Jonathan Biss, Piano

The Piano Recital Series begins with the pianist, scholar, and New York City cultural linchpin Jonathan Biss. As the co-artistic director of Marlboro Music Festival with pianist Mitsuko Uchida, he brings analytical and stylistic acumen to each program he develops and performs. The formidable pianist and pedagogue Leon Fleisher once said of Biss, 'his ability and interest go for things of transcendence and sublimeness.' Biss comes to Duke Performances with a program of works by Mozart, Schoenberg, and Schumann. Mozart's Sonatas K. 457 and K. 533 were two of only six solo piano sonatas written in his Vienna years, an era celebrated for his breakthroughs in chamber music, opera, and symphonic works. Biss separates these sonatas with Schoenberg's intense and extremely brief Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke; The New York Times praised Biss's interpretation for its 'concentrated bursts of flavor.' The program is rounded out by Schumann's eight-movement Kreisleriana, which the composer famously called 'my favorite work.'