Female musicians to perform recitals

This week, violinist Akiko Suwanai and pianist Alice Sara Ott, two iconic female artists of the classical music world, will grace Shenzhen Concert Hall and perform sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, and Richard Strauss, as well as Chopin’s complete preludes and short pieces by contemporary composers.

A time travel in music

Since winning the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1990, Suwanai has embarked on a flourishing career, performing chamber music and collaborating with prestigious orchestras and conductors worldwide.

This Wednesday evening, she will perform three sonatas on a “Charles Reade” Guarneri del Gesu violin accompanied by Bulgarian pianist Evgeni Bozhanov. The pianist has won prizes at several competitions, including the Van Cliburn Competition (2009) in Fort Worth, Texas and the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw (2010).

The program will include Beethoven’s “Sonata in E-flat Major Op.12, No.3,” “Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100” by Brahms, and Strauss’ “Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 18.”

Akiko Suwanai

The Beethoven sonata is a grand, virtuoso piece, showing the passionate dramatic gestures that set Beethoven apart from those of his Classical period counterparts. And yet, there are enough elegant 18th-century sounds to show his deep roots in the tradition, influenced by Mozart’s sonatas for piano and violin.

The Brahms sonata, written in the summer of 1886 while he recuperated in Switzerland, is the most lyrical of his three sonatas for violin and piano. This glorious work tenderly reveals the introspective side of the composer’s personality. Its elegant final movement, interspersed by sudden outbursts of passion, was particularly liked by Clara Schumann.

In the Strauss piece, written in 1887 when he was only 23, the audience will hear his characteristic thematic ebullience and sophistication; they will also notice a romantic ardor in the lush lyricism of the work, for that year the composer met his future wife, soprano Pauline de Ahna.

Time: 8 p.m., Nov. 1

Tickets: 80-580 yuan

Echoes of Life

Ott is known as one of the most fascinating artists of her generation. With impressive technique and sensitive musicality, her piano playing is perfect yet intense.

Born in 1988 to a German engineer and a Japanese pianist, Ott began to play the piano at 4 and progressed rapidly. In 2002, the then 13-year-old Ott was the youngest finalist in the history of the International Piano Competition in Hamamatsu, where she was honored as the “Most Promising Artist.” She won first prize at the Bach Competition in Köthen in 2003 and at the International Music Competition in Val Tidone in 2004.

Thursday’s concert centers around “Echoes of Life,” her 10th album on Deutsche Grammophon, recorded after her three-year fight against multiple sclerosis.

Alice Sara Ott

Meant as a personal musical reflection on life, the program is built around Chopin’s “Preludes, Op. 28” and interspersed with seven works by the likes of György Ligeti, Nino Rota, Chilly Gonzales, Tōru Takemitsu, Arvo Pärt, Francesco Tristano and Ott herself.

For the concert, Ott has also collaborated with architect Hakan Demirel to create an album-length digital video installation to accompany her recital.

Time: 8 p.m., Nov. 2

Tickets: 80-580 yuan

Booking: WeChat account “szyyt_piao”

Venue: Shenzhen Concert Hall, Futian District (深圳音乐厅)

Metro: Line 3 or 4 to Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit D