“His playing blends warmth and clarity, intensity and freshness that simply grabs you: pure Beethoven joy.” Die Welt
Palestinian-Israeli pianist Saleem Ashkar, a Beethoven interpreter of distinction, makes his debut with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in the concert ‘Ashkar + Beethoven’, in Hobart 6 October at Federation Concert Hall and Launceston 7 October at The Albert Hall.
At just 17 years of age, this Nazareth-born pianist was discovered by Zubin Mehta, and his young talent was given a chance to shine with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. At 22, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York, where he established himself as one of the most important contemporary pianists. Saleem Ashkar is a frequent guest of the world’s greatest orchestras and festival stages, performing with conductors such as Barenboim, Mehta, Chailly and Eschenbach and with orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and Filarmonica della Scala.
A dedicated recitalist and chamber musician, Saleem’s current focus is a complete Beethoven Sonata Cycle presented by the Konzerthaus, Berlin which spans the 2016/17 season. Saleem will perform the cycle in parallel in Prague and Osnabrück and his home country of Israel.
He has been recording for Decca since 2013. Saleem is an ambassador of the Music Fund (www.musicfund.eu), which supports the development of musicians and music schools in conflict zones and developing countries.
Ashkar + Beethoven
This concert commences with a meltingly beautiful episode for the soloist, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4, a poetic meditation for piano and orchestra that strikes a perfect balance between the tender and the brilliant.
Schumann felt that a symphony ought to be the sum of its parts rather than a series of disconnected movements, and in his Symphony No 4 he achieves a grand and coherent narrative from start to finish. Disconnection is precisely what Peter Sculthorpe dramatizes in Port Essington, a work that takes an event from Australian history – a failed attempt by white settlers to establish a trading post in the far north of the country – as the subject matter for a work that contrasts “polite” colonial music with the primeval forces of nature.
SAMUEL J CAIRNDUFF | Director Marketing and Communications | Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
