Critically Acclaimed Georgian Pianist Alexander Korsantia In Palo Alto Feb. 7

Steinway Society The Bay Area, the non-profit organization dedicated to promoting excellence in piano performance and music education in the Bay Area, continues its 20th Annual Piano Series by presenting critically lauded Georgian pianist Alexander Korsantia. Winner of the First Prize and “Audience Favorite” awards at the 1995 Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition, Mr. Korsantia has received international acclaim for his richly varied tone and extraordinary virtuosity. Mr. Korsantia will perform at 7:30pm on Saturday, February 7, 2015 at the Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto.

Alexander Korsantia began his music studies at the age of five with his mother, Sventlana Korsantia, a professor of piano at the Tbilisi State Conservatory. Recognized as a child prodigy, he won First Prize at the Trans-Caucasian Music Competition in Armenia at the age of 16. He launched an international career which earned him accolades for the “clarity of his technique, richly varied tone, and dynamic phrasing” by the Baltimore Sun, and a “piano technique where difficulties simply do not exist” by the Calgary Sun. The Boston Globe found his interpretation of “Pictures of an Exhibition” to be “a performance that could annihilate all others one has heard.” The Birmingham Post also noted that “his intensely responsive reading was shot through with a vein of constant fantasy, whether musing or mercurial.”

Mr. Korsantia’s career has taken him to many of the world’s greatest stages, collaborating with renowned conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Christoph Eschenbach, Gianandrea Noseda, and Paavo Järvi, and orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony, Kirov Orchestra, and Israel Philharmonic. Recent engagements include Prokofiev’s Third Concerto and Mozart’s B-Flat Major Concerto with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and with Boston Pro Arte Orchestra, Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto with RAI Orchestra, Turin, Dvorak’s Concerto with Jerusalem Symphony and Oslo Philharmonic, and Stravinsky Concerto with UK Youth Orchestra. Recently he joined the faculty of the New Conservatory in Boston as a professor of piano.

For this appearance, Mr. Korsantia will perform Beethoven’s “Eroica Variations, Op. 35,” “Sonata No. 4 in E-flat Major, Op. 7,” and Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

The Steinway Society’s 20th Annual Piano Series will continue with piano master Alexander Ghindin on March 14 and lauded duo Natalia Lavrova and Vassily Primakov on April 18. For a full schedule of the season’s pianists, visit www.steinwaysociety.com

Founded in 1994, Steinway Society The Bay Area is a non-profit volunteer-based organization with a mission “to promote excellence in piano performance and music education in the Bay Area.” The organization is now recognized as a cultural gem of San Jose and the entire South Bay Area, highly regarded for offering a unique set of piano recitals in intimate, elegant settings across the region.

For tickets ($40-$60, discounts available for seniors/ students) and more information the public may call (408) 990-0872 or visit www.steinwaysociety.com.