Fundación Scherzo. Rafał Blechacz

Part of the Fundación Scherzo cycle.

Part of the Fundación Scherzo. Grandes Intérpretes cycle, Polish pianist Rafał Blechacz gives a recital on 10 November in the Sala Sinfónica of the Auditorio Nacional de Música, with works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven and Frédéric Chopin. The concert also marks Polish Independence Day, in collaboration with the Instituto Polaco de Cultura, as part of the Festival Eñe.

Born in 1985 in Nakło nad Notecią (Poland), Rafał Blechacz is a pianist who graduated from the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. He then won several awards, including second prize at the Arthur Rubinstein in Memoriam Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz in 2002, second prize at the 4th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in 2003 and first prize at the Morocco International Piano Competition in 2004.

He rose to fame, however, in 2005, when he was the only winner of the first five prizes at the 15th International Chopin Piano Competition, taking first prize, the polonaise, mazurka and concerto prizes and the special prize for audience approval. Indeed, no other performer had won all the competition's major distinctions.

He has released eight albums and has performed with orchestras such as the Russian National Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 2014 he received the Gilmore Artist Award, which is given every four years to the most outstanding artist to provide financial support for their career, and in 2015 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of the Republic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski.

Artistic credits:

Venue: Auditorio Nacional de Música - Sala Sinfónica

Piano - Rafał Blechacz

Programme:

Ludwig van Beethoven — Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op.