Existing Ticketholders
For Perth ticketholders to Chopin's Piano on 8 November, your tickets will be automatically valid for this replacement concert so there's no need for you to do anything. We look forward to seeing you at Perth Concert Hall on Monday 8 November at 7:30pm.
If you are no longer able to attend or have any other queries, please contact the Box Office on 1800 688 482 (Mon - Fri, 9am - 5pm AEST) or via email at boxoffice@musicaviva.com.au to discuss alternative arrangements.
The 19-year-old Chinese-Australian pianist Shuan Hern Lee has made waves ever since he was accepted as a tertiary music student at the University of Western Australia at just 14 years of age. The following years have only confirmed his star status, seeing him claim a number of international accolades that include winning first place in the junior category of the prestigious Cliburn International Piano Competition in Hartford Connecticut, USA.
For this special one-off concert, Lee is joined by the Perth-based Sartory String Quartet, comprised of violinists Paul Wright and Pascale Whiting, violist Katherine Potter, and cellist Sophie Curtis. Perth audiences will recall that both Wright and Curtis appeared in concert for Musica Viva Australia earlier this year, playing with real panache.
That confidence will be on full display when the musicians unveil their interpretation of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No 2, the first concerto the composer ever wrote. For this performance, Shuan Hern Lee and the Sartory String Quartet will be joined by double bassist Andrew Sinclair. A love letter to the piano – and to a boyhood crush – Chopin’s work showcases the unbounded lyricism and eloquence of the instrument. “The whole of the piece is of a perfection almost ideal,” Liszt remarked, and it is true that there is a glowing tenderness at the work’s heart that brings it close to the transcendent.
With its sunny disposition, Haydn’s String Quartet in C Op 20 No 2 will leave audiences with a spring in their step. An important milestone in the string quartet’s development, here the four instruments are given an equality that was hitherto unexplored, each contributing to the work’s rich, almost sensuous textures.
Finally, Lee will take the stage by himself to perform Chopin’s Ballade No 4, a work that is often touted as being one of the composer’s finest works and illustrative of his poetic touch.
