The South Korean pianist Sunwook Kim is giving a Celebrity Piano Recital to celebrate his post as Artist-in-Residence to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Poole Lighthouse on Wednesday 18 February.

He came to international recognition when he won the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, aged just 18. Not only was he the competition’s youngest winner for 40 years, but he was its first Asian winner. Sunwook Kim is looking forward to performing at Lighthouse; “It is truly a great honour to have been selected as BSO’s artist-in-residence for the 2014/15 season. Other than playing exciting concertos with the wonderful BSO for the season, I am particularly thrilled to be giving a recital in Poole as it will be my first time performing solo works at the Lighthouse.”

“I have prepared an elegant yet dramatic programme starting with Bach’s solemn piece, Partita 2 in C Minor.” The German composer wrote six partitas, originally for the harpsichord, between 1726 and 1731. No.2 dates from 1727 when Bach was also working on what was to become one of his greatest works: his St Matthew Passion.

Beethoven dedicated his Sonata No.21 in C major, ‘Waldstein’, to Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel, Count Waldstein. It is widely thought that Waldstein’s connections in Vienna helped give Beethoven the opportunity to go to the Austrian capital in 1792 to study with Haydn. Whilst there his compositional skills went from strength to strength and he was breaking new ground with every work. It was the acquisition of a new Érard piano, with its extended range, that heralded a new era in Beethoven’s pianistic writing and his Waldstein sonata, one of his finest, was the result of his fruitful time in Vienna. Sunwook Kim is aware of the experiments available on the instrument; “With one of Beethoven’s greatest masterworks ‘Waldstein’ Sonata, I will be exploring all possibilities of piano as an instrument”.

“Mussorgsky’s transcendent work Pictures at an Exhibition will end the evening for which I hope to portray its diverse characters, colourful sceneries and magnificence.” The Russian composer was devastated when his close friend the painter, Victor Hartman, died in 1874. Following an exhibition of Hartman’s work a year later, Mussorgsky decided to write a suite of ten piano pieces dedicated to the artist. A number of composers have orchestrated it, most notably Ravel, but it is Mussorgsky’s original composition which will be heard in this concert.
Venue: Lighthouse, 21 Kingland Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1UG

Date: Wednesday 18 February 2015

Time: 7.30pm

Ticket Prices: £19.50 (concessions available)

To Book Tickets: Call or visit the Lighthouse Box Office on 0844 406 8666 or visit bsolive.co.uk

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