Yundi, the "prince of the piano," is currently featured on CNN's Talk Asia.

Yundi Li: The pianist with a quiet approach to fame

A classical pianist with a rock star following, Yundi Li has been packing concert halls for nearly a decade.

The 28-year-old Chinese performer has been playing the piano for twenty years and has won numerous accolades, including the prestigious Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in 2000. Held every five years Li became the competition's youngest ever winner, and the first pianist deemed worthy of top honors for ten years.

With a more muted style than his contemporary Lang Lang, Li has still achieved great renown among classical aficionados and has a large fan base in China. However he does not think that fame has changed him.
 
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The NY Times reviews the Artemis Quartet

Beethoven That Is Robust, if a Little Strange
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

You would think that when a string quartet changes two players the fundamental character of the ensemble would alter. The excellent all-Beethoven concert that the Berlin-based Artemis Quartet played at Town Hall on Sunday afternoon, presented by the popularly priced Peoples’ Symphony Concerts, suggested otherwise.

Audiophile Audition reviews Alexandre Tharaud's Virgin Classics debut

CHOPIN: Journal Intime = Mazurkas, Ballades, Nocturnes, Fantasie, etc. - Alexandre Tharaud, piano - Virgin Classics

The entirely natural piano sound only enhances an already illuminated conception.

Ionarts on Alexandre Tharaud's Virgin Classics debut

The Chopin in Alexandre Tharaud's Head

It is well known that Alexandre Tharaud is an Ionarts favorite, and we have written warmly of just about every recording or concert of his to reach our ears, which led me to list him as one of the best overall performers of the first decade of this millennium. He will be returning to the Washington area next month, for a couple of concerts that we hope to review: with cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras at the Library of Congress (March 12, 8 pm) and again at the Baltimore Museum of Art (March 13, 3 pm), programs drawing on their Debussy-Poulenc and Schubert recordings together. In some ways, Tharaud is the opposite of Maurizio Pollini, who seems drawn to the largest, most demanding works by this composer, his performances of the smaller pieces seeming not to have fully engaged his technical imagination. Tharaud excels at finely tooled rendition of the miniatures, etching a remarkable level of detail into a small space: his cycle of the Chopin Preludes, in concert and on disc, was magnificently gloomy, and his disc of the waltzes noteworthy for its introspective, lonely quality.

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Long Beach Press Interviews Sarah Chang

Gift of the violin, wrapped up with a bow

Halfway through her concert at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center on Sunday, Sarah Chang is going to change.

Since she's not an alien, she won't change her form. Since she's a performer, she might change her outfit. But since she's a virtuoso violinist, she's going to change her bow.

"It's more to do with the repertoire," she said in a recent phone interview. "The Brahms (his third violin sonata) is a quite heavy and structural sort of piece, so I use a slightly heavier bow that has a lot more guts. Whereas the bow I'm using in the second half is lighter and slightly sweeter in quality for the Franck (his sonata for violin and piano), which is very airy and more lyrical."

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Sarah Chang to light up Kentucky

Violin virtuoso Sarah Chang to perform with UK Symphony

By Rich Copley rcopley@herald-leader.com

On Saturday night, Sarah Chang will do something she does not do often: She'll play with an orchestra that she hasn't played with before.

The Philadelphia native is only 29, but the number of orchestras and conductors with whom she has not played has become rather small.

"At this point in my career, I don't do a lot of firsts," Chang said Tuesday afternoon from Philadelphia. "Most of the projects that I choose are mostly based on partners that I know and I trust and I love to work with.

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NY Times review of Donizetti’s Fille du Régiment staring Diana Damrau

Donizetti Returns, Offering Plenty of Chemistry and Nine High C’s
By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

The Argentine composer Ginastera made an unlikely appearance in Donizetti’s “Fille du Régiment” when Laurent Pelly’s lively and broadly comical 2008 production returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday evening.

US Exclusive Premiere of Libera's newest music video: TIME

The distinctive sound of Libera has traveled the world in the last few years, topping both mainstream and the classical charts around the globe. The boys in the group, under the musical direction of Robert Prizeman, come together to produce truly extraordinary music, with results unlike any other vocal group around today.

Here is the US exclusive premiere of TIME from Libera's forthcoming album entitled PEACE - due out April 6th. Pre-order your copy here: http://bit.ly/9Aa2Lk

TWO GRAMMY AWARDS FOR EMI & VIRGIN CLASSICS!

EMI Classics / Virgin Classics are proud to announce to have received two Awards at the 52^nd Annual Grammys, which were held in Los Angeles last night.

The Virgin Classics recording of Britten’s Billy Budd, featuring Ian Bostridge and Jonathan Lemalu amongst the soloists and conducted by Daniel Harding, won Best Opera Recording while Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra went to the EMI Classics release of Evgeny Kissin’s recording of Prokofiev’s piano concertos nos. 2 & 3 with the Philharmonia Orchestra / Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Many congratulations to our winners!

Here are the details of our winning recordings to highlight in your local press releases to be circulated immediately and for your trade and marketing initiatives around the winners:

Best Opera Recording
(Award to the Conductor, Album Producer(s) and Principal Soloists)

Britten: Billy Budd
(Vigin Classics)

Ian Bostridge, Neal Davies, Nathan Gunn, Jonathan Lemalu, Matthew Rose,  Gidon Saks

Gentlemen Of The London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Harding
John Fraser, producer

Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (With Orchestra)(Award to the Instrumental Soloist(s) and to the Conductor)

Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3
(EMI Classics)

Evgeny Kissin, piano
Philharmonia Orchestra / Vladimir Ashkenazy

For a full list of winners - click here: http://bit.ly/6RhtTw

NY Times reviews Diana Damaru's Carnegie Hall performance

Solid Renderings of Strauss and Other Stalwarts
By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER