SEASON OPENING CONCERT
“Few artists have burst onto the classical music scene in recent years with the incandescence of the pianist Daniil Trifonov.” - The New York Times
“Without question the most astounding pianist of our age.” - The Times [of London]
FEATURED ARTIST:
Daniil Trifonov, piano
PROGRAM:
TANEYEV Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp minor, Op. 29
Prelude, Andante
Fugue, Allegro vivace e con fuoco
PROKOFIEV Mimoletnosti (“Visions Fugitives”), Op. 22
Lentamente
Andante
Allegretto
Animato
Molto giocoso
Con eleganza
Pittoresco (Arpa)
Comodo
Allegro tranquillo
Ridicolosamente
Con vivacita
Assai moderato
Allegretto
Feroce
Inquieto
Dolente
Poetico
Con una dolce lentezza
Presto agitatissimo e molto accentuato
Lento irrealmente
MYASKOVSKY Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 13
INTERMISSION
SCHUMANN Sonata No.1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11
Introduzione: Un poco adagio – Allegro vivace
Aria
Scherzo: Allegrissimo – intermezzo: Lento
Finale: Allegro, un poco maestoso
GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist Daniil Trifonov (dan-EEL TREE-fon-ov) has made a spectacular ascent of the classical music world, as a solo artist, champion of the concerto repertoire, chamber and vocal collaborator, and composer. Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are a perpetual source of awe. “He has everything and more, … tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that,” marveled pianist Martha Argerich. With Transcendental , the Liszt collection that marked his third title as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, Trifonov won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo Album of 2018. Named Gramophone’s 2016 Artist of the Year and Musical America’s 2019 Artist of the Year, he was made a “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government in 2021. As The Times of London notes, he is “without question the most astounding pianist of our age.”
Trifonov’s 2025-26 season includes three performances at Carnegie Hall. He first reunites with German baritone Matthias Goerne for a performance of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, as the culmination of their North American tour of Schubert’s great song cycles that also sees them perform Schwanengesang in Québec City and Boston, and Winterreise in Toronto, Washington, DC, and Dallas. After the North American performances, Trifonov and Goerne tour the cycles to multiple German and Austrian cities, as well as to Paris in the spring. In November, Trifonov returns to Carnegie Hall in the company of Cristian Mǎcelaru and the Orchestre National de France for two great French piano concertos: Saint-Saëns’s Second and Ravel’s jazz-inflected Piano Concerto in G. Finally, in December, Trifonov’s third Carnegie Hall appearance of the season is a mainstage solo recital, with the same program performed throughout the season in both the U.S. and Europe. Other season highlights for Trifonov include a short duo tour in Sweden and Austria with violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider; a reprise of Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, as well as three performances of the same work with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under the baton of Daniel Harding; and Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto with both the Cincinnati Symphony led by Mǎcelaru and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – where Trifonov served as 2024-25 artist-in-residence – led by Esa-Pekka Salonen.