Another season of outstanding pianists and programmes to suit all tastes is a feature of the Darlington Piano Society’s forthcoming season.
The season begins on Sunday 5th October with Khrystyna Mykhailichenko. Khrystyna, only 19 years old, was born in the Crimea and has experienced several upheavals in her life. In 2014, with the Russian invasion in Crimea, her family moved to Kyiv, only to relocate again in 2022 to the UK. After settling in Corbridge, she is now studying on a full scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London. She brings a delightful programme of Scarlatti, Chopin, Liszt and Schubert.
Our pianist on 2nd November, Junyan Chen, was 2nd Prize winner at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2024, and currently holds a fellowship with the RAM, having recently graduated with first class BMus and MA degrees as a Bicentenary Scholar. In the 150th anniversary year of Ravel’s birth, she plays two of his solo piano works alongside others by Couperin and Messiaen, and a major work by Amy Beach.
The next two performers make very welcome returns to Darlington. The German pianist Elisabeth Brauss caused quite a stir on her first visit in 2021 with her rapport with the audience and she returns on 30th November with a programme built around a selection of Grieg’s engaging Lyric Pieces, interspersed with short pieces by the living Danish composer, Hans Abrahamsen, together with pieces by Liszt and Beethoven.
On 2nd February, Danny driver returns after an eleven year absence. He is engaged to perform a series of recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall over the next few years, based upon the theme of Variations, and brings a programme of such with works by Handel and French composers Lili Boulanger and Faure, together with Schumann’s Etudes Symphoniques.
Young Lithuanian pianist Kasparas Mikužis is an artist selected and supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and is making his first appearance in Darlington on 8th March in a programme of works by J S Bach, Ravel, Godowsky and Rachmaninov.
The final recital of the series on 12th April is given by Julian Trevelyan, 5th prize winner at the Leeds competition. He brings an eclectic range of works under the theme of farewell, ranging from William Byrd, Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, to Schönberg and his own arrangement of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs.
Details of the season can be found at www.dpiano.co.uk and in the brochure widely available in the town and other locations in Co. Durham and elsewhere. All events take place in Central Hall on the listed Sundays at 3pm. Tickets for the full season (£66, U21 free) and for individual recitals (£18, U21 free) can be purchased online via the website, through the brochure’s booking form for the season, or on the door, using contactless payment as well as cash.