Join us on November 19 for the next installment of Music on Park Avenue, where pianist Per Tengstrand will embark on a journey through the piano works of Frédéric Chopin.
The music of Frédéric Chopin is beloved all over the world. It is accessible with its direct appeal, but at the same time it is a wonder of emotional depth and subtlety. Per Tengstrand has spent the last years delving into the music of the Polish composer, making both a film as well as a documentary series about Chopin. This evening, he will present some of the most popular and the most genial of his piano works, such as the first Ballad and the “Heroic” Polonaise in A-flat. Join us at Victor Borge Hall for an evening with one of the greatest piano composers in history.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
PER TENGSTRAND, PIANO
Per Tengstrand was born in 1968 in Växjö, Sweden. He started playing the piano at the age of 6 with his mother as a teacher. At age 16, he went to the Malmö Conservatory of music and later the Conservatory of Paris, where the audience broke the 300-year ban to applaud at the graduation competition after his performance.
He was a prize-winner in international competitions in Paris, Brussels and Geneva, and after winning first prize in Cleveland’s International Piano Competition, he debuted at the Lincoln Center in New York in 1997. After that he has performed in venues such as the Kennedy Center, Weill Hall in Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He has performed as soloist with the Detroit Symphony, National Symphony, Japan Philharmonic, Osaka Philharmonic, The Hague Resident Orchestra, Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, Singapore Symphony, the Nationals Symphony of Taiwan and Orchestre National de France.
Mr. Tengstrand’s career highlights include performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto in Suntory Hall with Japan Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Concerto No. 5 during Neeme Järvi’s final subscription concerts with the New Jersey Philharmonic; performances with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap; the Residentie Orkest in den Haag, under Neeme Järvi; the Royal Philharmonic in Stockholm, under Leonard Slatkin, and Stenhammar’s first PIano Concerto with Tonkünstler Orchestra Orchestra in Vienna’s Musikverein and Leipzig’s Gewandhaus under the baton of Kristjan Jarvi.
Per Tengstrand gave the last concert in the governor’s palace in Hong Kong under British rule, with Chris Patten and Margaret Thatcher in the audience. Together with the Deputy Secretary General of the UN, Jan Eliasson, he made a performance of music and talk at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Per Tengstrand is an artistic director of Music on Park Avenue at Scandinavia House, the Princeton Chamber Music Series, and he has a festival in his name in his birth town of Växjö. He is the recipient of the Royal Medal of Litterus and Artibus, which he received from the King of Sweden.
Photo Credits
Tengstrand: Anders Bergön, Alex Fedorov (Talk)