The vast repertoire of composition for piano is what compels the renowned Austrian pianist and composer Dejan Lazi to perform in recital. This is good news for the District’s Chopin and Schubert aficionados when the Washington Performing Arts Society presents the ubiquitous and internationally acclaimed artist in recital Saturday evening at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theatre. Lazi?will perform works by Chopin, as well as Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat Major, Op. D. 960.
It was perhaps inevitable that Lazi? would, one day, grace stages worldwide.
“Both my parents are pianists, so I was already from [a] very early age surrounded by piano music,” he said. “What I immediately loved about the piano is this unique abstractness with ability to imitate — or at least, suggest — many different instruments and voices, to be choral and symphonic … and, above all, the fact that actually every great composer [wrote] for the piano.”
| IF YOU GO |
| Dejan Lazi? |
| » Where: The Kennedy Center Terrace Theater |
| » When: 2 p.m. Saturday |
| » Info: $38; 202-785-9727; wpas.org |
And critics would immediately love and recognize his unwavering brilliance as a recitalist, orchestral soloist and player of chamber music. Gramophone saw in him a “gifted musician full of ideas and able to project them persuasively.”
In spring 2008, Lazi? made his orchestral debuts at New York’s Lincoln Center with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and at London’s Royal festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A recording artist as well, with a dozen releases under his belt, he has since performed with American and European orchestras as well as with the Seoul and Hong Kong philharmonic orchestras and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Lazi? is modest and analytic about the Schubert sonata and the Chopin selections, including Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor and Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, that he has chosen for performance at the Kennedy Center, noting, “Both composers were quite introverted characters, yet their styles differ a lot. The monumental Sonata in B-flat major by Schubert, written shortly before he died a young man, is always a psychological challenge. There are so many subtleties, colors, layers and mood changes in there.”
Of the Chopin, he notes the challenge of “combining the lyrical and poetical aspects with [the composer’s] elevated spirits, sheer energy and technical bravura.”
With only the highest praise and respect for what he calls these “two great and, above all, unique masters,” Lazi adds “I am already looking very much forward to performing their wonderful music in Washington.”
