Press release from Brevard Music Center:
Brevard, NC, January 19, 2022 — Brevard Music Center (BMC) presents Piano Perfection with pianist Zee Zee in recital on Tuesday, February 1, at 7:30pm in the inaugural season of the recently opened Parker Concert Hall on Brevard Music Center’s NC campus. The recital will include delightful and challenging works by three composers whose lives were intertwined both musically and personally: Clara Schumann’s 3 Romances, Op. 11; Robert Schumann’s Carnival Scenes from Vienna, Op 26; and Johannes Brahms’s Handel Variations, Op. 24. Tickets are priced from $35 and are available online at brevardmusic.org.
About the Artist: Zee Zee
An imaginative and electrifying performer, Zee Zee is unique among the young generation of pianists. Described as “full of enthusiasm and glamor, radiating the vigor of youth” (Chinese Gramophone), her interpretations and communicative abilities have been praised as “taking us to another reality… bright, expressive and moving to the extreme” (Belgischer Rundfunk), while her creative maturity has been hailed as “a powerful, passionate and compelling representation of pure artistry” (Los Angeles Times).
Pianist Zee Zee’s creative maturity has been hailed as “a powerful, passionate and compelling representation of pure artistry.” – Los Angeles Times
Highlights of Zee Zee’s recent performance highlights include the season opening concert with the Estonian National Symphony under Neeme Järvi, performances with the Macedonian Philharmonic, the China Philharmonic at Beijing Music Festival, the Philharmonia orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall under Paavo Järvi, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra as well as performances of the complete piano concertos of Beethoven and of Saint-Saëns with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Zee Zee started a recital tour throughout China and made her recital debut at the prestigious Lucerne Piano Festival in summer 2021.
About the Program: Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms
The lives and music of Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms are known by historians to have been deeply intertwined. Though there are too many unanswered questions about their personal lives to confirm anything beyond speculation, some might go so far as to describe the relationship between the three composers featured in this recital as a musical love triangle.
Clara Schumann was a celebrity pianist in her own time, and a composer with a distinctive, personal voice. Clara and Robert Schumann met when he became a student of her father, and subsequently, Clara’s advocacy and international reputation helped to raise the profile of Robert’s compositions. Just months before the decline of Robert Schumann’s mental and physical health, the couple met a new student of Clara’s father, Johannes Brahms. Johannes swept them both off their feet as a young, aspirational musical genius and he was quickly welcomed into the household of Clara and Robert Schumann.
In 1839, Clara (Wieck) Schumann wrote 3 Piano Romances, Op. 11 while she was on tour in Paris. During the same year, as he sought to improve his position and win the approval of the father of his beloved Clara, Robert Schumann wrote Carnival Scenes from Vienna. Literally translated from German as “Carnival Jest from Vienna,” this work for solo piano is a tribute to the celebration of Mardi Gras in Vienna depicting all manner of revelry: music, drama, mime, masquerade, and dance.
The Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, is a work for solo piano written by Johannes Brahms much later, in 1861. This composition is a set of twenty-five variations and a concluding fugue, all based on a theme from George Frideric Handel’s first harpsichord suite and is known as his Handel Variations. Biographer Jan Swafford describes the Handel Variations as “perhaps the finest set of piano variations since Beethoven,” adding, “…with a finish designed to bring down the house.”
Parker Concert Hall is Brevard Music Center’s new, state-of-the-art venue overlooking scenic Lake Milner. This season, the hall plays host to a ten-concert series from October through May featuring a varied lineup of classical, jazz, vocal, and fusion artists. The series continues on Tuesday, February 22, with the Curtis Institute String Quintet on Tour for “Stars of Tomorrow.”
All concerts begin at 7:30pm and tickets are priced from $35. Auditorium seating is reserved. Please note that COVID-19 protocols have been implemented for all concerts at Parker Concert Hall. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours prior to performance will be required. Masks are required for all patrons and visitors regardless of vaccination status. Current policies are posted on all ticketing and event website pages. To find out more about 2021-22 Parker Concert Hall performances, please visit brevardmusic.org/tickets. You can also contact the BMC Box Office at (828) 862-2130 or at boxoffice@brevardmusic.org.
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