An intimate evening of world-class classical piano, drinks, and dessert
We have the unique pleasure of hosting Mikhail Voskresensky, the renowned chair of piano at the Moscow Conservatory, for an intimate evening of piano, drinks, and dessert.
One of Russia’s most esteemed musicians today and an international prize-winner of many competitions himself, Mr. Voskresensky’s pupils have won 126 international prizes including 55 gold medals.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Voskresensky defected and is now living in a small rental apartment in the Bronx. His inspiring story of courage and sacrifice has been told in The Atlantic (link), the Financial Times (link), and many other outlets. Here is a recent interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour (link).
The Atlantic piece captures the poignancy of Mr. Voskresensky’s decision well: “A week earlier, he had visited the Steinway factory, where he put on an unscheduled recital. At the end of his tour, the president of Steinway made an appearance and offered to loan him one of the company’s finest instruments. But when the piano movers arrived with it in the Bronx, they discovered that the stairway in the building was too narrow. This was the one fact about his new American life that caused him palpable pain. Back in his Moscow apartment, he had three pianos. Here he had only a Yamaha electric keyboard, loaned to him by the mother of one of his former students. ‘It feels like my arm has been cut off,’ he told me.”
This is a special Lilacs: the chance to hear one of the world’s great piano maestros perform for us in close quarters, but also to give him a warm welcome to New York City, to show our support, and to meet and talk with him afterwards.
Friday, March 17 — doors open at 7pm — recital starts 7:30pm — drinks and dessert reception with the pianist afterwards until 10pm at our apartment near Broadway and 29th Street in Manhattan. For photos/videos of previous Lilacs events, see here.
To RSVP, go to the Eventbrite page here. As always, 100% of the proceeds will go to the pianist. To show our support for Mr. Voskresensky at this time, we are encouraging everyone who can to give a bit more than usual.
In addition, we have a special raffle. For every $20 (in addition to the ticket donation) that you give towards Mr. Voskresensky, you will get a raffle entry for two Blavatnik Family First Tier tickets (front row box 19, $300 face value) to the sold-out Carnegie Hall performance by Joshua Bell and Daniil Trifonov on Feb. 28 (details here). To enter the raffle, make sure to get your raffle tickets via the Eventbrite page here by Saturday, Feb. 25 at 6pm, at which time we’ll let the raffle winner know.
The program
Mozart – Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K310
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 (“Pathétique”)
Chopin –
2 Polonaises from Op. 40
2 Valses from Op. 69
3 Etudes from Op. 25 (No. 1, 7, 6)
Prokofiev –
Visions fugitives, Op. 22
March from the opera “Love to three oranges”