In the subsequent 50 years, Ohlsson has owned Chopin’s music like few others, playing it with authority, humility, a sense of discovery and deep commitment.
In 1970 Garrick Ohlsson – a gangly pianist from White Plains, New York, all of 22 and unknown beyond his hometown – pulled off an astonishing feat: from nowhere he won the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the only American to have done so. He somehow missed the announcement, a kindly audience member informing him that his life would never be quite the same.
Ohlsson has other heroes too. Scriabin is one such example, his powerful, impressionistic music an ideal match for Ohlsson’s authoritative playing. He adores Barber and Schubert, Debussy and Liszt too, choosing this Australian tour for his first performance of the latter’s Sonata in B Minor in many years. His program also features a new work by the Australian composer Thomas Misson.
Artists
Program
- DEBUSSY Suite bergamasque
- BARBER Piano Sonata in E-Flat Minor, Op. 26
- Thomas MISSON New Work*
- CHOPIN Variations brillantes, Op. 12
- CHOPIN Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 4: Larghetto
- CHOPIN Scherzo No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 31
*World premiere performances. Commissioned for Musica Viva Australia by Stephen Johns for his wife, Michele.
About the Composer
Thomas Misson is a musician from Hobart who has recently studied with Elliott Gyger, Ken Thomson, and Yannis Kyriakides.
Thomas’ compositions are inspired by the extremes of the human condition and its omnipresent imperfections. His music often aims to reimagine familiar musical constructs in ways that are surreal, blackly humorous, tender, and lyrical.
Thomas has a passion for expanding and enriching others’ relationships with music through the disciplines of teaching, YouTubing, and music journalism. He is an experienced pianist who performs in a variety of contexts, genres, and capacities such as recitalist, concerto soloist, jazz pianist, and collaborative pianist.
Thomas’ new work will be premiered by Garrick Ohlsson on his national tour. It was commissioned for Musica Viva Australia by Stephen Johns for his wife, Michele.