For yet another year, the Valldemossa Charterhouse will be the incomparable setting for the musical evenings dedicated to the piano and the music of Frederic Chopin during the month of August. The Chopin Festival is back with a line-up full of internationally renowned pianists, who will be performing on four Sundays in August. The first date will be the 7th with the Japanese Aimi Kobayashi, winner of the last edition of the International Frederic Chopin Competition in Warsaw. The second date that music lovers will have to put on their calendars is the 14th August. Alexei Volodin, one of the most internationally renowned pianists, will perform under the starry skies of the Sierra de Tramuntana mountain range. The line-up of the Festival Chopin 2022 is completed with concerts on the 21st and 28th of August, with the concerts of Martín García, the first Spanish pianist to win the Frederic Chopin International Competition in Warsaw, and Eudald Buch, winner of the El primer Palacio de Barcelona competition.
All the performances will begin at 9.30 p.m., and tickets can be purchased through the ticket.ib portal, with prices of 30, 20 and 15 euros. The concerts will take place in the Cloister of the Valldemossa Charterhouse.
AIMI KOBAYASHI
She started playing the piano at the age of three, made her concert debut at the age of eight and began her international career at the age of nine. In 2005 she became the youngest winner of the Japanese National Music Competition. In 2009 she won the junior section of the Asia-Pacific International Chopin Piano Competition, in 2011 the Yasuko Fukuda Prize, in 2012 the third prize at the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition, and in 2021 the fourth prize at the Frederic Chopin Competition in Warsaw.
Aimi Kobayashi has performed with major orchestras in Japan and abroad, such as the 18th Century Orchestra with Frans Brüggen, the Moscow Virtuosi with Vladimir Spivakov, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra with James Judd, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. In Japan, he regularly performs with the Yomiuri, Japan Philharmonic and Hyogo Performing Arts Center orchestras... Recent performances include recitals at Roque-de Anthéron and at the Salle Cortot in Paris and concerts with the Philharmonic Royal de Liège and Tonhalle orchestras.
Aimi Kobayashi has recorded pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Liszt and Chopin for Warner Classics, and Schumann and Beethoven for EMI. She is currently continuing her studies with Meng-Chieh Liu at the Curtis Institute of Music.
ALEXEI VOLODIN
A sensitive and technically brilliant artist, he is in demand by orchestras of the highest level. Alexei Volodin has an extraordinarily diverse repertoire, from Beethoven and Brahms, through Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rakhmaninov, Prokofiev and Scriabin, to Shchedrin and Medtner. The 2021/2022 European concert season includes invitations to perform again with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic under Daniel Raiskin and the Russian National Philharmonic, as well as debuts with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie and the Hamburg Staatsorchester, with regular collaborators such as Pietari Inkinen and Kent Nagano. Volodin appears regularly in recital at venues such as the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Philharmonie in Paris, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Tonhalle in Zurich and the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid. This season he performs at the Brucknerhaus Linz, the Bilbao Philharmonic Society, the Tchaikovsky Hall and in concert halls in Munich, Blaibach, Eppan and Genval.
As an active chamber musician, he collaborates with Sol Gabetta and other artists such as Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin and Mischa Maisky, as well as with the Borodin, Modigliani, Casals and Cremona quartets. Volodin's last album on the Mariinsky label was Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 4, conducted by Gergiev. The album with works by Rakhmàninov, recorded by Challenge Classics, was released in 2013. He also recorded an album with works by Schumann, Ravel and Scriabin; the album dedicated to works by Chopin won a Choc de Classica and received five stars from Diapason.
Volodin has performed in the following festivals: Kaposvár International Chamber Music Festival, Festival Les nuits du Château de la Moutte, Variations Musicales de Tannay, Bad Kissingen Sommer Festival, Roque-de Anthéron, Rencontres Musicales de Évian, La Follo Journée, White Nights Festival in San Petersburgo, St. Magnus International Festival and Festival de Pascua in Moscú.
Born in 1977 in Leningrad, Alexei Volodin studied at the Gnessin Academy in Moscow and later with Eliso Virsaladze at the Moscow Conservatory. In 2001 he continued his studies at the International Piano Academy of Lake Como and gained international recognition by winning the Géza Anda International Competition in Zurich in 2003.
MARTÍN GARCÍA
Martín García García was born in Gijón in 1996. He began his musical studies at the age of five with Natalia Mazoun and Ilyà Goldfarb. He graduated from the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía, where he studied with Galina Eguiazarova, and later took a master's degree at the Mannes School of Music in New York, where he studied with Jerome Rose. Martín García has won prizes in numerous national and international competitions, including first prize at the 2021 Cleveland International Piano Competition and third prize at the XVIII Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2021, where he was the first Spanish pianist to win a prize in this important competition. He also received the special prize awarded by the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Warsaw for the best concert performance.
In addition, he won the first prize at the International Keyboard Institute & Festival 2018, held in New York, and was awarded the Junior Piano Prize in Barcelona in 2005. He also won the Antón García Abril Competition in 2006, the Santa Cecília Prize in Segovia in 2006, the City of San Sebastián in 2008, the Rotary International in Moscow in 2008 and the Permanent Competition of Juventudes Musicales de España in Alcalá de Henares in 2008, where he was the youngest pianist to win in the history of the competition.
Martín is planning several tours in Japan, Europe and the USA.
EUDALD BUCH
Eudald Buch, born in 1997, trained at the Escolania de Montserrat and at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester. He studied with Vladislav Bronevetzky at the Escuela Superior de Música de Cataluña and with Elisso Virsaladze at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. He is currently extending his studies with Virsaladze in Fiesole (Florence). In November 2021 he was distinguished with the prize El Primer Palau awarded by the Palau de la Música Catalana.
He has also received masterclasses from Pascal Devoyon, Jacques Rouvier and especially Christian Blackshaw. He has played at the festivals of Buxton and Hellens (England), The International Holland Music Sessions, Weltkassik (Germany) and the Schubertiada de Vilabertran. He has been awarded a scholarship by the Victoria de los Ángeles Foundation. He has performed live for the BBC and his concerts have been broadcast on Cataluña Música.
As a soloist he has collaborated with the Vic Chamber Orchestra, Chetham's Symphony Orchestra and members of the OBC. This season he makes his debut at the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid and the Auditorio de Barcelona. Schubert, Chopin and Liszt. His latest album released in 2014 includes a selection of pieces by Ravel, Chopin and Liszt.