FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 20, 2015
CONTACT:
Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer
Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College
603.646.3991
“An artist who embraces the fullness of the human experience”:
pianist Stephen Hough, January 23
Photo: Stephen Hough, by Sim Canetty-Clarke.
HANOVER, NH—A poet, professor, painter, MacArthur “genius” and prolific writer, British polymath Stephen Hough seems to turn everything he touches into cultural gold. But it’s when he sits down at the piano that the superlatives don’t merely flow, but gush.
Writes France’s Le Devoir: “Stephen Hough is one of the very greatest pianists of our time…not only a pianist, but an interpreter in the most noble sense of the term, a voyager to the imagination of infinity, leading us into his world.” To the Washington Post, he’s “a virtuoso who begins where others leave off"; for The Guardian (UK), he produces “the most perfect piano playing conceivable"; and to the Wall Street Journal, he’s “an artist who embraces the fullness of the human experience—both the splendor and the grit, the triumphs and the setbacks.”
Hough brings that heightened artistry to the Hop’s Spaulding Auditorium on Saturday, January 23, at 8 pm, in a program rich in spiritual feeling. He opens with Schubert at his most profound in his Sonata D784; performs Franck’s Prelude, Chorale, and Fugue, a late masterpiece by that humble, devout church organist; ends with two Liszt “Transcendental” etudes; and includes a new work of his own (surprise, Hough is also an esteemed composer), his new Sonata No. 3 “Trinity,” imbued with the deep faith he professes as a Catholic who also is openly gay.
Hough also gives a piano master class for Dartmouth student pianists that’s open for all to observe, for free, on Friday, January 22, at 4 pm, in Faulkner Recital Hall.
Born and raised in England, Hough found at age 5 he could pick out nursery rhymes he knew on his aunt’s piano. He begged his parents to get one in their house in the north of England. When they finally did, Hough told the Boston Globe in a May 2015 interview, “I was on it all the time. My parents actually had to drag me away from it and say, ‘Go and play football, get some fresh air.’ ” Hough’s mother picked his first piano teacher out of the Yellow Pages. When the teacher left his house, “I would say to my mother, ‘Can you bring her back? I’ve already memorized the pieces she left for next week. I want another lesson.’ ”
He also excelled at writing, however, and it proved a lifeline until he found his way out a temporary teen ennui and back to music. At age 17 he won the piano section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition; and then went on to win the first ever Royal Philharmonic Society Julius Isserlis Scholarship to obtain at a master’s at The Juilliard School. There, he was launched on the international circuit at age 21 when, on a “why not?” whim, he entered and won the prestigious Naumburg piano competition.
In the 22 years since, he has become widely regarded as one of the most important and distinctive pianists of his generation. From highly acclaimed performances of central repertoire in recital, in recording, and with the world’s greatest orchestras to an interest in contemporary and neglected 19th-century works, he integrates the imagination and pianistic color of the past with the scholarship and intellectual rigor of the present, illuminating the very essence of the music he plays. He was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2001 in recognition of his achievements (the first pianist so honored), and in 2014 was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
His more than 50 albums have won four Grammy nominations and eight Gramophone Awards—including two Record of the Year awards, for concertos by Scharwenka and Sauer and for the complete works for piano and orchestra by Saint-Saëns, the latter voted in 2008 by readers of The Times (London) as the finest classical recording of the last thirty years. Recordings of Mendelssohn, Mompou, Schubert, Brahms, Liszt, Chopin and Hummel have further reinforced his status as an artist of the utmost distinction and individuality. His live recordings of the complete Rachmaninov piano concertos with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra have been overwhelmingly acclaimed as one of the finest cycles of these popular works ever captured on disc. His range of repertoire is full of surprise choices and powerful, original interpretations; his latest CD for Hyperion, entitled In the Night, centers on his own Piano Sonata No.2, Notturno Luminoso.
Hough’s compositions include not only piano pieces but chamber, choral and symphonic works that have been written for and premiered by some of the world’s most noted ensembles and artists. He’s also a painter whose works have been exhibited at London’s Broadbent Gallery.
Next to music, however, it’s his writing that has most endeared him to the public. His unfailingly interesting blog for London’s Telegraph newspaper covers seemingly everything: religion, hats, tea, perfume—and music, of course. He has written extensively about theology, resulting in The Bible as Prayer (2007), a compilation of Scripture verses to be used for meditation.
Currently a resident of London, Mr. Hough is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in Manchester. Since 2014, he has been a part-time member of the faculty of The Juilliard School.
RELEVANT LINKS
http://www.stephenhough.com/
https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/stephenhough
https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/stephenhoughmasterclass
Download high-resolution photos:
https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=A14ACB33-679C-469F-9E07-5A08469894E7&sessionlanguage=&SessionSecurity::linkName=
CALENDAR LISTINGS:
Stephen Hough, piano
“Arguably the finest, certainly the most intelligent and technically impressive British pianist on the circuit” (The New York Times) as well as composer, recording artist, author, blogger, poet, painter and winner of both the Naumburg Competition and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship “genius” award, Hough infuses his music-making with unparalleled insight, eloquence and humanity. With masterful technique and a keen musical imagination, he offers illuminating interpretations of well known works, bypassed gems and new compositions—including his own.
Saturday, January 23, 2016, 8 pm
Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover NH
$25/40/50, Dartmouth students $10, 18 & under $17/19
Information: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422
Piano Master Class with Stephen Hough
Internationally touring pianist Stephen Hough coaches Dartmouth student pianists in this master class. Open for all to observe.
Friday, January 22, 4 pm
Faulkner Recital Hall, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover NH
Free
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Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, igniting passions, and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with outreach and arts education programs. After a celebratory 50th-anniversary season in 2012-13, the Hop enters its second half-century with renewed passion for mentoring young artists, supporting the development of new work, and providing a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.