Internationally renowned pianist Stewart Goodyear steps into VSO season-opening concert at the last minute
Originally scheduled pianist Khatia Buniatishvili unable to travel due to “unforeseen personal circumstances”
Stewart Goodyear. Photo by Andrew Barn
VSO presents Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 on September 23 and 24 at 8 pm and September 25 at 2 pm at the Orpheum
THE VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA launches its 104th season in concert from September 23 to 25, and it has just announced that French-Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili is no longer able to perform due to “unforeseen personal circumstances”.
“Both the VSO and Vancouver audiences were greatly looking forward to her VSO debut, and hope that she can make her way to Vancouver for a future collaboration,” the organization states in a release.
Stepping in at the last minute is acclaimed pianist Stewart Goodyear, who will play Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1.
Of Goodyear’s performance of the Piano Concerto No.1. at the Kennedy Centre for the Arts earlier this year, a writer for the Washington Post said the artist’s “incisive attack of Tchaikovsky’s 1874 concerto made for one of the most memorable performances of it I’ve ever seen."
Called "a phenomenon" by the Los Angeles Times and "one of the best pianists of his generation" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Goodyear is artist-in-residence at The Royal Conservatory. He has performed with and been commissioned by many of the major orchestras organizations around the globe, including last season’s appearances with Washington, DC’s National Symphony Orchestra and l'Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec. His recent commissions include a piano quintet for the Penderecki String Quartet and a work for the Honens Piano Competition. Goodyear’s vast discography includes the complete sonatas and piano concertos of Beethoven as well as concertos by Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Rachmaninov’ an album of Ravel piano works; and an album entitled "For Glenn Gould", which combines repertoire from the legend’s U.S. and Montreal debuts. His Rachmaninov recording received a Juno nomination for Best Classical Album for Soloist and Large Ensemble Accompaniment.
After the performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, the VSO’s season-opening concerts, under the baton of VSO music director Maestro Otto Tausk, will close with Daphnis et Chloé, a sumptuous ballet score by Ravel.
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 is presented as part of the Newmont North America Masterworks Gold Series (September 23 and 24) and the RGF Integrated Wealth Management Symphony Sundays Series (September 25).
See VSO for more information.
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