Purdue News

September 25, 1998 Chamber orchestra, pianist to perform Oct. 15 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra from Hungary, with American piano soloist Stephen Prutsman, will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in Loeb Playhouse in Stewart Center at Purdue University. The concert, the second performance in Purdue Convocations' Loeb Music Collection, will feature Prutsman in two piano concertos -- Mozart and Bach. The performance is a return engagement for Prutsman, who spent a weeklong residency in Greater Lafayette in September 1996, and for the chamber orchestra, which last performed at Purdue in November 1994. The first half of the evening's program will be Marcello's Introduzione e Allegro, Mozart's Divertimento, K. 136, and J.S. Bach Piano Concerto in D Minor. The second half will be comprised of the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414, and Dvorak's Serenade. Since its formation in 1963, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra has been acknowledged among Hungary's foremost ensembles. It comprises 17 virtuoso string players in repertory from the baroque through modern era. The orchestra tours extensively throughout Europe, Japan and the Americas, and it has appeared at the festivals of Edinburgh, Bath, Helsinki, Luzern, Gstaad and Prades. In addition to Prutsman, internationally renowned soloists with whom the orchestra has collaborated include Maurice Andre, Martha Argerich, Emanuel Ax, Igor Oistrakh, Jean Pierre Rampal, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern. It has recorded for a number of respected classical labels and has been honored three times with the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque, plus numerous Record of the Year awards in Hungary. Prutsman has performed worldwide as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. His playing was described by The Denver Post as "capturing every nuance with dazzling technique and a crisp but beautiful sound. Blending fire with finesse a poet's touch." Previous engagements have included the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Baltimore, Minnesota, Detroit, Seattle and Houston symphony orchestras, the Flanders Philharmonic, and the Prague Radio Symphony. Recent recitals have taken him to New York, Santiago, Washington, Moscow, Mexico City and Tokyo. A frequent guest at the Marlboro Music Festival and Spoleto USA, Prutsman regularly collaborates with many of the world's greatest instrumentalists and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A former student of Aube Tzerko and Leon Fleisher, Prutsman first exploded on the international scene as a medalist and an audience favorite in the 1990 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition. The following year, he was awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant and received a medal in the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium. Tickets to the Oct. 15 performance are $23 for the public, $13 for Purdue students, at campus box offices. Charge by phone at (765) 494-3933 or 1-800-914-SHOW. CONTACT: Sue Stevens, Convocations publicist, (765) 494-9712; e-mail, snstevens@convos.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page