The Washington Conservatory of Music
is honored to present
John O'Conor, piano
Saturday, October 1
8 PM
Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ
One Westmoreland Circle, Bethesda, MD
Pay-as-you-can
admission at door
"this artist has the kind of flawless touch that makes an audience gasp" -The Washington Post
Program
Franz Joseph Haydn Piano Sonata in F HXVI:23
John Field 3 Nocturnes: No. 5 in Bb;
No. 6 in F; No. 18 in E 'Le Midi'
Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata No. 8 in C minor Op.13
'Pathétique'
Franz Schubert Sonata in C minor D958
Irish pianist John O'Conor has been decorated with the title "Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" by the French Government, awarded the "Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst" by the Austrian Government, decorated by the Italian and Polish governments and in June 2011 was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun and Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by the Government of Japan. On October 1, you can hear why.
Following initial studies in his native Dublin, John O'Conor studied in Vienna with the renowned pedagogue Dieter Weber, won First Prize at the Beethoven International Piano Competition in Vienna in 1973, and made a special study of Beethoven with the legendary German pianist Wilhelm Kempff. Since then he has toured the world playing recitals in Europe, the USA, Japan, Korea and China and performing with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the London, Vienna, Cleveland and San Francisco Symphonies, the Czech Philharmonic, and the NHK and KBS Orchestras.
He has well-earned his international reputation as a masterful interpreter of the Classic and Early Romantic piano repertoires. The Sunday Times (London) said of an O'Conor concert, "Impeccable technique and musicality ... it would be hard to imagine better performances." His recordings on the Telarc label have brought him particular renown. CD Review described his box set of the complete Beethoven Sonatas as "Beethoven playing at its best;" the New York Times named his recording of the Beethoven Bagatelles as the best available; his recording of the John Field Nocturnes spent many weeks on the Billboard charts and his recordings of the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andreas Delfs have received great acclaim.
This concert for the Washington Conservatory is a preview of Mr. O'Conor's concert to be performed as part of the 110th anniversary season of London's prestigious Wigmore Hall in late October. The program offers a rare opportunity to hear a selection of nocturnes by John Field, who first developed the form which became an influence on Chopin. The pathos of the F minor slow movement of Haydn's F major Sonata from the 1770s is matched by a pair of C minor works from the next century: the Sturm und Drang of Beethoven's much-loved 'Pathétique' Sonata and the anguished Totentanz that closes the first of Schubert's three final sonatas.
The Washington Conservatory gratefully acknowledges the generous partial sponsorship of this concert by Culture Ireland as part of the
Imagine Ireland Program.
