“Scintillation”

This piano recital explores light in its many forms — shimmering, fragile, shadowed, and quietly enduring. Through music by Chopin, Beethoven, Denisov, Silvestrov, Saariaho, and Moore, the programme traces an inner landscape where light flickers, fades, returns, and continues to glow.

Programme

Part I

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)

Nocturne in B-flat minor, Op. 9, No. 1

Kate Moore (b. 1979)

Shimmering Light

Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023)

Prelude (2007)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2, Quasi una fantasia (“Moonlight”)

I. Adagio sostenuto

II. Allegretto

III. Presto agitato

Intermission

Part II

Edison Denisov (1929–1996)

Variations on a Theme by Handel (1986)

Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937)

Kitschmusik (1977) 

Maria Nemtsova

CONCERT PIANIST

Maria Nemtsova is an Amsterdam based concert pianist. Her recentengagements include performances at major world venues, including Carnegie Hall, theConcertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place and Steinway Hall in London, Vienna’s Ehrbar-Saal, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center and many others.

Maria has appeared at numerous international festivals in Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, USA, Poland and other countries and collaborates frequently with soloists such as Boris Brovtsyn (violin, UK), Pavel Nersesyan (piano, Russia/USA), Arno Bornkamp (saxophone, Netherlands), Jean-Denis Michat (saxophone, France), Artiom Shishkov (violin, Belarus) and others.

In 2011, Maria co-founded the charity project “Music for Peace” (www.music-peace.com), followed in 2017, “Re:FormersFest”. “Music for Peace” presents concerts and masterclasses for young musicians who live in today`s conflict zones.This work resulted in performances in more than twenty countries, including Kosovo, Israel, Georgia, Armenia, Tunisia and others.

Although her repertoire includes a wide selection of classical works, Maria is particularlyknown for her commitment to contemporary music. Several works have been especiallywritten for or dedicated to her, including Gio Janiashvili “Ek-Stasis” and “Invocation” whichwere recorded and released in 2015. More recent performances include new works by Frederick Rzewski, Pavel Karmanov, Kate Moore and others.

In addition to her three solo CDs, Maria has recorded with the saxophonist Vitaly Vatulyaand the bass opera singer Dmitry Stepanovich. Her discography reflects the breadth of hermusical interests, for example pairing Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes with Ligeti’s Rainbowand Devil’s Staircase.

Maria started her professional musical education at the age of five. Her formal educationincludes degrees from the Tchaikovsky College of Music, Moscow and the TchaikovskyMoscow State Conservatoire with Professor Yuri Slessarev. Further studies took her to theRoyal College of London, the Accademia Pianistica in Imola, Italy, and the Trinity LabanConservatory in London, where she studied with Professor Dmitri Alexeev, MaestroLeonid Margarius and Professor Deniz Gelenbe respectively. She has also taken masterclasses with Paul Badura-Skoda, Dmitri Bashkirov, Norma Fischer, and others, and is the proud recipient of numerous prizes from international competitions, both for solo piano and for chamber music.