Purdue News

October 11, 2002 Pianist to perform Beethoven's 'Diabelli Variations' WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Award-winning pianist Piotr Anderszewski will perform a program featuring all 33 of Beethoven's rarely-heard "Diabelli Variations" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, in Loeb Playhouse. Admission is $9. Tickets can be purchased at Purdue box offices or charged by phone at (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. Tickets also are available through all TicketMaster outlets. Anderszewski is presented by Purdue Convocations. Since launching his international career at London's Wigmore Hall in 1991 with a recital featuring Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations," Anderszewski has continued to capture the attention of critics and audiences worldwide with his distinctive interpretations and commanding technique. In April, Anderszewski became only the fourth pianist to receive the Gilmore Artist Award. The award is made to an exceptional pianist who, regardless of age or nationality, possesses broad and profound musicianship and charisma and who desires and can sustain a career as a major international concert artist. Along with Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations," considered one of the most daunting works in piano literature, Anderszewski's program will include two works by Bach, three preludes and fugues from "The Well-Tempered Clavier Book II," and "Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major." Anderszewski made his U.S. orchestral debut during the 2000-01 season with the Detroit Symphony and his New York orchestral debut last summer at the Mostly Mozart Festival. He has appeared in recital in most of the major European venues. His recitals in Chicago and Ann Arbor, Mich., in the fall of 2001 were well received, and he returned to Chicago last summer to replace Daniel Barenboim on the Chicago Symphony's Piano Recital Series. Anderszewski's first disc, which featured works by Bach, Beethoven and Webern, won the Polish Critics' Prize. In 2000 he became an exclusive artist on the Virgin Classics label. His first release on that label, in May 2001, was "Beethoven's Diabelli Variations." The release coincided with a film by Bruno Monsaingeon in which Anderszewski's personal relationship with the work is captured in a similar format to that of Monsaingeon's film of Glenn Gould's "Goldberg Variations." Last year Anderszewski was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society's Best Instrumentalist Award. This award was given for his concerto and chamber music performances throughout the United Kingdom. Previous winners include Murray Perahia, Itzhak Perlman and Andras Schiff. Born in 1969 to Polish-Hungarian parents, Anderszewski began playing piano at age 6 and studied at the Lyon and Strasbourg conservatories, the University of Southern California and the Chopin Academy in Warsaw. CONTACT: Larry Sommers, Purdue Convocations, (765) 494-5045, lsommers@purdue.edu. NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: A publication-quality photograph of Piotr Anderszewski is available at ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/piotr.a.jpeg. Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page