The Nutcracker
| 1. | Introduction | 00:00:47 |
| 2. | Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite for Two Pianos (arr. Economou) | 00:29:49 |
| 3. | Rachmaninoff: Suite No. 2 in C minor for Two Pianos, Op. 17 | 00:27:53 |
PROGRAM
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) |
The Nutcracker Suite for Two Pianos (arr. Economou) (1892, arr. 1988) Alessio Bax, Piano I; Wu Han, Piano II |
|
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) |
Suite No. 2 in C minor for Two Pianos, Op. 17 (1901) Wu Qian, Piano I; Anne-Marie McDermott, Piano II |
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Alessio Bax
Wu Han
Anne-Marie McDermott
Wu Qian
Alessio Bax won first prize at both the Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions, and has appeared with nearly 200 orchestras, including the New York, London, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras; the Boston, Baltimore, Dallas, Cincinnati, Seattle, Sydney, BBC Scottish, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras; the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras; and the Tokyo and NHK Symphonies in Japan. He is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award, and the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists. At age 14, Bax graduated with top honors from the conservatory of Bari, Italy. He is a former member of CMS’s Bowers Program and is on the faculty at New England Conservatory. For ten years, Bax has been Artistic Director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, and is the Artistic Director of the London Festival of Chamber Music at Smith Square Hall in London. He also serves as Co-Artistic Director of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation for emerging pianists.
Pianist Wu Han, recipient of Musical America’s Musician of the Year Award, enjoys a multi-faceted musical life that encompasses artistic direction, performing, and recording at the highest levels. Co-Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2004 as well as Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Silicon Valley’s innovative chamber music festival Music@Menlo since 2002, she also serves as Artistic Advisor for Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music at the Barns series and Palm Beach’s Society of the Four Arts, and as Artistic Director for La Musica in Sarasota, Florida. Her recent concert activities have taken her from New York’s Lincoln Center stages to the most important concert halls in the United States, Europe, and Asia. In addition to countless performances of virtually the entire chamber repertoire, her concerto performances include appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of ArtistLed, classical music’s first artist-directed, internet-based recording label, which has released her performances of the staples of the cello-piano duo repertoire with cellist David Finckel. Her more than 80 releases on ArtistLed, CMS Live, and Music@Menlo LIVE include masterworks of the chamber repertoire with numerous distinguished musicians. Wu Han’s educational activities include overseeing CMS’s Bowers Program and the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo. A recipient of the prestigious Andrew Wolf Award, she was mentored by some of the greatest pianists of our time, including Lilian Kallir, Rudolf Serkin, and Menahem Pressler. Married to cellist David Finckel since 1985, Wu Han divides her time between concert touring and residences in New York City and Westchester County.
One of the most dazzling American pianists of her generation, Anne-Marie McDermott has performed concertos, recitals, and chamber music throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. She is an insightful interpreter of Baroque and Classical masterpieces, 20th-century modernism, and music by influential contemporary composers. McDermott has soloed with the New York Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the National Symphony Orchestra. She is currently recording the complete Beethoven piano concertos with Mexico City’s Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería under Carlos Miguel Prieto. Her recordings also include the complete piano sonatas of Prokofiev, solo works by Chopin, Bach’s English Suites and Partitas, and Gershwin’s works for piano and orchestra. She received a 2024 Honorary Doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music. McDermott is the Artistic Director of the Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival, and of the McKnight Center’s Chamber Music Festival. Her tenure as Artistic Director of Bravo! Vail Music Festival concluded in summer 2026.
Winner of a 2016 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, as well as classical music’s bright young star award for 2007 by The Independent, pianist Wu Qian has maintained a busy international career for over a decade. She has appeared as soloist in many international venues including the Wigmore, Royal Festival, and Bridgewater halls in the UK, City Hall in Hong Kong, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. As a soloist she has appeared with the Konzerthaus Orchester in Berlin, the Brussels Philharmonic, the London Mozart Players, I Virtuosi Italiani, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, and the Munich Symphoniker. She won first prize in the Trio di Trieste Duo Competition and the Kommerzbank Piano Trio competition in Frankfurt, and has received numerous other awards. Appearances this season include performances in the UK, Germany, USA, Korea, Australia, Spain, and The Netherlands and collaborations with Alexander Sitkovetsky, Leticia Moreno, Cho-Liang Lin, Clive Greensmith, and Wu Han. Her debut recording of Schumann, Liszt, and Alexander Prior was met with universal critical acclaim. She is a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio with which, in addition to performing in major concert halls and series around the world, she has released two recordings on the BIS label and also a disc of Brahms and Schubert on the Wigmore Live Label. Wu Qian an alum of The Bowers Program.