About this Event
This concert is offered freely but we'll be inviting donations (towards the artist's fee and other expenses). Gift Aid forms will be available on the day.
Following the recital, Afternoon Tea is available. Entirely optional, but highly recommended! Available for £29 per person, bookings for the Afternoon Tea must be made directly with the National Liberal Club here (link to the NLC's website). Please note: Afternoon Tea bookings close at midday on Tuesday 26 May (limited availability).
'Drops of crystal' of musical intelligence and ravishing beauty – Christopher Axworthy
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) – 4 Ballades, Op. 10
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) – Pictures at an Exhibition
1874. The Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. An exhibition, displaying the paintings and drawings of Victor Hartmann, who had died the previous year. Moved to creative fervor by the exhibition, Mussorgsky composed a ferociously difficult piano suite in three weeks. In ten movements, plus a recurring and varied Promenade theme, this masterpiece serves as a musical depiction of a tour of the exhibition. Including the famous “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks”, “The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba Yaga)”, and "The Great Gate of Kiev".
The recital begins with 4 Ballades by Brahms. Their composition in 1854 coincided with the beginning of the composer's lifelong friendship with the pianist and composer Clara Schumann. The first ballade was inspired by a Scottish poem, "Edward". Chopin had written the last of his ballades only 12 years earlier, but Brahms approached the genre quite differently, take its origin in narrative poetry more literally.
Born in La Spezia, Italy, Giordano Buondonno graduated with highest honors from the Giacomo Puccini Conservatoire, achieving the top mark in his class. He has received mentorship from distinguished pianists including Sergio De Simone, Deniz Gelenbe, Mikhail Kazakevich, and Martino Tirimo in London. Currently, he is pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the guidance of Ronan O’Hora, Charles Owen, and Noriko Ogawa.
At the age of 19, Giordano was awarded first prize at the Clara Schumann Competition. A laureate of the PianoLink Concerto Competition, he earned first prize with a performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1, accompanied by the PianoLink Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Massimo Fiocchi Malaspina at Palazzina Liberty in Milan. He was a finalist in the 2019 Beethoven Society Intercollegiate Piano Competition and won third prize at the Sheepdrove Intercollegiate Piano Competition.
Giordano’s international debut in Russia featured a three-concert tour as part of the Pianissimo Winter Festival. His performances included appearances at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the GES-2 Concert Hall in Moscow, and the Pakgauzy Concert Hall in Nizhny Novgorod.
Notable highlights of Giordano’s career include recitals at Steinway Hall, King’s Place Hall, Milton Court Concert Hall at the Barbican Centre, St. James’s Piccadilly in London, as well as a performance at Henley Park Manor in Surrey for His Serene Highness Prince Donatus von Hohenzollern.
He has also performed in Rome as part of the Young Artist Concert Series organized by RomaTre Orchestra. Recent engagements include appearances at the South Hill Park Arts Centre International Conservatoire Series, Lighthouse Poole’s Centre for the Arts, George Solti Studio in London (performing on Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli’s piano), the Paganiniano Festival in Italy, Old Royal Naval College, St. Alfege Church, the Polish Hearth Club in South Kensington, and St. Mary’s Perivale.
Giordano is a proud recipient of numerous scholarships and awards, including The Leverhulme Trust Scholarship, Arthur Haynes Scholarship, Gladys Bratton Scholarship, two Jacqueline Williams Scholarships, and support from The Keyboard Charitable Trust in London.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
