Alexander Paley Music Festival
· Alexander Paley ·
Alexander Paley is widely recognized for his exceptionally broad and extensive repertoire of concerti and solo piano works, his dazzling technical prowess, and his convincing, personal interpretations.
The Washington Post called Paley's 1991 debut with the National Symphony a "flawless performance", and since then he has earned similar accolades for performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and the St. Louis, San Diego, Utah, Colorado, Milwaukee, Seattle, and Syracuse Symphony Orchestras. In the 1996-7 season, he made his Carnegie Hall debut with the American Composers Orchestra in the world premier of a new concerto by Sheila Silver. The New York Times wrote "The pianist...played like a man posessed".
Recital appearances throughout the United States have taken Mr. Paley to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Richmond, Atlanta, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Chicago's Allied Arts Series, and the Seattle International Festival. Among other major music venues, in the 1999-2000 season, Mr. Paley made two recital appearances in Washington DC, playing the dedicatory recital on the German Embassy's new Bluthner piano, and at the Dumbarton Concert Series with a program that featured J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations and French Suite No. 5. The Washington Post review of this recital began: "Once in a while, never often enough, a recital is so exhilarating that it reaches far into the intermission, which becomes a delicious interlude between the lingering vapors of superlative artistry already experienced and the enoumous pleasure of knowing there is still more to come." Being a favorite of audiences in Washington DC, Mr. Paley gives his recital annually, including the complete Mozart Solo Sonatas in 2004 and an "all Liszt concert" that was recorded and heard on WETA's "Front Row Washington" in 2011.
Born in Kishiniev, Moldova, Mr. Paley began his piano study at age six. He gave his first recital at age thirteen and at sixteen he won the National Music Competition of Moldova. Subsequently, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Bella Davidovich and Vera Gornostayeva, completing his graduate work in 1981. He went on to win major awards, including the First Prize at the the Leipzig International Bach Competition in 1884, the Bosendorfer Prize in 1986, the Grand Prix at the first International Pancho Vladigerov Competition (Bulgaria) in 1986, the Grand Prix Young Artist Debut (New York) in 1988, Frist Prize at Aiex de Vries (Belgium) in 1990 and Les Victoires de la Musique Classique (France) in 2006.
Prior to his defection to USA in 1988, Mr. Paley performed frequently as a recitalist and soloist throughtout the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe. He was a featured soloist during numerous tours with the Moscow Virtuosi under Vladimir Spivakov. Mr. Paley now perform extensively throughout Europe and China, including performances of concerti with orchestras such as the Orchestre National de France, the MDR Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique Monte Carlo, Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Orchestre de Paris, and Montral Symphony. Mr. Paley has worked with many conductors including Myung-Whun Chung, Ivan Fisher, Marin Alsop, Zdenek Macal, Lawrence Foster, Peter Ruzicka, Jean-Claude Casadesus, among others. His recital appearances so far have included recitals at the Radio France in Paris, the Grande Interpretes series in Lyon, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Laeiszhall in Hamburg, Gemany, Lille Piano Festival, Opera Theatre of Bescanson, Theatre des Champs-Elysees, The Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, China, and in cities like Nancy, Metz, Bourges, Amiens in France, Linz and Vienna in Austria and many cities in Germany. Mr. Paley has partnered with eminent artists such as Bella Davidovich, Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimi Spivakov, and has performed chamber music with important ensembles such as the Vermeer, Ysaye and the Fine Arts string quartets, as well as with principal players from major orchestras including the MDR Leipzig Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Montpellier Philharmonic.
The year 2011 marked the 20th anniversary of Mr. Paley's festival at the Moulin d'Ande in Normandy (France). This festival, a week-long series of recitals, lieder and chamber music concerts, has become a highlight of the season for many French music lovers. It has been the subject of an hour-long documentary by Russian television which has been broadcasted thoughtout eastern Europe as well as in Israel. As part of the festival in 1997, Mr. Paley made his conducting debut with performances of Pergolese's La Serva Padrone and Telemann's Pimpinone at the Theatre of Evreux Scene National in France and has gone on conducting since, including conducting and playing compelete J. S. Bach Concerti for solo piano, and two, three and four pianos; complete Mozart Concerti for solo piano, and two and three pianos; complete Beethoven piano concerti; Mendelssohn Concerti for piano solo with the Ensemble Orchestre de Paris and Verdi la Traviata at the National Opera of Moldova.
In August 1998, Mr. Paley created a festival in Richmond, Virginia. It has drawn popular and critical acclaim for its bold programming and brilliant performances.
Mr. Paley has made numerous recordings of diverse works, including the complete solo piano works of Balakirev for ESS.A.Y. label, works by Scriabin and Weber for Naxos, cello and piano sonatas by Chopin and Rachmaninoff (with cellist Alexandre Dmitriev) for Accord, the Liszt transcription of Beethoven's Septour for Musidisc, world premier recording of Giovanni Sgambati's piano concerto with the Orchestre Philharmonique Montpellier for Actes Sud Musicales, a 1994 recording of Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concerti No. 2 and No 4 with the Russian State Orchestra (available on the Russian Disc label), a 2003 recording of the Sheila Silver piano concerto with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra for Naxos, a recording of works by Jean-Louis Agobet with the Pro Philharmonique Orchestre of Strasbourg for the Timpani label. Mr. Paley has recorded a series of CDs on Bluthner label, including "10 pieces of Romeo and Julliet and 2 Suites from Cinderella by Prokofiev", "Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms und Bartel", "Chopin", "Bach: Goldberg Variations", "Bach: the well-tempered Clavier", and also a DVD titled "Bluthnersoiree with Alexander Paley" featuring Schubert/Liszt Song Tanscriptions, and live performance from Leipzig. His upcoming new releases will include both Enesco cello sonatas with cellist Alexandre Dmitriev, complete J. P. Rameau works for clavicin (first complete recording on piano), complete violin sonatas of Enesco with violinist Amiram Ganz and Tchaikowsky Grand Sonata in G major and complete "Seasons".