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Grand Piano Series celebrates spring with international superstars

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Sue Wade for Happenings Magazine

Grand Piano Series ushers in Valentine’s Day with a firecracker pianist whom critics note for her “powerhouse sound, forceful musical personality and sheer virtuosity.”

Exhibiting what The Guardian called “a virtuosity which seemed both joyful and natural,” Van Cliburn International Piano Competition 2022 silver medalist Anna Geniushene channels virtuosic transcriptions from superstar pianist/composers of the past — from Handel’s magnificent Chaconne to Verdi’s beloved operatic melodies and Stravinsky’s blockbuster ballet The Firebird.

Anna Geniushene performs Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Daniels Pavilion, preceded by Baczewska’s preconcert talk on the piano virtuoso from 4 to 5 p.m. on Jan. 30.

March brings a star-studded performance including series director Milana Strezeva, a founding member of the award-winning Manhattan Piano Trio. Strezeva joins one of the biggest names in chamber music today — the Prague-based Pavel Haas Quartet — in an all-Dvorák program featuring two masterpieces that fuse his native Czech folklore with the formal perfection he inherited from Brahms and Beethoven.

BBC Music Magazine feted the Czech ensemble on its 20th anniversary by naming it one of the magazine’s 10 greatest string quartets of all time. The group has won five Gramophone Classical Music Awards for recordings including Dvorák trios, quartets and quintets.

Pavel Haas and Milana Strezeva Group Photo

The Pavel Haas Quartet with Milana Strezeva will perform at 3 and 7:30 p.m. on March 6 at Ubben Signature Event Space, with a pre-concert talk on Antonín Dvorák’s “American Sound” from 4 to 5 p.m. Feb. 20.

Acclaimed internationally for his insightful, elegant artistry and brilliant technique, Andrew von Oeyen has established himself as one of the most captivating pianists of his generation. His “Angels & Demons” in late March offers an exciting glimpse into the proverbial bookends of the human condition: good and evil, angels and demons, darkness and light.

Von Oeyen’s program brings together works of divine and demonic inspiration in keyboard, orchestral, operatic and choral music spanning 300 years from Bach to Messiaen. “It’s a journey into the darkest corners of human emotion, but also towards rapture and catharsis,” he said, “confronting and contemplating the powerful forces that dwell above, below, among and within us.”

Andrew von Oeyen performs at March 26 at 3 p.m. and March 27 at 7:30 p.m. at Ubben Signature Event Space, with a preconcert talk on how composers channel religious fervor in their works, using the piano to depict both the celestial and the infernal.

All performances take place at Artis—Naples, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd., Naples. Purchase single tickets at $59 at grandpianoseries.org or artisnaples.org.

For assistance, call Grand Piano Series at 469-333-3231 or Artis—Naples at 239-597-1900.