The Boston Musical Intelligencer

a virtual journal and blog of the classical music scene in Boston
Robert Levin, advisor; Bettina A. Norton, emerita editor; Lee Eiseman, publisher

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Heralding Performances by Two Distinguished Pianists

BMInt is pleased to direct its readers to performances on the next two Tuesdays by two very different visiting pianist of great distinction. South African/American pianist Anton Nel, who will play on the Piano Masters Series at Boston Conservatory’s Seully Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 12^th at 8:00, is the only artist we know who plays the Wanderer Fantasy in his pajamas before breakfast. Have a look here. The Boston debut of Russian pianist Miroslav Kultyshev at BU’s Tsai Center on Tuesday, Nov. 5th at 8:00 is the other recital this article heralds. One can get a taste of the 2007 Tchaikovsky winner’s poetic inspiration in the clip here.

The internet tells us that in 1996, at at the age of 11, Miroslav Kultyshev made his debut with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2006, he has toured in Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, the United States, Holland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, United Arab Emirates, and Ukraine. In 2007, he won the 13th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia, being awarded second prize inasmuch as no first prize was granted that year.

He has released an album which includes his performance of all twelve of Franz Liszt’s Études d’exécution transcendante. He holds scholarships from the Yuri Bashmet Foundation and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society. He regularly tours with the conductor Valery Gergiev He has also worked with conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Constantine Orbelian, Yuri Bashmet, and Vassily Sinaisky.

For his free concert on Tuesday, November 5^th at 8:00 at the very commodious BU Tsai Center, Miroslav Kultyshev will perform Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles Op. 119, Schumann: Fantasy in C Major Op. 17, Chopin: 24 Preludes.

In the words of his publicist, Anton Nel, winner of the first prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall enjoys a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Following an auspicious debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven’s C Major Concerto after only two years of study, the Johannesburg native captured first prizes in all the major South African competitions while still in his teens, toured his native country extensively and became a well-known radio and television personality”.

As recitalist he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum and the Frick Collection in New York, at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, Davies Hall in San Francisco, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Internationally he has performed recitals in major concert halls in Canada, England (Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls in London), France, Holland (Concertgebouw in Amsterdam), Japan (Suntory Hall in Tokyo), Korea, and South Africa.

He continues to teach master classes worldwide. In January 2010 he became the first holder of the new Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Piano at the University of Texas at Austin. Nel’s recordings include four solo CDs,  several chamber music recordings (including the complete Beethoven Piano and Cello Sonatas and Variations, and the Brahms Sonatas with Bion Tsang) , and works for piano and orchestra by Franck, Faure, and Saint-Saens.

At BoCo’s Seully Hall on Tuesday Nov 12^th, Anton Nel will play Mozart: Piano Sonata in D Major Debussy: Estampes, Granados: Allegro di concierto and Schubert: Sonata in B-­flat Major.  $15 General Admission