CONCERT : Piano à 4 mains / Piano 4 Hands—Angela Park & Stéphan Sylvestre

Entrée libre - aucune inscription requise / Free Admission - registration not required

PROGRAMME

Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata in D major for piano four-hands, Op. 6

Claude Debussy (arr. M. Ravel for piano duet): Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune

Alice Ping Yee Ho: Heart to Heart

-Entracte / Intermission-

Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major

Angela Park, piano

Stéphane Sylvestre, piano

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Canadian pianist Angela Park has been praised for her “stunningly beautiful pianism” (Grace Welsh Prize, Chicago), “beautiful tone and sensitivity” (American Record Guide), and for performing “with such brilliant clarity it took your breath away” (Chapala, Mexico). Angela’s versatility as both soloist and chamber musician has led to performances across Canada, as well as in the United States, Europe, Japan and Mexico. She has performed for such notable series as Montreal’s Pro Musica, Ottawa Chamberfest, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Parry Sound’s Festival of the Sound, Winnipeg Virtuosi, Debut Atlantic and Prairie Debut Tours, Orchestra London Canada, Sinfonia Toronto, Stratford Symphony, and the Northern Lights Music Festival in Mexico. She is a founding member of the JUNO Award-winning Ensemble Made In Canada, a group she performed with from 2006-2020. Angela has numerous projects with her duo partner, cellist Rachel Mercer, including the Mercer-Park Duo, St. John-Mercer-Park Trio with violinist Scott St. John, and the Seiler Trio with violinist Mayumi Seiler. Angela is also lucky to collaborate frequently with artists including clarinetist James Campbell, soprano Leslie Fagan, violist Rivka Golani, pianist Stéphan Sylvestre, and violist Sharon Wei. Angela has recorded solo albums, and collaborative discs with cellist Rachel Mercer, St. John-Mercer-Park Trio, and Ensemble Made In Canada for labels including NAXOS Canadian Classics, Centrediscs, Leaf Music, and Enharmonic Records. In 2010 Angela earned her DMA in Performance from the Université de Montréal, and previously received her MMus and BMus degrees from the University of Toronto. From 2011-2014, Angela was Visiting Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano-Woodwinds at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Angela is currently Assistant Professor of Piano and Collaborative Piano at Western University in London, Ontario.

Stéphan Sylvestre ranks among the most sought-after and brilliant Canadian pianists of his generation and enjoys an active performing career as a recitalist, orchestra soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and pedagogue. Critics on both sides of the Atlantic have bestowed lavish praise on his performances; “…it is indisputable that his performance belongs to the category of 'spectacular piano playing'... his natural talent reminds one of the great Artur Rubinstein...” (La Presse, Canada); “…Sylvestre’s Chopin manages to move us through a simplicity only found in the greatest pianists.” (La Scena Musicale, Canada); “…masterly brilliant virtuosity and monumentality,” (Flovo Cultury, Czech Republic). His performances have taken place in concert halls throughout Canada, the United States, Brazil, the Middle East, France, Spain, Italy, Scotland, Ireland, England, Czech Republic, Russia, Holland, and Indonesia. Notable venues include the Concertgebouw (Holland), St. Martin-in-the-Fields (UK), the St. Petersburg Conservatory (Russia), Place des Arts, the National Arts Centre, Massey Hall, and the Four Seasons Centre (Canada). He has played with several Canadian orchestras, and regularly appears in international festivals including Lanaudière, Orford, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and the Festival of the Sound in Canada. He can be heard on radio stations throughout North America, on Radio Suisse Romande, and he has performed live for the BBC in Edinburgh.

Mr. Sylvestre continues to gain recognition as a leading interpreter of Brahms and the French repertoire. His extensive discography, released under ATMA, CBC, Marquis Classics, and Espace 21 Records labels, has received outstanding reviews and two nominations for “Best recording of the Year” at the Opus Awards in Quebec. Placed alongside pianist Murray Perahia for his recording of Brahms complete late piano works (theWholeNote), the famed UK-based magazine The Strad gave a stunning review of his album of Szymanovski’s complete works for violin and piano with violinist Jerzy Kaplanek. Mr. Sylvestre has collaborated with world renowned artists and ensembles such as James Campbell, James Sommerville, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Ransom Wilson, Martin Beaver, Rivka Golani, Jonathan Crow, Alain Trudel, Andrew Dawes, Scott St. John, the Penderecki String Quartet, the New Zealand Quartet, the Alcan Quartet, Quatuor Arthur-Leblanc, and the New Orford String Quartet, among others. In 2019, he formed a piano duo with pianist Angela Park, to present the complete Brahms Symphonies in their original piano four-hand versions.

Stéphan Sylvestre regularly gives masterclasses and adjudicates for leading institutions, including the Glenn Gould School and the network of Conservatoire de Musique du Québec. He has sat on juries of national and international competitions including the Montreal International Piano Competition, the Montreal Symphony Competition, and the Canadian Music Competition. Highly in demand as a pedagogue, his research on the art of performance focuses on the interconnection between the instrument, the awareness of the body and the mental state of the performer. His students are frequent prizewinners of music competitions and have been awarded prestigious research grants. Stéphan Sylvestre previously taught at McGill University and is currently Associate Professor of Piano at Western University, where he acted as chair of the Piano Department from 2008 to 2023. Mr. Sylvestre is a faculty member at the Orford Music Academy, where he teaches in the summer. His teachers have included Leon Fleisher, John Perry, Marc Durand, and Marek Jablonski.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Salle Freiman du pavillon Pérez / Freiman Hall, Pérez Building (610, rue Cumberland St.), 610 Cumberland Street, Ottawa, Canada