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Alexander Korsantia, pianist...

b i o g r a p h y...........back to roster....up January 2008 Dubbed "a major artist" by the Miami Herald and a "quiet maverick" by the Daily Telegraph, pianist Alexander Korsantia has been praised for the "clarity of his technique, richly varied tone and dynamic phrasing" (Baltimore Sun), and a "piano technique where difficulties simply do not exist" (Calgary Sun). The Boston Globe found his interpretation of Pictures of an Exhibition to be "a performance that could annihilate all others one has heard." And the Birmingham Post gushed that "his intensely responsive reading was shot through with a vein of constant fantasy, whether musing or mercurial." Ever since winning the First Prize and Gold Medal of the Artur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition and the First Prize at the Sidney International Piano Competition, Korsantia’s career has taken him to many of the world’s major concert halls, collaborating with renowned conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Christoph Eschenbach, and Paavo Jarvi and orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, Kirov Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic. Season 2007/08 brings him to the Pacific Symphony, Omaha and Elgin symphonies following a summer stint with the Israel Philharmonic under Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos where he performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and the 2nd Brahms Piano Concerto nine times. In Europe he is heard on tour with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, performing Chopin’s 2nd Piano Concerto in France and Germany, as well as with the Noeburg Chamber Orchestra across Germany. He is also scheduled to give recitals at the Festival Piano Jacobins in Toulouse, and in Calgary, Lodz, and his hometown, Tbilisi, Georgia. The highlights of the 2004-2006 seasons were performances of Prokofiev’s Third Concerto and Mozart B flat major Concerto with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto with RAI Orchestra in Turin, the Dvorak Concerto with the Jerusalem Symphony and Oslo Philharmonic and the Stravinsky Concerto with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver, Omaha, Oregon, Louisville Symphony Orchestras and a tour throughout Italy with the Georgian State Symphony. Other noteworthy engagements have included a televised performance of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 at the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg; performances at the Stresa Festival in Italy under the baton of Yuri Bashmet; concerts at the Newport, Tanglewood, Vancouver, Gilmore festivals; with the symphony orchestras of Louisville, Brazil, Bogota, Jerusalem and the City of Birmingham, the Georgian State Orchestra, the Kirov Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra and others. He has also participated in a United States recital tour with renowned violinist Vadim Repin. A veritable superstar in his country of birth, he performed at the inauguration of Georgian President Saakashvili in 2004, a year after National TV released a full-length documentary about him. In 1999, he was awarded one of the most prestigious national awards, the Medal of Honor, bestowed on him by then-President, Eduard Shevardnadze. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Alexander Korsantia began his musical studies at an early age. Among his mentors are his mother, Sventlana Korsantia and Tengiz Amiredjibi, Georgia’s foremost piano instructor. In 1992, he moved his family to the United States and joined the famed piano studio of fellow Georgian, Alexander Toradze, at Indiana University. Korsantia resides in Boston where he is a Professor of Piano on the faculty of the New England Conservatory. b i o.. ...r e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .

. r e v i e w s...........back to roster....up "KORSANTIA SHINES AT S U N Y" ...Summoning the ebullient, tender spirit of... Haydn... Korsantia conveyed the wondrous, lyric and gently profound... . StravinskyA?gosti and Prokofiev: ...you are prepared for Korsantia's keyboard persona as a bomb-thrower. It comes as a total shock, after his incarnation as tender youth. At Korsantia's touch, narcoleptic nuances, reveries encompassing beauty and horror expand to an epic-heroic, yes, explosive denouement. Kitty Montgomery Daily Freeman, NY, July 28, 2006 Alexander Korsantia, a prize-winning concert artist and New England Conservatory faculty member, ... played the heck out of the alternately grim and cheeky piece (Shostakovich First concerto). The clarity of his technique, richly varied tone and dynamic phrasing served him well, especially in the almost cartoonish dash of the finale. Tim Smith Baltimore Sun, March 25, 2006 "HUMAN WARMTH" There are only very few pianists that reflect in their playing such a human sense and personality like Alexander Korsantia, perhaps, that is the magic about him. In a world of rationalism and digits that tends to mediocrity on one hand and "fast and bright" on the other, the warmth, the real honest humanity is indeed a rear commodity. That is why Alexander Korsantia's playing is a musical and cultural oasis. ... Ora Binur Ma'Ariv, Jerusalem, December 20, 2004 Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody ona Theme of Paganini: ...mercurial dynamics...an electric performance from pianist Alexander Korsantia. James McQuillen November 22, 2004 ...Korsantia must be counted among the ... pianists who possess a piano technique where difficulties simply do not exist and who also bring to their music-making a distinctive personality and interpretive voice. ...a powerful performance of Three Excerpts from Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird in a classic arrangement by Guido Agosti. ...Korsantia was a total master of the piano; the complex textures made transparent, the control of sound and tone complete to the ultimate degree. Korsantia's imagination and concentration never flagged, and each moment of the music was vividly projected with maximum focus and penetration into the musical ideas. Kenneth Delong Calgary Herald, May 1, 2004 ...Richard Strauss' Violin Sonata in E flat major, Op. 18 (with Vadim Repin)... ...you hear hints of tone poems and operas to come, especially in the luxuriant piano writing, to which Korsantia brought enormous momentum. Donald Rosenberg Cleveland Herald, November 17, 2004 Korsantia's... stupendous cadenza... And his startling, volcanic surge into the finale... plenty of showmenship where it is required. ...he framed such heroics and histrionics with playing of great flexibility, tenderness and grace. How refreshing to hear such a muscular and demanding concerto (Rachmaninov's Third) for once played for its poetry and liricism. Richard Morrison The Times, November 1, 2002 "QUIET MAVERICK BRETHES NEW LIFE INTO AN OLD WARHORSE" Korsantia... tackled the composer's greatest challenges with aplomb. What most impressed, was the flexibility of his playing, indeed his spur-of-the-moment rubato kept Oramo on his toes throughout. ...it breathed new life into Rachmaninov's old warhorse (Third Concerto). Matthew Rye The Daily Telegraph, November 2, 2002 Alexander Korsantia made Rachmaninov his own - for an expansive 50 minutes. ...this was from within, a real identification with the music's soul; a church-like hush hovered over the most intimate sections when Korsantia pared to a whisper. Korsantia's (interpretation) ranges from rippling delicacy to huge power... His raking and teasing of the music might be controversial, yet rarely unconvincing. An interpretation of extremes and contradictions, Rachmaninov's part was so deliciously transparent as to suggest Korsantia's Bach as potentially something special. I hope to hear him soon again. Colin Anderson The Classical Source, October 30, 2002 "RAPTUROUS DEBUT WITH RACHMANINOV" ...Scintillating Symphony Hall debut pianist Alexander Korsantia in a fabulous performance of Rachmaninov's marvellous Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. His intensely responsive reading was shot through with a vein of constant fantasy, whether musing or mercurial. Christopher Morley Birmingham Post, November 28, 2001 ...Alexander korsantia' explosive brilliance and intensity... He delivered stunning definition, wondrous delicacy and vivid characterisation of the 24 variations and yet never intruded inapropriately on the CBSO's marvelous responsiveness - a wonderful performance. Clare Macknay Birmingham Post, December 1, 2001 "GEORGIAN PIANO MASTER DAZZLES NEWPORT WITH COLORS AND MOODS" Georgian pianist Alexander Korsantia... made his brilliant festival debut on Wednesday. ...in the Haydn Sonata in F, the pianist disappeared (and took us along) into a world of amazingly varied colors and moods. Prokofiev's Eighth Sonata explored all of its mysteries and subtleties... a stuggering performance. Then there was "Pictures at an Exhibition", a performance that could annihilate all others one has heard. Ellen Pfeifer Boston Globe, July 26, 2002 "KORSANTIA REVELS IN RAVEL'S CONCERTOS" ...Alexander Korsantia hurled himself into ravel's G-Major piano concerto, and in about two seconds I felt the happiest, most wide-awake person on earth. Possessing tremendous technical resources and a temperament to match, Korsantia dispatched the concerto with all the brilliance it demanded. Velociy-driven passages in the outer movements, plus artfully simple lines of the central adagio, marked him as an artist of rare skill and insight. ...he returned after intermission for an even more persuasive account of the composer's Concerto for the Left Hand. How a single hand extracts such formidable sonorities remains a marvel, and Korsantia proved an absolute, unflagging master of every contour. ...Korsantia's double triumph... Let's say it all together now: "Rebook him!!" Andrew Adler The Courier-Journal, November 9, 2001 In Alexander Korsantia's rendition the overplayed Tchaikovsky's First Concerto sounds as if heard for the first time. This Canadian based georgian pianist is not just one more perfect playing machine, but first and foremost a musical personality, virtuoso with his own very characteristical sound, which is fresh, light, pure and free. His devotion and respect to both the letter and the spirit of the score are immense... Maxim Reider Jerusalem Post, October 20, 2001 "ARTISTIC BLISS" Alexander Korsantia continues to justify his title of Israeli audience's Darling with his vibrant performance, his rich imagination and starry pianism. Tchaikovsky's First Concerto... received a new life and freshness under the hands of this unique pianist. Only an an artist with a soul like that of Korsantia was able to present such an imaginatively rich fabric even in the piece with a tendency to pomposity. In one word - a sheer artistic pleasure. Ora Binur Ma'Ariv, Jerusalem, October 19, 2001 Korsantia attacked the overplayed Tchaikovsky's piece (First Concerto) as if it was a new discovery, pouring into it his powerful temperament, technique, self-identification and inspiration... Hagay Hitron Haaretz, Tel-Aviv, October 22, 2001 "MUSICAL GRENADE" Georgian pianist Alexander Korsantia presented the overplayed Tchaikovsky's (First) Piano Concerto with ungeard-of quality and touch. He went to the Russian roots of Tchaikovsky. To street melodies. Korsantia meticulously cleaned the dirt of banality which had stuck to the piece with a toothbrush. Hanoch Ron Yedioth Ahronoth, Tel-Aviv, October 22, 2001 ...Display of Russian pianistic brilliance came in a concert by the Moscow Soloists under Yuri Bashmet, with Korsantia as a pianist in a stunningly showy performance of Shostakovich's Concerto No. 1. David Stevens International Herald Tribune, September 17, 2000 ...But the festival's spectacular find was Alexander Korsantia. ...contemplative Mozart, amazingly supple Chopin, dazzling Prokofiev - one of those blazing rushes to the edge of precipice you hear when fortune is smiling. Brahms' Piano Quintet... was memorable for Korsantia's sweep and inner-burning fire, but his Rachmaninoff Third (Concerto) all but washed the audience out of the concert hall. His blockbusting virtuosity, in fact, disabled the Steinway at the end of the first movement and Yamaha had to be brought out for the pianist to finish the concerto, which he did in ferocious style. This is a major artist. James Roos Miami Herald, April 12, 2000 b i o.. ...r e v i e w s back to roster...up . . . .