Start time 7:30pm
Hastings International Piano presents what promises to be the highlight of the season: a Gala Concert with one of the world’s best orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic, conducted by Scott Dunn, and two prizewinners from the 2024 competition, Curtis Phill Hsu and Harmony Zhu. The programme includes two pillars of the Romantic piano repertoire by Chopin and Rachmaninov.
Harmony Zhu, was just 18 when she won second prize in 2024 and now not only forging a career as a pianist, but also studying maths at Harvard. She will be soloist in Chopin’s poignant and romantic Piano Concerto No 1, written in 1830 when he was just twenty and about to leave his native Poland to live the rest of his life in exile.
First prize winner Curtis Phill Hsu is the soloist in Rachmaninov’s monumental Piano Concerto No 2. One of the best known of all concertos, the piece was a huge success when it was premiered in 1901 with Rachmaninov himself as soloist, and later became part of popular culture thanks to its use in David Lean’s 1945 film Brief Encounter and later still Eric Carmen’s 1975 hit (later covered by Celine Dion) ‘All by Myself’.
Programme
Frédéric Chopin: Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor, Op 11
Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concert No 2, Op 18
For more information see www.hastingsinternationalpiano.org
Pre-show Talk
In conversation with RPO
Studio 27, 6:15pm
Comedian, conductor, and St Leonard’s resident Rainer Hersch talks to Sarah Bardwell, Managing Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This free event gives a fascinating insight into the life of a symphony orchestra, what it’s like to perform on the very boards that Rachmaninov himself once trod, and how playing for a competition differs from what usually goes on in the concert hall. Tickets free but booking essential.
CLICK HERE TO BOOK PRE-SHOW TALK TICKETS