A twentieth-century piano repertoire evoking the spirit of winter and Christmas, blending nostalgia with the shadow of the past century's historical upheavals. Includes works of Hungarian composers Béla Bartók and György Kurtág alongside music by George Crumb and George Enescu.
PROGRAM:
Béla Bartók (1881-1945): Romanian Christmas Carols, Sz.57, Book I.
György Kurtág (b.1926): Selections from "Játékok" (Games)
Jubilate, Book V.
Bells for Margit Mándy, Book V.
Scraps of a Colinda Melody - Faintly Recollected (Hommage à Farkas Ferenc), Book III.
Béla Bartók: Romanian Christmas Carols, Sz.57, Book II.
George Crumb (1929-2022): A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D.1979
1. The Visitation
2. Berceuse for the Infant Jesu
3. The Shepherd's Noël
4. Adoration of the Magi
5. Nativity Dance
6. Canticle of the Holy Night
7. Carol of the Bells
George Enescu (1881-1955): Suite No. 2 for Piano, op. 10 "Des cloches sonores"
I. Toccata
II. Sarabande
III. Pavane
IV. Bourée
About the Event
Featured Guests:
Hailed for her “colorful, flexible and expressive playing” (Res Musica), Romanian-Hungarian pianist Alexa Stier has performed extensively in the United States and across Europe. She appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (UK), the New Britain Symphony Orchestra (USA), the Kelvin Ensemble (UK), the “Dinu Lipatti” Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), and Transylvania State Orchestra (Romania). Alexa has received first prizes in many international competitions, such as the Sheepdrove Piano Competition (UK) and the Virtuoso & Belcanto Concerto Competition (Italy). Mostrecently, Alexa was selected as one of the top twelve competitors of the George Enescu Competition
(Romania), where she also received the Constanţa Erbiceanu Special Prize awarded for the best ranked
competitor from Romania.
Having premiered over twenty new works, Alexa is also a dedicated performer of contemporary music. She was awarded Third prize, Audience Prize, and the Prize for the best interpretation of a commissioned work at the Olivier Messiaen International Piano Competition (France, 2023). Alexa was the recipient of the “Maurice Ohana” Special Prize at the Orléans International Piano Competition dedicated to the music of the twentieth-and twenty-first centuries (France, 2021).
Alexa’s most notable appearances include solo recitals and chamber music collaborations at the Time:Spans Festival (NYC), Edinburgh Fringe Festival (UK), the Newbury Spring Festival (UK), the Mozart Festival (Cluj-Napoca, Romania), the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts (Chicago, USA), Brooklyn Art Song Society and Extensity Concert Series (NYC), the Liszt Cultural Institute (NYC), Morse Recital Hall (New Haven, CT), Glasgow City Halls and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (UK), Vaidilos Theater (Lithuania), Teatro del Sale (Firenze, Italy). In 2021, she was a fellow at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (CT).
Alexa is the founder and artistic director of the ContemporArt Association and Chamber Music Festival based in her hometown, Satu Mare, Romania, which aims to contribute towards the cultivation of chamber music and contemporary music through a series of concerts and workshops designed for young musicians. Alexa completed her Master of Music degree in 2021 at the Yale School of Music, where she is currently a candidate of the Doctorate of Musical Arts program, studying with Boris Berman and Wei-Yi Yang. Currently Alexa is faculty member at the New School for Music Study in Kingston, New Jersey.
