neapolitan song “ A Vucchella” by Paolo Tosti with great warmth and love. Her phrasing is always beautiful and, when called for, she can diminish her voice expressively.  The wonderful accompanist Victoria Ulanovskaya was there with her all the way.

Tenor Raul Melo gave a wonderful, funny, performance of the Ballad of the grotesque dwarf Kleinzach, from Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. He has a big dark tenor voice and caught both the comedy and sadness of the character and was very entertaining. 

Three tenors…Raul Melo, Wooyoung Yoon, and Arsen Soghomonyan,whose big dramatic tenor voice blended well with the other tenor voices, sang the Neapolitan song“O Sole Mio" à la Three Tenors, each one taking their turn and revealing the differences in their tenor voices.  Later in the evening they sang another Neapolitan song together, "Torno a Sorento".

Adele’s "Audition aria" from Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus was sung by the lovely soprano, Olga Lisovskaya.  She did a wonderful job of overacting, as was called for. Bass Zachary James and mezzo-soprano Megan Moore also added to the humor of the scene.

The second part of the program consisted of more ensembles and also included many beloved Christmas Carols. It started off with beautiful delicate singing by Tamar Iveri of the song "Autumn Flowers" by Kvernadze. She used many different colors in her voice…The pianist Victoria Ulanovskaya followed her beautifully.

Anna Kolkkhida entered the stage to sing "Silent Night". She began singing very softly with her beautiful soprano voice; then Shaina Martinez, followed by mezzo-soprano Megan Moore sang some verses.  The ending was sung in beautiful harmony with an angelic sound.

Adam's "O Holy Night" was sung as a quartet with Megan Moore leading on stage followed by Raul Melo, Wooyoung Yoon and Shaina Martinez all to good effect.

Baritone David Gvinianidze and soprano Ruslana Koval’s voices blended beautifully together as they sang and danced the waltz from The Merry Widow.

There was more solo singing in this half of the program. Mezzo-soprano Natasha Novitskaia, came out with a red dress and red flower…she gave a very sexy performance of Carmen’s aria “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle.”  Her mezzo voice easily dipped down to the lower register and up to the higher notes in her range.  At the end, she threw a red flower into the audience. 

Soprano Ludmila Fesenko sang a wonderful Ukrainian song “Dniprovsky Vals" by I. Shamo. Her lovely lyric voice reached up to the heights above high C.  She has lots of personality and acted as well as she sang.  She brought down the house. She was immediately followed by the mezzo-soprano Jenni Bank, who gave an equally great performance of “I am easily assimilated” from Leonard Bernstein’s  Candide.  She was delightful and funny in the role, singing with a comic made-up foreign accent.  She and the pianist, Alexandra Naumenko had a good time together.  Tamar Iveri sped through Rossini’s tarantella, "La danza,", and sang with great style. Pianist Alexandra Naumenko followed her perfectly.

 All the singers joined in a toast, “Libiamo”,  from the first act of La Traviata. Raul Melo, Ruslana Koval and David Gvinianidze sang and performed well in this scene.  The other singers surrounded them and sang the chorus. All the singers joined in (with Ruslana Koval’s voice soaring above everyone else's) toasting champagne and wishing us a Merry Christmas. Several couples danced as they had at the beginning of this wonderful evening.

Congratulations not only to the singers, but also to both pianists Alexandra Naumenko and Victoria Ulanovskaya. They provided great support and encouragement to all of the singers.  Congratulations also to David Gvinianidze and Olga Lisovskaya for putting together such a delightful evening, and for all the added touches to the production.  I certainly look forward to the return of the Talents of the World at Carnegie Hall next year.

(c) meche kroop

  

FESTIVAL OR FEAST

John Irvin, Raul Melo, WooYoung Yoon, Tianchi Zhang, Omar Najmi, Victoria Ulanovskaya, Alexandra Naumenko, Olga Lisovskaya, and David Gvinianidze

We are about to celebrate a Southern Italian custom on Christmas Eve--the Feast of Seven Fishes--at the home of some dear friends.  We are not sure whether the idea is to have seven different courses of fish or to eat seven different species of fish. In actuality, in prior years we enjoyed un'abbondanza beyond seven of everything.

Such was the case last night with un'abbondanza of artistry from five terrific tenors and two prodigious pianists, augmented by the talents of baritone David Gvinianidze, Founder of Talents of the World, and Director of same, soprano Olga Lisovskaya. The evening celebrated the 135th anniversary of Enrico Caruso.

Whilst enjoying entertainment, we are also learning, always learning, always forming new opinions.  Our take home from last night is that all singers should become aware of their own strengths and play to them. There is nothing wrong with pushing oneself in new directions--in a voice lesson or in a coaching.  But when one steps onstage, it is best to confine oneself to the type of material that suits one's unique gifts.

Two young tenors did just that last night.  WooYoung Joon has been reviewed by us many times; his strength lies in his stage presence.  He is what is called "a stage animal" and it is no wonder that he consistently wins Audience Favorite awards. (He also won the Grand Prix of this festival's competition). He clearly has a character in mind before he comes onstage and his connection with the character results in an instant and profound connection with the audience.

His Tonio from Donizetti's Fille du Regiment begins with "Ah, mes amis" and we instantly felt he was addressing us in the audience as his friends. This ability to communicate supersedes technique! Of course, we also love his healthy young instrument with its ringing tone.

Another impressive artist, new to us and one of the prize winners, is Tianchi Zhang who performed "Salut! Demeure chaste et pure" from Gounod's Faust. He too understood his character and delivered the aria in fine French with ardent intent and some beautifully floated high notes. We particularly admired his pianissimo, and the apparent ease of sound production.

Yet another prize winner, Omar Najmi, performed "Questa o quello" from Verdi's Rigoletto and and an aria unfamiliar to us--"La Speranza piú soave" from Rossini's Semiramide. In neither case did we feel that the aria suited his voice. There was something going on with the texture of his instrument that we couldn't quite put our finger on and occasional problems with intonation. In any case, his is not a voice suited to bel canto at this point in time; we found the fioritura muddy. We need to hear Mr. Najmi again, singing something different.

John Irvin sounded marvelous as Lensky in "Kuda, kuda vy udalilis" from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, beautifully limning the character of the anguished young poet searching his soul on the brink of an unnecessary death.  The pianissimo moments particularly drew us in. We liked him much more than in Romeo's aria "Ah! Lève-toi soleil" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. The pianissimo passages were fine but he tends to push during the fortissimo passages.  High does not need to be loud!

Even famous tenors have better affinities for different types of music. Metropolitan Opera star Raul Melo can sing Neapolitan songs with all the requisite garlic and he did just that last night; "Core 'ngrato" was sung with affecting heartbreak. The same intensity worked magnificently in "Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in which he successfully convinced us of Canio's anguish. 

Mr. Melo's strong middle register lent gravity to "Ma se m'èforza perderti...Si, riverderti, Amelia" from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera; the aria fit his voice perfectly.  Not so "Una furtiva lagrima" from Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. Mr. Melo is not suited to Nemorino, not vocally and not dramatically.

Although the program was dedicated to Enrico Caruso, there seemed to be a heavy emphasis on the memory of The Three Tenors concerts which were a huge success and brought many new audience members to opera.  For our taste, there was too much group singing and we are going to tell you why.

Friday night, all the sopranos were equally gifted and equivalently versatile. But last night, the tenors were differentially gifted and not equivalently versatile, so having several of them singing various verses of the same aria served to highlight the tenor whose voice and demeanor best suited the aria, at the expense of the others. A case in point was "La donna è mobile", shared by Mr. Yoon who was flexible in the fioritura, Mr. Zhang who sounded fine, and Mr. Najmi who fell off pitch.

In "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot, Mr. Melo sounded fine, Mr. Yoon just about made the challenges of the low notes, and Mr. Irvin only succeeded in the midrange.

Still, we were happy to hear so many Neapolitan favorites at the end of the program, although it was disconcerting to see Mr. Irvin alone "on the book".  The evening ended with everyone sharing Denza's "Funiculi, funiculà", an audience favorite.

The evening would not have been complete without Mr. Gvinianidze's splendid baritone filling out Vincenzo DiChiara's "La Spagnola".  What a treat!

Pianistic artistry was shared by the lovely Alexandra Naumenko and Olga Ulanovskaya, who treated us to a piano medley of Italian melodies.

Tomorrow's Christmas Ball will bring in many voices and many types of music; it will be held in Zankel Hall at 7:00 PM.  Do not miss!

(c) meche kroop

TALENTS OF THE WORLD FESTIVAL

The title of "Festival" may sometimes be overused, implying an experience that is out of the ordinary. Last night at Weill Recital Hall, what we experienced was truly extraordinary. In observance of what would have been the 95th birthday of the legendary soprano Maria Callas, we were introduced to several world-class sopranos, any one of which could be the next Callas. As icing on the cake, we got to hear the two top prize winners of the Talents of the World 2018 competition. Who could ask for anything more!

The evening of arias began with a riveting performance of Lucia's Act I aria from Donizetti's masterpiece Lucia di Lammermoor by the astonishingly versatile Ukrainian coloratura soprano Ruslana Koval. "Regnava il silencio" depicts the fragile heroine relating what amounts to a ghost story to her companion. The artistry exhibited by Ms. Koval was in allowing us to see Lucia's unbalanced nature, thus establishing the groundwork for her later decompensation.

We sat in our seat, eyes wide, seeing the ghost through her eyes. Ms. Koval must have had dance training because her use of bodily gesture perfectly mirrored the text, as did her vocal coloration. The fioritura was perfectly rendered as well. Need we mention that her instrument is a gorgeous one which reflects her beauty.  One does not have to be gorgeous to be a good singer but it certainly doesn't hurt.

We appreciated her versatility when she enacted the innocent Gilda singing "Caro nome" from Verdi's Rigoletto; her portrayal of the Queen of the Night from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte had an entirely different coloration--fiery, imperious, but well modulated dynamically; the fioritura evinced pinpoint accuracy.

Her Violetta embodied all of the ambivalence of the character weighing her frenetic party life against the possibility of romance in Act I of Verdi's La Traviata. For visual interest, there were several costume changes to underscore the effect. This is a soprano to watch!

Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri has a very different instrument with a completely different set of gifts. Her voice is a spinto one with a lot of weight that stood up well to the demands made on a Verdi soprano. Her Desdemona was warm and loving toward Otello in the romantic duet "Gia nella notte densa" with Armenian tenor Arsen Soghomonya struggling with a head and chest cold.

What a change she exhibited as she portrayed the terrified Amelia in "Ma dall'arido stelo divulsa" from Ballo in Maschera. Her vocalism and acting were so intense that we could feel her terror. "Udiste? Come Albeggi" from Il Trovatore required even more of her--maintaining a beautiful tone whilst expressing a series of emotions toward the Conte di Luna. Leonora is in a rage but also must beg for pity from this vengeful rejected lover, here performed by the mellow toned baritone David Gvinianidze, President and Founder of Talents of the World.

With great versatility she conveyed the gentle character of Adriana in "Io son l'humile ancella" from Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur and also the pathos and desperation of Manon in "Sola, Perduta, Abbandonata" from Puccini's Manon Lescaut. This is another soprano to relish, one with both power and subtlety.  She too changed costumes a couple times and if we weren't writing about the music, we would be describing the gorgeous gowns!

Talents of the World's Director Olga Lisovskaya herself has a lovely voice and delighted us with some dazzling coloratura in Juliette's waltz "Ah, je veux vivre" from the opera by Gounod. This is a pleasing sound with lovely phrasing and some impressive expansion at the top of the register. She also served as hostess for the evening, introducing the singers.

We just wrote about Anna Cley's effective master class a few days ago and were delighted to have an opportunity to hear her perform. The fair and slender Ms. Cley looks nothing like the gypsy Carmen so her performance of the "Habanera" succeeded brilliantly on the basis of vocalism alone and evoked huge applause. This is a dusky voice with the texture of a true mezzo, not just the voice of someone with low notes. 

She was similarly outstanding in the duet "Belle nuit" from Offenbach's  Les Contes d'Hoffmann with Shaina Martinez taking the soprano part. Their voices harmonized beautifully. Ms. Martinez won the First Prize in the Talents of the World 2018 International Competition. We have written several times about Ms. Martinez since her student days at Manhattan School of Music.

She gave a highly persuasive delivery of "Tu che di gel sei cinta" from Puccini's Turandot; she certainly could have melted anyone's cold heart!  She has beautiful tone and phrasing. We enjoyed her duet with Second Prize Winner Sarah Joyce Cooper in "Sull'aria" from Mozart's Nozze di Figaro.

Ms. Cooper also had a solo--"Depuis le jour" from Charpentier's Louise which showed off her sweet tone and fine French.

The program closed with three unusual ensembles.  Ms. Koval, Ms. Lisovskaya and Ms. Martinez sang the charming chanson "Les filles de Cadix" by Leo Delibes, a song loved by Ms. Callas.

Lauretta's aria "Oh mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi was performed by Ms. Koval, Ms. Iveri, and Ms. Martinez.

"Quando m'en vo" from Puccini's La Bohème was given a funny turn when Ms. Koval, Ms. Iveri, and Ms. Lisovskaya took turns upstaging one another. It was a great way to close this exciting evening, one which seemed to just fly by.

Pianist for the evening was the incredibly talented Alexandra Naumenko whom we remember well from her days with the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. How satisfying it is to witness the artistic success of people we admire.

There is more to come from Talents of the World. Tonight there will be a testosterone fueled evening of tenors. And Sunday night will be a grand celebration with opera, operetta, and Christmas music.  This certainly does qualify as a festival!

(c) meche kroop

LEI XU, XIE XIE NI

Lei Xu

The good news is that soprano Lei Xu gave a wonderful recital last night, presented by the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.  The bad news is that we had to miss the set of Chinese folk songs and the Spanish songs in order to review Paul Appleby's recital.  But that's another story.  In spite of her glamorous appearance Ms. Xu is an unfussy performer who commands the stage without excessive gesture.  Her poised presentation and focused sound made every song a miniature gem; she scaled her sound to the size of the room and conveyed a feeling of warmth and intimacy.

Accompanied by the equally talented Nimrod David Pfeffer, she opened her program with five selections from La Bonne Chanson by Gabriel Fauré.  Our favorite selection was "J'ai presque peur, en vérité" when her voice opened up to the sentiment of a lover's passion.  Mr. Pfeffer's piano made the most of the rippling arpeggios in "Puisque l'aube grandit" and the birdsong in "Avant que tu ne t'en ailles".  The major/minor shifts in "La lune blanche luit dans les bois" were delightful.

For the set of songs by Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexandra Naumenko assumed the role of accompanist and imbued the songs with the appropriate Russian flavor.  In "The Rose enslaves the Nightingale", Ms. Xu showed off the brilliant top of her register and in "Clearer than the singing of the lark", she negotiated the rapid-fire pace with grand style.  What a lot of consonants to speed through!

The centerpiece and highlight of the recital was Schubert's "Der Hirt auf dem Felsen" in which clarinetist Weixiong Wang contributed a singing clarinet line that melded perfectly with Bryan Wagorn's always lovely piano work and Ms. Xu's graceful singing; she mastered the wide jumps which resembled yodeling and the clarinet mastered the echo effect.  The dramatic mood change when the shepherd-poet anticipates the coming of Spring truly resonated with us.  This brought the audience to their collective feet.  What a treat!

Following was Debussy's Ariettes oubliées and we felt fortunate to enjoy the languorous mood of "C'est l'extase" created by Ms. Xu and Mr. Wagorn.  With such languor it was difficult to make the "forced march" to Weill Recital Hall for Mr. Appleby's recital (review to follow) and we are hoping that one or more of our readers will contribute some news about the Chinese folk songs and zarzuela numbers that we missed.

Xie xie to Ms. Xu and her superb collaborative pianists for a glorious recital.  We feel privileged to have witnessed her growth during the past four years.

© meche kroop

TRIPLE THREAT

 

Do we take for granted what is in our own backyard?  We were asking ourselves that question during last night's recital by the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.  Here in New York the six gifted artists we heard are known as "young artists" or "emerging artists".  If we lived in any other city in the United States or any European City, they would be (and actually are) considered superstars of the opera stage.  They often assume relatively small roles on the stage of The Metropolitan Opera but are uniformly capable of assuming lead roles in other companies.

Take for example tenor Mario Chang who will sing the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier next season at the Met but who just performed Nemorino abroad.  Last night we enjoyed his full-throated round Italianate voice, his melting messa di voce and melismatic grace in five Venetian songs by Reynaldo Hahn, accompanied by equally talented Alexandra Naumenko.  His use of the music stand, however, diminished his connection with the audience; we were far more thrilled at the end of the recital when he sang Turina's Poema en forma canciones without the music stand and we could fully appreciate his connection.  It also gave Ms. Naumenko an opportunity to show her stuff in the "Dedicatoria".  

Let us then consider Russian baritone Alexey Lavrov who is only in his first year at Lindemann and will sing some small roles at the Met this season but has sung the title role in Eugene Onegin at the Rheinsberg Festival in Germany.  Mr. Lavrov has a mature sound and an uncanny gift for choosing a variety of songs that showed off his dramatic skills.  In "Chi sprezzando" from Händel's The Passion he was stiff and harsh as the text demands.  In "Deh vieni alla finestra" from Mozart's Don Giovanni he was louche, lounging against the piano and smirking.  His partnership with collaborative pianist Bryan Wagorn is a match made in vocal heaven.  Rimsky-Korsakov's "Redejet oblakov", a setting of poetry by Pushkin, thrilled us with its passion, Mr. Lavrov's matched by Mr. Wagorn's. In Georgy Sviridov's "Oh, my homeland" he was absolutely heroic.  In "An eine Äolsharfe" we heard him caress each vowel without shortchanging the consonants.  The only other singer we know who can perform this magic is Jonas Kaufmann.

Also a yearling, tenor Andrew Stenson has sung Orphée at the Seattle Opera, amongst other roles.  Last night, accompanied by the brilliant Nimrod Pfeffer, he performed Beethoven's "Adelaide" with such connection to the material that we could visualize all the elements of nature described therein.  Just watching and listening, one could tell that Mr. Stenson was seeing them as well.   In Schubert's "Epistel 'An Herrn Josef von Spaun'" Mr. Pfeffer's control over dynamics and rhythmic thrust impressed us greatly, as did his fleet fingering in the Liszt.  It was in the Liszt Tre Sonetti di Petrarca that Mr. Stenson loosened his grip on the piano and stepped forward, giving himself a major step forward in engaging the audience.

What great fortune to hear these six talented artists right here in our own backyard!

(c) meche kroop

THE HALF-FULL GLASS

A cheerful disposition requires being grateful for what one experiences and not mourning for what is missed.  Let it be said also that, at times, a taste of something is so wonderful that one is completely satisfied.  Such was the case Friday when I was fortunate enough to hear half of the final  Lindemann recital of the season.

Looking every inch the diva but sounding like the artist she is, glamorous soprano Lei Xu inhabited each chanson of Berlioz' Les Nuits d'Ete with such dramatic intensity that it seemed to be an operatic aria.  In "Le spectre de la rose", one could virtually inhale the aroma.  Several of the songs relate to loss and one could feel the heart deeply touched.  Ms. Xu's voice has a beautiful bloom on top.  Her piano partner Bryan Wagorn seemed to breathe with her and supported totally without ever overwhelming.

Baritone Luthando Qave sang three Schubert lieder accompanied by Alexandra Naumenko.  The fast tempo taken in "Die Forelle" made the song seem less serious.  The audience favorite was "Erlkönig" in which Mr. Qave's dramatic skills were given free rein.  Never have we heard such an evil seductive Erlkonig!  The voice of The Father sounded appropriately reassuring with some underlying anxiety.  However, one might have wished for a lighter more frightened sounding child.  Ms. Naumenko has a firm hand on the piano and there were moments when a lighter touch would have added some variety.

Her firm hand stood her in good stead as tenor Mario Chang sang Verdi's "L'esule" with a gorgeous Italianate sound.  This is a sizable voice, one that is quite suited to the Verdi repertoire and we were sorry to miss his Tosti songs and the Spanish songs with which he ended the program.

But we were committed to hearing pianist Soheil Nasseri perform his traditional program at Bargemusic in Brooklyn.  What a pleasure to hear our favorite composers played with verve and style.  We were most taken by Schubert's Sonata in A minor, D.845, Op.42; given our love for lieder, this is quite understandable since Schubert's melodies are always so engaging.  And especially since Mr. Nasser's piano "sings" so beautifully with lyrical phrasing and variety of color. 

Mr. Nasseri continued with Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet: Ten Pieces for Piano, Op.75, a piano reduction written some time after the orchestral version.  It seemed amazing how many subtleties of instrumentation the piano was able to reproduce.  Scenes from the ballet kept drifting in front of our eyes.

The program ended with Beethoven's Sonata No. 18 in E-flat Major.  We were particularly enchanted by the lyrical Menuetto and the playful Presto con fuoco.

It seemed bizarre to be thinking about Montsalvatge's "Cuba dentro de un piano" until I realized I was hearing an entire universe in Mr. Nasseri's piano.  This ambitious artist has promised to perform all of Beethoven's works involving piano by 2020, the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth.  Although Mr. Nasseri performs all over the world we hope to be present for more of them.

(c) meche kroop