Frederic Chopin Society

21/06/2024

Our 2024-25 season brochure is ready for mailing! Download at chopinsocietymn.org.

31/05/2024

Today on Performance Today (Hour 1 at 30 min) you can listen to Juho Pohjonen play Grieg’s Ballade in the Form of Variations on a Norwegian Folk Song, recorded at his Chopin Society concert this past Feb.

22/05/2024

chopinsocietymn.org is updated for 2024-25! Season tickets available now. Single concert tickets available beginning Sept 1. Remember, every concert last season sold out!

06/05/2024

As she always does, Imogen took us on a momentous journey with her deeply felt music-making! A perfect end to our 40th season!

04/05/2024

Imogen Cooper fills Mairs Hall with sublime Schubert. A feast for the ears awaits us tomorrow!

26/04/2024

We’re one weekend away from the return of Dame Imogen Cooper in a sold out recital of Bach, Schubert, Thomas Adès, and Beethoven!

04/04/2024

Imogen Cooper — May 5 (3 pm). A widely celebrated interpreter of Schubert and Beethoven also brings us gorgeous Bach chorales and Thomas Adès’ haunting ‘Darkness Visible.’

27/03/2024

Our May 5 season finale with Imogen Cooper is listed in the Strib’s Spring Arts Guide. Precious few tickets remain!

26/03/2024

Nce to see this in today’s print edition too. 😊 (Full text in post below.)

25/03/2024

A stellar review in the Star Tribune of Daniil Trifonov's brilliant concert yesterday:
Pianist Daniil Trifonov delivers exciting, emotionally powerful Chopin Society recital.
The Russian virtuoso's interpretations of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" and Peter Tchaikovsky's "In Church" were the concert's most outstanding performances.
An increasingly common descriptor for sportscasters is to say that an athlete "left it all on the (fill in the blank)," be it field, court or, in the case of Minnesotan Jessie Diggins, the ski trail. It's basically to say that they had nothing left when they finished.
A musician who invites such comparisons is Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov. He's widely regarded as one of a handful of the world's greatest pianists right now, and his Chopin Society recital on a snowy Sunday afternoon at Macalester College's Mairs Concert Hall demonstrated that giving it everything he's got means not only every ounce of energy but also of technical skill, interpretive imagination, heart and soul.
What Trifonov gave to the 300 or so in attendance was one of the exciting and emotionally powerful solo recitals that they may ever experience. Throughout the 2½-hour recital, Trifonov asserted his place among the great Russian piano virtuosos of the past century, elbowing his way into the pantheon alongside Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels. Like each of them, he has a flair for the dramatic but also a rare confluence of artistic vision and work ethic.
It was there to be found in the opening Suite in A Minor by French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. Whereas others may emphasize precision when performing dance suites from the baroque era, Trifonov upped the ante with unexpected expressiveness, most memorably on a closing set of staccato variations that grew faster and more explosive by the minute.
His take on Mozart's Sonata No. 12 was contrastingly playful, sometimes sounding like Papageno singing joyfully to his birds in the composer's "Magic Flute," but most memorable when caressing the keys on a magical slow movement.
The most quintessentially romantic offering from this emotion-forward pianist was Felix Mendelssohn's too seldom played Variations Sérieuses. This captivating work takes a simple theme and dresses it up in 17 distinctly different garments, quick-change artist Trifonov leaping from an emphatic fugue to a melancholic interlude to a spare and haunting elegy.
But the piece that likely will be recalled with a sense of breathless awe will be the interpretation of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" (the Sonata No. 29) that filled the concert's second half. This was where the pianist showed himself committed to giving the audience the last full measure of his brilliance, starting with an opening Allegro full of fanfares and contrasting softer sections.
At that movement's conclusion, Trifonov rocked silently for a few moments on his stool before suddenly lunging at the Scherzo as if trying to catch it unawares. He made it both thunderous and ebullient, but it seemed merely a palate cleanser for the absorbing odyssey that was the ensuing Adagio. That had the tone of a mournful reflection, grief and consolation seemingly in dialogue, the pianist's left hand weighted down in darkness, his right hand expressing optimism with brightly colored interjections, eventually resolving in a kind of peaceful acceptance.
But some repressed rage erupted in the finale's explosive fugues, Trifonov assaulting the piano as if wielding the hammer of the gods, yet making each note and chord remarkably clean and clear.
The day's second standing ovation was rewarded with a particularly funereal interpretation of "In Church" from Peter Tchaikovsky's "Album for the Young." It brought a solemn end to a concert that will go down as one of the most impressive displays of solo virtuosity on a Twin Cities stage so far this century.
Rob Hubbard is a Twin Cities freelance classical music writer. Reach him at [email protected].

25/03/2024

Daniil’s encore today was Tchaikovsky’s “In Church” from his ‘Pieces for Children.’

25/03/2024

INCREDIBLE concert today with Daniil Trifonov!!! Everything was at at an Olympian level, and his Hammerklavier was simply out of this world. The much-hyped snowstorm kept some ticket holders away, but the house was still almost full for this thrilling, absolutely unforgettable performance!!!

24/03/2024

Today’s impending snowstorm has everyone a bit nervous, but we are going ahead with our long-awaited 3 pm concert with Daniil Trifonov. Allow plenty of extra travel time and stay safe!

20/03/2024

From today's Star Tribune list of weekend best bets:
"Sunday, March 24: Daniil Trifonov: Bursting upon the scene 13 years ago with medals from three major international piano competitions — the Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Arthur Rubinstein — this Russian pianist has since been named "Artist of the Year" by Gramophone magazine in 2016 and Musical America in 2019, and taken home a Grammy between them. He's also accrued a mountain of superlatives, including a New York Times writer calling him "the most astounding pianist of our age." This intimate Chopin Society recital will feature works by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn and Beethoven. (3 p.m. Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, 130 S. Macalester St., St. Paul, sold out, chopinsocietymn.org)."

19/03/2024

The Wed March 20 episode of Performance Today will include Richard Goode's performance of Mozart's F Major Sonata K 533 from his Nov 12 concert. This is Mozart playing at the highest level!

09/03/2024

We’re gearing up for worldwide piano phenom Daniil Trifonov on Mar 24!!! https://www.chopinsocietymn.org/trifonov

26/02/2024

🎶 The encores from Juho Pohjonen’s concert were: 1. Sibelius’ ‘Fratricide’ from 6 Finnish Folksongs; 2. ‘To Spring’ from Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, Op. 43, no. 6; 3. Sarabande from Rameau A Major Suite 🎶

26/02/2024

Absolutely brilliant concert today by Juho Pohjonen!

24/02/2024

No doubt about it, Juho Pohjonen will completely dazzle our audience tomorrow!

13/02/2024

Few tickets remain for Imogen Cooper’s May 5 recital. Glorious Schubert, Bach, Thomas Ades, and Beethoven are on the menu! Visit our website for tickets.

04/01/2024

His demeanor may be modest, but make no mistake: Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen is a phenomenal and exciting performer! His recital on Feb 25 with Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit and all 4 Chopin Ballades is sold out, but there is a waiting list for tickets at 612-822-0123.

13/11/2023

A glowing review in the Strib of yesterday’s concert with Richard Goode!

Goode's performance of Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations" was the highlight of an overall outstanding evening of music.

12/11/2023

Richard Goode and Marcia—it’s wonderful to have you back! We’re excited for your concert tomorrow!

08/11/2023

Thanks to Rob Hubbard for the weekend best bet in today's Star Tribune: "Richard Goode: When it was announced that one of the world's finest pianists would offer an intimate Chopin Society recital at Macalester College's Mairs Concert Hall, there was little doubt that the concert would sell out. And it has. After all, Goode has almost filled the Ordway Music Theater, a hall over four times larger. The first American pianist to record Beethoven's complete piano works will devote the concert's second half to that composer's devilishly demanding "Diabelli Variations" after performing a fantasia and sonata by Mozart. (3 p.m. Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, 130 Macalester St., St. Paul, $20-$40, chopinsocietymn.org)"

01/11/2023

Getting close! Richard Goode's eagerly anticipated (and sold out) recital featuring Mozart K.533 and Beethoven Diabelli Variations--Nov 12 at Macalester College, Saint Paul.

26/09/2023

The wise and wonderful Richard Goode returns on Nov 12 to play works of Mozart and Beethoven’s great Diabelli Variations. Very few tickets remain!

25/09/2023

Exquisite indeed—we couldn’t agree more!

Korean American pianist Minsoo Sohn imbued the keys with a potent energy as he played the piano works in a masterful and precise performance.

25/09/2023

Thank you Minsoo Sohn for your jaw-dropping performance today of Rachmaninoff’s Etudes-Tableaux!

23/09/2023

Minsoo Sohn brings hypnotically beautiful and viscerally exciting Rachmaninoff to Macalester’s concert hall tomorrow!