Emanuel Ax
piano

Performance Dates
February 22/23/24 8:00 PM
MOZART: Piano Concerto No.22

Emanuel Ax is renowned not only for his poetic temperament and unsurpassed virtuosity, but also for the exceptional breadth of his performing activity. Each season his distinguished career includes appearances with major symphony orchestras worldwide, recitals in the most celebrated concert halls, a variety of chamber music collaborations, the commissioning and performance of new music, and additions to his acclaimed discography on Sony Classical.

Mr. Ax captured public attention in 1974 when, at age 25, he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists and, four years later, took the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. He has been an exclusive Sony Classical recording artist since 1987, making his debut on that label with a collection of Chopin scherzos and mazurkas. Mr. Ax's third volume in the recording cycle of Haydn Piano Sonatas (Nos. 29, 31, 34, 35, 49) received a Grammy Award in February 2004 Ð the previous recording in the cycle (Sonata Nos. 47, 53, 32, 59) also won a Grammy. Other recent releases include two discs of two-piano programs (with Yefim Bronfman) of works by Brahms and Rachmaninoff; period-instrument performances of Chopin's complete works for piano and orchestra (on two discs); and the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with Bernard Haitink and the Boston Symphony. Other notable recordings are the two Liszt concertos paired with the Schoenberg Concerto, three solo Brahms albums, an album of tangos by Astor Piazzolla, and a recording of John Adams' "Century Rolls" with the Cleveland Orchestra for Nonesuch.

For the opening Gala of the New York Philharmonic in September 2006, Mr. Ax will appear with Mr. Bronfman in Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos conducted by Lorin Maazel with live national TV coverage. As an "On Location" artist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic this season, he will contribute to a series of chamber and orchestral programs centered around Mozart and Strauss works. With his wife, pianist Yoko Nozaki, a project with the Mark Morris Dance Company originally conceived for New York's Mostly Mozart Festival in the summer of 2006 will be repeated in Vienna and London during 2007. Both concerti of Brahms are programmed with the New York Philharmonic in one week conducted by Mr. Maazel. Tours will include a series of Mozart Concerti with Orpheus on the west coast, Florida with the Atlanta Symphony conducted by Robert Spano, a ten-city recital tour, duos with bassist Edgar Meyer in the spring, and concerts in Japan with his long-standing colleague and partner Yo-Yo Ma.

In the 2005Ð06 season, Mr. Ax served as Pianist-in-Residence with the Berlin Philharmonic, performing with the orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle in Berlin and New York. Additionally, Mr. Ax appeared as soloist in a U.S. tour with the National Symphony and Leonard Slatkin; recitals in London, Vienna, and at New York's Carnegie Hall; and a duo recital tour with Richard Stoltzman.
Recent performance highlights have included separate recital tours with two longstanding colleagues, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Yefim Bronfman; a tour of the Far East with recitals in Guangzhou, Beijing, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Taipei; and a tour of the United States with the Dresden Staatskapelle and Myung-Whun Chung (with performances in Carnegie Hall and Boston's Symphony Hall). In 2004Ð05, Mr. Ax also contributed to a BBC documentary commemorating the Holocaust that aired on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and which was awarded a 2005 International Emmy.

Throughout the 2003-04 season at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Ax focused on Debussy, his music and his influences. This season-long "Perspectives" series featured Mr. Ax in performances with the Boston Symphony under Bernard Haitink, with the Juilliard Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, in three chamber music concerts at Zankel Hall, and in a solo piano recital. These programs featured world premieres of three Carnegie Hall commissions.

Always a committed proponent of contemporary composers, Mr. Ax has turned his attention in recent years toward the music of 20th-century composers. He gave the world premiere of John Adams' "Century Rolls" with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1997, the European premiere with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1998, and the New York premiere with the Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2000. Another concerto dedicated to him, Christopher Rouse's "Seeing," was premiered in 1999 with the New York Philharmonic and received its European debut at the BBC Proms in 2001. In 2000 Mr. Ax joined the Boston Symphony for the first performances of Bright Sheng's "Red Silk Dance," and in March 2003 he joined Yo-Yo Ma, David Zinman, and the New York Philharmonic to premiere Mr. Sheng's "Song and Dance of Tears." Mr. Ax premiered Krzysztof Penderecki's "Resurrection" with the Philadelphia Orchestra in May 2002, and in May 2003 he premiered a concerto written for him by Melinda Wagner, "Extremity of Sky," with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony.

Devoted to chamber music literature, Mr. Ax has worked regularly with such artists as Young Uck Kim, Cho-Liang Lin, Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Serkin, and Jaime Laredo, and he was a frequent collaborator with the late Isaac Stern. He has made a series of acclaimed recordings with Mr. Ma, and as a duo they have won three Grammy Awards for the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas for cello and piano. The pair has also teamed with Richard Stoltzman for a Grammy Award-winning album of clarinet trios and with Pamela Frank, Rebecca Young, and Edgar Meyer for the Schubert "Trout" Quintet. The Ax-Stern-Laredo-Ma Quartet recorded the piano quartets of Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, FaurŽ, Mozart, and Schumann for Sony Classical.

Born in Lvov, Poland, Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada with his family when he was a young boy. His studies at The Juilliard School were greatly supported by the sponsorship of the Epstein Scholarship Program of the Boys Clubs of America, and he subsequently won the Young Concert Artists Award. His piano teacher was Mieczylaw Munz. Additionally, he attended Columbia University, where he majored in French.

Mr. Ax resides in New York City with his wife, the pianist Yoko Nozaki. They have two children together, Joseph and Sarah. For more information about Mr. Ax's career, please visit www.EmanuelAx.com.

Updated: 8/31/06