LEWISTON — Concert pianists Igor Lovchinsky and Matthew Graybil will perform at the Gendron Franco Center in Lewiston on Friday, Dec.1. This program, the third in the center’s 12th Piano Series season, begins at 7 p.m. and will feature two-piano pieces by Maurice Ravel, Anton Arensky and Darius Milhaud, as well as solo works by Chopin, Stravinsky, Bach/Busoni, and an Earl Wild Concert Etude on a Theme of Gershwin.
Patrons of the center’s Piano Series will remember these artists for their September 2015 performance that included the New England première of the Concerto for Two Pianos Solis by Maine native Walter Piston. This season, they will present the original piano-four hands version of Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, later orchestrated and revised as a ballet. They will also perform the waltz from Suite for Two Pianos, Op. 15, by Anton Arensky and Darius Milhaud’s original two-piano version of Scaramouche.
These two pianists met as undergraduates at the Juilliard School, where they were students of Jerome Lowenthal. While their graduate studies took them to different cities, they stayed in touch and continued their collaboration as performers of two-piano compositions.
Igor Lovchinsky showed extraordinary promise at an early age; by the age of four he was giving recitals for family and friends in his native city of Kazan, Russia. His family settled in Columbus, Ohio, when he was 10. After his undergraduate study at the Juilliard School, he obtained his master’s degree at the New England Conservatory, where his teachers were Patricia Zander and Wha-Kyung Byun. His career has taken him to perform with orchestras in Europe and the United States, as well as to give recitals in Eastern Europe, Asia, and North and South America. His debut CD, released in 2008, was voted one of the top five classical recordings that year by Time Out International.
Following his study at the New England Conservatory, Lovchinsky enrolled in the graduate physics program at Harvard University and received his Ph.D. last January, reflecting his long-standing passion for mathematics and science. He finds his dual interests in the classical piano repertoire and scientific research to be most compatible and complementary.
Matthew Graybil stands out among the new generation of American classical pianists. The Southampton Press praised his playing as “hypnotic and compelling,” and following the release of his debut album, in 2012, featuring works by Brahms and Schubert, Fanfare Magazine called him “one of the most sensitive, poetic young pianists to debut on record in recent memory.” The Chopin Project recently released his recording of Chopin’s Études, Op. 10, and he will collaborate in the world-première recording of the Piston Concerto for Two Pianos Solis for Steinway & Sons’ Spirio high-definition player-piano system.
A native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Graybil began his piano studies at age 6 and gave his first recital within a year. He made his orchestral debut at age 14, with a performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1. During master’s degree study at Juilliard, he continued to work with Jerome Lowenthal, as well as Matti Raekallio. A prize-winner in national and international competitions, he has given solo recitals and performed with orchestras and in chamber groups in the United States, Canada, Mexico and France.
Admission is $15, seniors, $10, and students are free. The preconcert social hour begins when the doors open at 6 p.m. The Dolard and Priscilla Gendron Franco Center is located at 46 Cedar St. and is handicap accessible.Parking is included in the price of the ticket.
Contact or visit the Box Office or go to FranoCenter.org. Call 207-783-1585. Box office hours are Monday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m. and two hours before every show.
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