BREAVARD – He is one of the most recognized pianists in the world, having performed for more than five decades and having won seven Grammys, and next week, he’ll be here in Western North Carolina.
He’s Emmanuel Ax, and on Jan. 18 at Brevard Music Center as part of the Center’s Legendary Artist Series sponsored by Drs. Joanne and Tom Parker, he’ll present a program of favorite piano works by Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt, including Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B flat major — the composer’s last work for solo piano, according to a news release. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Parker Concert Hall. Tickets start at $55 and are available at brevardmusic.org.
Ax, 73, has received overwhelming acclaim from audiences worldwide for over five decades, performing in concert halls around the world. He was born in Lviv, Ukraine in 1949, and both of his parents were survivors of Nazi concentration camps during World War II. He lived in Ukraine until 1961, when his family moved to New York City.
When he arrived in America, he continued his music studies at the Juilliard School under Mieczysław Munz, and nine years later in 1970, he received his bachelors degree in French at Columbia University and became an American citizen. He made his New York musical debut in in the Young Concert Artists Series in 1973, and the following year, he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists, and in 1979, he won the Avery Fisher Prize.
According to the Brevard Music Center release, Ax has been hailed by the Los Angeles Times for “his greatness, his overwhelming authority as a musician, technician, and probing intellect…within minutes we are totally captured by his intensity and pianistic achievement.” For decades, he’s partnered with famed celloist Yo Yo Ma, and the two legendary artists have won four Grammys, with Ax winning a total of seven.
Below are the Grammys Ax has won through the years:
Best Chamber Music Performance
- 1986: Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma for Brahms: Cello and Piano Sonatas in E Minor and F
- 1987: Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma for Beethoven: Cello and Piano Sonata No. 4 in C & Variations
- 1992: Emanuel Ax, Jaime Laredo, Yo-Yo Ma and Isaac Stern for Brahms: Piano Quartets (Op. 25 and 26)
- 1993: Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma for Brahms: Sonatas for Cello & Piano
- 1996: Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma and Richard Stoltzman for Brahms/Beethoven/Mozart: Clarinet Trios
Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without an orchestra):
- 1995: Emanuel Ax for Haydn: Piano Sonatas, Nos. 32, 47, 53, 59
- 2004: Emanuel Ax for Haydn: Piano Sonatas Nos. 29, 31, 34, 35 & 49
To find out more about the 2022-23 Parker Concert Hall performances, visit brevardmusic.org/tickets, call the BMC Box Office at (828) 862-2105 or send an email to [email protected]