The legend Mikhail Voskresensky returns to Aspen after an acclaimed performance in 2023. Voskresensky was a professor and the chair of the piano department at the Moscow Conservatory until he fled Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. AMFS CEO and longtime AMFS faculty member Yoheved Kaplinsky, who had known Voskresensky for two decades, succeeded in securing a visa for him. He had since continued performing and teaching in the USA. He has performed in more than 60 countries and recorded over 60 discs, featuring works of Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich.

This beautiful program begins with one of Beethoven's shortest sonatas, clocking in at only 9 minutes. It’s sometimes known as the "Cuckoo" because of the repetition of the bird's call in the first movement. Mozart's equally brief Fantasia in c minor began as a piece for violin and piano. Grieg composed his only piano sonata in 1865 shortly after he had become engaged to his future wife. You can hear his joy in the piece, as well as Norwegian folksong and dance influences. While writing his collection of short pieces The Seasons, Tchaikovsky joked to a friend, "I continue to bake musical pancakes. Today, I tossed the tenth. " Although his only inspiration was a commission for a monthly column from a St. Petersburg magazine, there is no lack of charm here. Concluding the program is Chopin's virtuosic and dramatic Third Sonata. Its four separate movements hearken back to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, but within that structure is an abundance of musical ideas, harmonic innovation, and compelling emotionalism.

Hear one of the masters of the keyboard in a program by beloved composers!