Artist Details
Andrew Zolinsky
ART_CATEGORY: Instrumentalists - Piano
"Andrew Zolinsky is an artist of the first rank who plays with extraordinary eloquence and panache; I am likewise struck by his fine musicianship and his analytical brilliance. A highly versatile pianist, Andrew is at home in both traditional and contemporary repertoire. Andrew Zolinsky has performed my music several times with excellence, and his interpretation of my fiendishly complex Piano Concerto was exemplary."
- Unsuk Chin, composer
ART_BIOGRAPHY
Programme: Meredith Monk: Railroad, Christian Wolff: For Piano 1, Christian Wolff: Preludes Nos 6, 9, 11, John Cage: One, Meredith Monk: St. Petersburg Waltz, Morton Feldman: Palais de Mari
Pianist Andrew Zolinsky is one of the most distinctive musical voices of his generation. His unique style of programming and his individual interpretations have secured performances at many prestigious venues and festivals. His work with living composers brings a vivid freshness, energy and passion to his interpretations of music from previous eras.
BIOGRAPHY
Though a noted performer of contemporary repertoire, Andrew has performed many of the standard concertos, Beethoven, Chopin, Greig, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin and Barber with major orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Concert Orchestra and the Orchestre National de Lorraine, and has worked under the batons of such distinguished conductors as Stefan Asbury, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Martyn Brabbins, Nicholas Cleobury, Thierry Fischer, Charles Hazlewood, Owain Arwel Hughes, Grant Llewellyn, Diego Masson, Andre De Ridder, David Robertson, Pascal Rophe and Baldur Bronnimann. In addition to concerts in the UK, he has also performed in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New York, Portugal, San Francisco and Spain.
In the contemporary field, he is closely associated with the music of Unsuk Chin, James Clarke, Laurence Crane, Ivan Fedele, Michael Finnissy, David Lang, Valentin Silvestrov.
Andrew has given World and regional premieres of many of David Lang’s works, including, the world premiere in New York of the complete set of Memory pieces, and the Piano Concerto, Fur, commissioned by the BBC, at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Grant Llewellyn.
Andrew is also very closely associated with the music of Unsuk Chin. He has performed her complete Etudes for solo piano on many occasions, including the French (Festival Musica in Strasbourg), London (Wigmore hall) and Italian (Venice Biennale) premieres. Andrew also gave the London première of her Piano Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya. As part of the BBC’s ‘Total immersion’ series in 2011, Andrew gave the UK premiere of the Double Concerto with percussionist Owen Gunnell and the London Sinfonietta conducted by Stefan Asbury at the Barbican Centre. At Unsuk Chin’s request, he was invited to perform her Piano Concerto and a recital that included her Six Etudes alongside music by Debussy, Chopin and Ligeti at the prestigious French festival, Acanthes.
Andrew has recorded for Cantaloupe, Guild and NMC. Paul Driver in the Sunday Times chose Andrew’s recording of solo piano music by Michael Zev Gordon (NMC), as one of the TOP TEN CONTEMPORARY CD’S OF 2009. His disc of David Lang’s piano music on the Cantaloupe label was released in November 2011.
Andrew has performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London (Gerard Grisey’s Vortex temporum with members of the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Pascal Rophe), USA, the Venice Biennale and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. In November 2013, Andrew made his debut in the International Piano series at London’s Southbank Centre; this recital also formed part of the Southbank centre’s fascinating series, The Rest is Noise. Earlier that month, he made his debut at the Palau de la musica in Valencia with a programme of music by Beethoven, Liszt and Schumann.
Andrew has played in the prestigious Piano Rarities Festival in Husum, Germany, recitals in New York at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and at the Royal Festival Hall, London, Andrew gave the UK premiere of ‘Gesualdo dub/raum mit gelöschter figur’ by Marko Nikodijevic, with the Philharmonia orchestra conducted by Baldur Brönnimann. He has played recitals in the New Music Dublin festival, the Gaida Festival, Latvia and has performed in Spain and Taiwan.
More recently, Andrew has performed Stockhausen’s Kontakte at Kings Place London with percussionist Owen Gunnell and two ‘Russion Revolution’ programmes at the National Concert Hall Dublin.
As passionate about teaching as he is about performing, Andrew is professor of piano at the Royal College of Music, London. He is also in charge there of a Masters level specialism in contemporary piano music.
Reviews
Recitals at the Venice Biennale
“Andrew Zolinsky…..Simply, he is a musician with a great gift. We thought, foolishly, that the comparison with John Tilbury’s famous recording would sideline his interpretation. Instead, his rendering holds up robustly and adds its own special slowness and gentleness….Zolinsky had made it clear in his other recital earlier that day what he was made of.”
Mezo Gamba, Il manifesto
World premiere of David Lang’s Psalms without words
“Zolinsky just kept the energy alive... he brought this enigmatic music to life.”
Newsday, New York
The Rest Is Noise/International Piano Series recital
“It was the pianist Andrew Zolinsky’s Sunday-lunchtime account of Feldman’s Palais de Mari (1986) at the Purcell Room – the culmination of his uninterrupted, tremendously well-executed, hour-long sequence including works by Cage, Woolf and Meredith Monk – that demonstrated the deeper way of filling an extended span minimalistically.”
Paul Driver, The Sunday Times
"Andrew Zolinsky is an artist of the first rank who plays with extraordinary eloquence and panache; I am likewise struck by his fine musicianship and his analytical brilliance. A highly versatile pianist, Andrew is at home in both traditional and contemporary repertoire. Andrew Zolinsky has performed my music several times with excellence, and his interpretation of my fiendishly complex Piano Concerto was exemplary."
Unsuk Chin, composer
The Eye of the Storm album release
“Andrew Zolinsky's fine account of Busoni's recension of Liszt's first Mephisto Waltz is another compelling reason to buy this beautifully recorded disc.”
Calum MacDonald, BBC Music Magazine
“....Andrew Zolinsky's account of the Frey Fantasy is particularly fine”
Martin Anderson, International Record Review
REVIEWS
“Zolinsky also gave us a volcanic Ginastera sonata. ...Recitals are rarely so riveting”
Michael Church, The Independent
“Zolinsky who had travelled from London emerged the big winner, he played the piece (Gershwin Concerto) offering a sharply conceived account full of the Jazzy inflections that gave it such distinctive character and lift. The real winners were the audience who witnessed this distinctive interpretation of Gershwin's work....”
Contra-Costa Times, San Francisco
“Andrew Zolinsky, who showed his brilliance not only in Berio but also in a coruscating performance of Karen Tanaka's Crystalline”
Paul Griffiths, The Times
“Gershwin's Three Preludes, stylishly played by Andrew Zolinsky”
Barry Millington, The Times
“Zolinsky made something magical of Karen Tanaka's tiny, refined Crystalline”
David Murray, The Financial Times
“The highlight of Zolinsky's lunchtime recital was his light yet sharply contoured handling of Arc en ciel and Fanfares, two of the ongoing set of studies by Ligeti”
Michael Dervan, The Irish Times
“Zolinsky's virtuosity was at times incredible”
Paul Driver, The Sunday Times
Discography
Britten: Complete music for cello solo and cello and piano
Andrew Zolinsky (piano), Alexander Ivashkin (cello)
Brilliant Classics, 94729, 2013
Sonata for Cello and Piano in A (1926 - first recording)
Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Op. 65 (1961)
Works for solo cello
This was written by hand: solo piano music by David Lang
Cantaloupe, CA21073, 2011
Lang: This was written by hand (2004, written for Andrew Zolinsky)
Lang: Memory pieces (1992-97, world premiere by Andrew Zolinsky)
On Memory: solo piano music by Michael Zev Gordon
NMC, NMD D144, 2009
Gordon: On memory (2003-4, written for and premiered by Andrew Zolinksy)
Listed top 10 contemporary CDs of 2009, The Sunday Times
DISCOGRAPHY
Schoenberg: The major works for keyboard
Andrew Zolinsky (piano), Timothy Bond (organ)
Mollterz, mtz003, 2007
Piano pieces Opp 11, 19, 23, 33a&b, Suite Op. 25
Sonata for organ
Variations on a recitative, for organ, Op. 40
1870-1930: Piano music from Zurich
Guild, GMCD 7292, 2006
Schulthess: Variations on characteristic theme Op. 1
Emil Frey: Sonata No. 2 Op. 36
Robert Freund: Notturno, Op. 2
Emil Frey: Fourth Suite, Op. 58
The Sunpainter's delight: the piano works of Walter Baer
Guild, GMCD 7241, 2002
Passagen 1 (1996)
Sequenzen (1968)
Passagen 3 (1998)
Zwei Klavierstucke (1968)
Erscheinungen (Visions, 2000)
Passagen 2 (1997)
The Eye of the storm: Busoni's Zurich friends and disciples
Guild, GMCD 7189, 2000
Liszt arr. Busoni: Mephisto Waltz
Emil Frey: Fantasy on the Chorale O haupt voll blut und Wunden
Marcel Sulzberger: Sonata for violin and piano (with Oliver Lewis, violin)
Othmae Schoeck arr. Busoni: The mechanical clock
Hans Jelmoli: variations on an aria from Rameau's 'Platee'
Anton Liste (1772 - 1832)
Guild, GMCD 7184
Andrew Zolinsky (piano), Steve & Garrie Davislim (tenors), James Rutherford (bass), William Fong (piano)
Sonata for Piano in A major
Cantata on the opening of the new Masonic Hall in Zurich, Op.5
Lief im Freyen
Neujarslied
Der gesang
Grand Sonata for Piano Duet, Op. 2 (with William Fong)
Paul Muller-Zurich (1898 - 1993)
Guild, GMCD 7194, 2000
Six Piano Pieces, Op. 10
Sonata for violin and piano, Op. 32 (with Roland Roberts, violin)
Quartet in C minor, Op. 26 for Violin , Clarinet, Cello and Piano (with Alan Hacker, clarinet, Roland Roberts, violin and Oliver Gledhell, cello)
Phillipp Christoph Kayser & Johann Brünings
Guild, GMCD 7163, 1999
Johann Brünings: Piano Sonatas No2 in C major and No. 3 in Eflat major
Upcoming Events
Andrew Zolinsky has devised a new programme to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Debussy. About the programme he writes:
The whole programme reflects Debussy’s obsession with Eastern culture, in particular Japanese prints, but also Javanese gamelan music. If I manage to come up with a title for this programme, it would be something like, ‘Debussy - symbolist, spiritualist, sonicist’ - all the Debussy works in this programme illuminate one or more of these aspects of him as an artist, and reflect, in their sound worlds, the deep impression the sound of the Gamelan had on him.
All the contemporary works are by Japanese composers - the Takemitsu is the second of two pieces influenced by the painting, ‘Les yeux clos, by Rodin; the Kondo explores time and space; Somei Satoh, again, explores time and space - Hashi is, according to Japanese legend, the bridge between this life and the next - it is a work of stunning beauty, simplicity and deep spirituality; Karen Tanaka’s Crystalline, the first in a series of three, seems to reflect aspects of all of the other composers in this programme. The Messiaen, in addition to its spirituality, also asks the performer at one point to imitate the sound of Balinese gongs.
EVENTS
DEBUSSY COMMEMORATIVE PROGRAMME
Andrew Zolinsky – Piano
Programme:
Takemitsu: Les yeux clos 2 (1989).
Debussy: Images, Book 2.
Jo Kondo: High window (1996).
Debussy: Estampes.
INTERVAL.
Messiaen: Le Merle Bleu (Book 1, Catalogue d’oiseaux - 1956-58).
Somei Satoh: Hashi (Bridges) 5 (2008).
Karen Tanaka: Crystalline 1 (1988).
Debussy: (…La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune)- Preludes,
Book 2.
Debussy: L’isle joyeuse.
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