In 2011 we launched a new series in our new space, shining a light on great performers and performances from Australia and the world. And 10 seasons on we have established the Great Performers series as a place where audiences and performers come together to share great music in the intimacy of this great hall. There’s something very special about the relationship between audience and artist in this environment – many of our great performers come off stage in awe of the listening power of you all – the intensity of really listening and absorbing the notes and the words. It’s a relationship that we hope is as exhilarating for you as it is for the performers. Our line-up for 2020 welcomes back old friends and introduces you to new voices. I find each and every one of them exciting as artists, as musicians, as storytellers, and hope that the variety of music, of styles, and of experience that we have programmed for you is a fitting way to celebrate the 10th season of this Great Performers series. Marshall McGuire Director of Programming MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE PRESENTS GREAT PERFORMERS 06 ELISABETH LEONSKAJA PIANO Tuesday 24 March 7.30pm 08 LI-WEI QIN CELLO ALBERT TIU PIANO Tuesday 16 June 7.30pm 10 NICOLA BENEDETTI VIOLIN ALEXEI GRYNYUK PIANO Monday 20 July 7.30pm 12 THOMAS HAMPSON BARITONE WOLFRAM RIEGER PIANO Monday 14 September 7.30pm 14 JAMES EHNES VIOLIN ANDREW ARMSTRONG PIANO Monday 12 & Monday 19 October 7pm 16 INGRID FLITER PIANO Monday 2 November 7.30pm 18 CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF VIOLIN Monday 23 November 7.30pm Series Partner Legal Friends of Melbourne Recital Centre Photo: Courtesy of Arup Photo: Julia Wesely ELISABETH LEONSKAJA ‘She dazzled in performances of Mozart with ACO in 2016, and I was transfixed by her calm, fine, exquisite musicality. Mentored by Sviatoslav Richter, this is a musician of mesmerising quality.’ MARSHALL MCGUIRE Elisabeth Leonskaja is a pianist of the great Russian school, that tradition of powerful musicians that includes Rachmaninoff and Rubenstein. Artists like Leonskaja provide all the technical dazzle you could want but they’re also virtuoso interpreters, finding a direct line between music and hearer, creating moments of revelation. The crystalline simplicity of Mozart’s music that makes it so magical is also its challenge. Leonskaja’s lucid, less-is-more approach and scintillating technique makes these three rococo jewels sparkle. Aligned with Mozart’s by its translucency, Schoenberg and Webern’s piano music makes its quiet impact in elegant dabs and strokes of sound and silence. Leonskaja’s candour and command finds the connections between these different kinds of beauty. TUESDAY 24 MARCH, 7.30PM ELISABETH MURDOCH HALL Elisabeth Leonskaja (Austria) piano Mozart Piano Sonata No.6 in D, K.284 Schoenberg Six Little Piano Pieces, Op.19 Mozart Piano Sonata No.12 in F, K.332 Mozart Piano Sonata No.10 in C, K.330 Webern Variations for Piano, Op.27 Mozart Piano Sonata No.13 in B-flat, K.333 7 Photo: BonBon LI-WEI& ALBERT TIU OIN ‘There’s something about Li-Wei’s playing that always feels so natural, as if this was the only way the repertoire could be played. His big sound and genial stage presence mark him as one of the leading cellists in the world today.’ MARSHALL MCGUIRE The cello’s rich, soulful voice is ideally suited to the emotive and expansive music of the Romantics. The Shanghai-born, Australian-trained cellist Li-Wei Qin has made a brilliant career as a charismatic champion of their virtuoso repertoire. Schubert composed his A-minor Sonata for the now-obsolete arpeggione, so cellists have adopted it. In the exquisitely sombre slow movement you can hear tragic echoes of Winterreise. The headlong rush that opens Mendelssohn’s thrilling Sonata in D sets hearts racing, but the Adagio at the centre is a ‘Baroque’ aria of rapt lyricism. Pianist Albert Tiu is a bravura partner in these intricate chamber masterpieces. Paganini’s flamboyant ‘Moses Fantasy’ allows Li-Wei to astonish us as he spins out variations, each more extravagant than the last. TUESDAY 16 JUNE, 7.30PM ELISABETH MURDOCH HALL Li-Wei Qin (Australia) cello Albert Tiu (Philippines) piano Schubert Sonata for Arpeggione & Piano in A minor, D.821 Schumann Adagio & Allegro, Op.70 Mendelssohn Cello Sonata No.2 in D, Op.58 Paganini Introduction & Variations on ‘Dal tuo stellato soglio’ from Rossini’s Moses in Egypt, MS23, ‘Mose-Fantasia’ Albert Tiu 9 Photo: Andy Gotts NICOLA BENEDETTI & ALEXEI GRYNYUK ‘A superstar violinist who maintains a busy solo schedule as well as committing to working with children and teachers to ensure music is widely accessible through her Benedetti Foundation. She’s a big musical personality, matched here with two big musical essays.’ MARSHALL MCGUIRE Nicola Benedetti is not afraid to take musical risks, from her choice of repertoire to her no-holds- barred approach to playing it. Her compelling musicianship is matched by her commitment to sharing it with the next generation of musicians and audiences. The open-hearted lyricism of Brahms’s Violin Sonata No.1 is clouded by melancholy, a compelling bittersweet quality that makes it one of the composer’s best loved works. Elgar’s ardently Romantic sonata is a volatile showcase for a virtuoso violinist like Benedetti. America’s premier jazz musician and composer Wynton Marsalis tailored his Baroque-meets-folk Fiddle Dance Suite exactly to Benedetti’s exuberant style. MONDAY 20 JULY, 7.30PM ELISABETH MURDOCH HALL Nicola Benedetti (U.K.) violin Alexei Grynyuk (Ukraine) piano Brahms Violin Sonata No.1 in G, Op.78 Wynton Marsalis Fiddle Dance Suite (Australian premiere) Elgar Violin Sonata in E minor, Op.82 Alexei Grynyuk 11 Photo: Jiyang Chen THOMAS HAMPSON & WOLFRAM RIEGER ‘Hampson’s debut recital here in 2018 was stunning, and we immediately decided to invite him back so we could explore more of the artistry of this brilliant singer. A great master singer of our times.’ MARSHALL MCGUIRE Thomas Hampson is one of the world’s foremost storytellers. Whether on the operatic stage or in solo recital, the American baritone is a master raconteur. He’s also an advocate for his art-form and for exploring unusual and rewarding repertoire, especially the music of his homeland. A Hampson recital devoted to the rich songbooks of Samuel Barber and Hugo Wolf is an event to cherish. Both composers write ecstatically for the voice and matched a profound understanding of text with unforgettable musical imagery. And both are firmly in Hampson’s heartland. Wolf’s luscious songs pick up where Schubert left off: songs of intense and volatile emotionality, but also humour. You can hear Barber’s American accent in his open-hearted Romanticism and gestures towards transcendent rapture. MONDAY 14 SEPTEMBER, 7.30PM ELISABETH MURDOCH HALL Thomas Hampson (U.S.A.) baritone Wolfram Rieger (Germany) piano Songs by Samuel Barber and Hugo Wolf. Wolfram Rieger 13 Photo: Benjamin Ealovega JAMES EHNES & ANDREW ARMSTRONG ‘James Ehnes has a special quality about his playing, it’s intimate in detail but epic in imagination. He’s both poetic and heroic. An evening – or two – with James Ehnes is a transformative experience especially when he’s performing all of Beethoven’s sonatas for violin and piano.’ MARSHALL MCGUIRE The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth brings many chances to encounter his masterpieces, but few will be as compelling as James Ehnes’s journey through all of Beethoven’s violin sonatas. Ehnes has the magnetic personality, silken sound, the technique and the stamina to take us on this journey. It’s also the violin’s journey – over the 15-year span that Beethoven composed his sonatas, the instrument found the powerfully expressive voice we hear in the ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata and the sublime Op.96. Each of these sonatas contains something memorable: the madcap humour of Sonata No.1, the pastoral yearning of the ‘Spring’ sonata, but above all the ingenious interplay of violin and piano. Ehnes and his regular collaborator Andrew Armstrong have an almost telepathic connection, and the full measure of Beethoven’s passionate, funny, angry and profound sonatas. MONDAY 12 & MONDAY 19 OCTOBER, 7PM ELISABETH MURDOCH HALL James Ehnes (Canada) violin Andrew Armstrong (U.S.A.) piano The Complete Beethoven Sonatas: 1-5 (12 Oct) The Complete Beethoven Sonatas: 6-10 (19 Oct) Andrew Armstrong 15 Photo: Sussie Ahlburg / Gary Houlder INGRID FLITER ‘Ingrid Fliter is renowned for her Chopin performances, her recordings receiving the highest praise. Her mastery of the Romantic repertoire is second to none, and she manages to combine a fierce technique with an ability to give voice to the composers.’ MARSHALL MCGUIRE Few pianists channel the poetry of Chopin’s music as effortlessly as Argentine virtuoso Ingrid Fliter. Her way at finessing the melody out of Chopin’s filigree and illuminating a limpid sonority have made for endlessly fascinating recordings and recitals. The turbulent Sonata No.3 is one of Chopin’s most daunting works, epic in scope and kaleidoscopic in mood, from stormy anger to nocturnal introversion and finally jubilation. Fliter is the master of this late masterpiece. Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes also encompass multitudes, expanding the sonority of the piano to orchestral magnitude, alive with Schumann’s melancholy, heroism and whimsy. Fliter brings the elusive magic of these characterful studies to vivid life. MONDAY 2 NOVEMBER, 7.30PM ELISABETH MURDOCH HALL Ingrid Fliter (Argentina) piano Schumann Symphonic Etudes, Op.13 (including posthumous variations) Chopin Nocturne, Op.9, No.3 Chopin Piano Sonata No.3 in B minor, Op.58 17 Photo: Giorgia Bertazzi CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF ‘Christian Tetzlaff’s recital here in 2015 is still talked about by those who were there as one of the outstanding musical moments in the Centre’s history.