The
Steinway Concerts 1999
Ellen Annor-Adjei
A Tribute to Chopin
Sunday 14 March 1999
Ellen Annor-Adjei was born in Moscow into a family of mixed African and Russian
ancestry. As a black Russian woman, Ms Annor-Adjei brings this singular
perspective to her home Toronto, a great multicultural centre. Her
traversal of classical piano literature has resulted in a number of very
successful concerts in Russia, Europe and North America.
Brought up in Moscow, she studied at the Musical College of Moscow State
Tchaikovski Conservatory. A prize in Russia served to help her decide to
pursue the piano and gave impetus to her performing career. Already a
veteran of successful concerts in Russia and Europe, Ms Annor-Adjei moved to
Canada six years ago and has appeared in numerous group recitals at the Arts
& Letters Club, Ford Centre and Glenn Gould Studio. She has completed
many solo successful recitals in Toronto. Music critic Izvestia, Moscow
wrote "Ellen Annor-Adjei's performance is emotional, passionate, and
technically brilliant".
The Steinway Concert Series 1999
The Mission of the Patrons of Queen's Hall is "to create
conditions to accommodate the presentations of the Performing Arts of the
highest quality, varied content and tradition at Queen's Hall and to nurture an
engaged and supportive public for the Performing Arts". So, it is our
pleasure to welcome Ms. Ellen Annor-Adjei the first performer in the Steinway
Concert Series, presenting the works of Frederic Chopin.
The Steinway Concerts are showcasing one of the most valuable
assets of Queen's Hall, the Grand Steinway Piano, which was purchased in 1978
from Hamburg, Germany. In 1998, the Patrons of Queen's Hall contracted the
services of Steinway technician, Michael Lipknicki, to refurbish the piano to
its former glory. These concerts, will offer popular classical music by
concert pianists of the highest calibre, performing on Queen's Hall Grand Piano.
We thank Ms. Annor-Adjei's manager, Joan Pierre, a Trinidadian
now relocated in Canada, whose initiative made this recital possible. She
wrote "Thanks for the opportunity, bringing a talented Black Russian to my
homeland Trinidad & Tobago, is such a joy for me, She will be loved by
all I'm sure".
Marlene Goddard
Chairman
Patrons of Queen's Hall
Programme
Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonata N14, Op. 27, N2 "Moonlight Sonata"
Adagio Sostenuto, Allegretto, Presto Agitato
One of the composer's most popular sonatas. Its evocative title was
given by Ludwig Rellstab, the Berlin critic, who saw in the first movement
moonlight over Lake Lucerne.
Frederic Chopin
Valse brilliante in A-flat minor, Op. 34, N1
Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48, N1
Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64, N2
Grande Valse Brilliant in E-flat major, Op. 18
The Nocturne composed in 1841 finds Chopin's genius blooming reaching new
vistas of emotional power. The design and poetic contents of this nocturne
make it the most important one that Chopin created; the chief subject of a
masterly expression of a great powerful grief.
Chopin's Waltzes are among the world's most often played music. They
fall into two styles, gracious and brilliantly decorated or melancholy.
Arthur Headley wrote, "The Chopin Waltzes were never meant to be danced by
ordinary mundane creatures of flesh and blood".
Intermission
Frederic Chopin
Polonaise in A-flat minor, Op. 53
One of the world's most famous pieces of music, it inevitably stimulates and
thrills its audience. It is Chopin dreaming of an all-powerful
Poland. The A-flat Polonaise is the very picture of the martial
spirit. It has been called the Heroic Polonaise.
Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 55, N2
A work of striking beauty and exquisite intricacy. The E-flat Nocturne
has been recognized by pianists as a spiritualization of the form.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Rhapsodie Espagnole
One of the composer's earliest musical excursions into Spain, based on two
Spanish themes. The Spanish Rhapsody is a grandiose piece, which cries out
for pianists in the old heroic mode.
Frederic Francois Chopin (1810-1849)
'man of exquisite heart... and mind.' - Delacroix
Chopin earned the name, "The Poet of the Piano" through his
wonderful playing in the drawing rooms of the French aristocracy. He
treated the piano as a solo instrument in most of his compositions including
preludes, nocturnes, scherzos and concertos.
Frederic Francois Chopin was born in the village of Zelazowa Wola to the west
of Warsaw, Poland on 1st March, 1810. At the age of nine her played a
concerto at a public concert. He published his first composition (a rondo)
at fifteen. In 1831, Chopin moved to Paris where he was
well-received. He taught piano lessons and he often played the piano in
private homes, preferring this to public concerts.
Chopin's admirers included fellow composers Franz Liszt and Robert
Schumann. Chopin fell deeply in love with the female novelist George Sand
(Aurore Dudevant) whom he described as his inspiration. Although Chopin
suffered from tuberculosis, he traveled to England in 1848 and 1849 shortly
before his death in Paris at the age of 39.
Chopin composed some of the most beautiful piano music ever written.
many popular songs take their melody from Chopin's work. Mozart's Requiem
was played at Chopin's funeral and along with Chopin's own Funeral March, one of
the most famous funeral compositions ever written.
