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Multi-award-winning British pianist Steven Osborne OBE is set to perform the finale concert of the inaugural Newry Chamber Music Piano Festival at Newry Town Hall on Sunday 8 February at 2.30pm, bringing masterworks by Schumann, Ravel and Schubert to the city.
The Scottish native, winner of The Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year, two BBC Music Magazine Awards and two Gramophone Awards, was awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to music. Throughout his career, Osborne has enjoyed great critical acclaim, with The Scotsman describing his playing as "a masterclass in the true beauty of pianism, delivered with an intelligent and instinctive musicality" while The Guardian called him "a musician of profound individuality and invention".
For Reflections On The Waltz, Osborne has crafted a beautifully curated programme centring on the waltz and featuring work by seven different composers. He will perform Schumann's Papillons, Op 2, a suite of piano pieces written in 1831, alongside Satie's beguiling Gymnopedie no.3 and a work by pioneering 20th century composer Lili Boulanger, the first woman to win the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1913, D'un Jardin Clair from Trois Morceaux pour piano. The programme also includes A Musical Snuff Box, Op.32, by Russian composer Anatoly Lyadov.
The concert will feature Osborne performing Liebesleid, originally written for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler and later adapted for solo piano by Rachmaninoff, and Ravel's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, a suite of waltzes with elements of Impressionist and Modernist music.
Osborne will conclude the concert with Schubert's mighty Piano Sonata in B-flat major, D.960. Written just weeks before the composer's death in November 1828, it is regarded as one of the greatest piano sonatas of all time and will bring the inaugural Newry Chamber Music Piano Festival to a thrilling close.
"Bringing an artist of Steven Osborne's stature to Newry for our inaugural Festival is truly special," said Joanne Quigley McParland, Artistic Director of Newry Chamber Music. "His artistry, imagination and depth of musical insight make him one of the most compelling pianists of our time. This beautifully curated programme captures both intimacy and grandeur, and Schubert's final sonata is the perfect way to our first Piano Festival. We couldn't imagine a more inspiring or thrilling finale for our audience."
As part of the Festival, Osborne will lead a public masterclass at Newry Town Hall on Saturday 7 February at 2pm for young pianists of grade 8 level and above. This is an amazing opportunity for the participants and piano teachers and enthusiasts. To be considered for the masterclass, email concerts@newrychambermusic.org.
Tickets for Reflections On The Waltz are priced at £20 or £10. For more information and booking see https://newrychambermusic.org.
Newry Chamber Music Piano Festival is supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Newry Mourne and Down District Council, and RTÉ Supporting the Arts.
