Pianist Robert Thies
Pianist Thies to Perform Chopin, Schumann
Pianist Robert Thies will be featured in a solo recital at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 5, during a St. Matthew’s Music Guild concert at the church, 1031 Bienveneda Ave.
The Los Angeles Times describes Thies as a pianist of “unerring, warm-toned refinement, revealing judicious glimmers of power.”
He first captured worldwide attention in 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. Thies became the first American pianist to win first prize in a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn’s famed triumph in Moscow in 1958.
The recital at St. Matthew’s will include Robert Schumann’s “Fantasie in C major,” a love-song to his wife, Clara Wieck, and a piece the composer described as “the most passionate thing I have ever written.”
The “Ballade in F minor” by Frederic Chopin will also be featured along with excerpts from Debussy’s “Images, Book I” and the premiere of “Farewell, Red Square” by Peter Schwartz. Selections from Rachmaninoff’s “Preludes, Op. 32” will round out the program.
Thies, who has been lauded for his “thoughtful and intensely moving interpretations,” has appeared with orchestras such as as the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Liepāja Symphony (Latvia), Mexico City Philharmonic, the National Symphony of Mexico, Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Louisville Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic and Pasadena Symphony.
Tickets are $35 at the door. Visit: MusicGuildOnline.org or call (310) 573-7422.