Piano recital
Charles Richard-Hamelin
2. Prize International Chopin Piano Competition Warsaw
Program: Enrique Granados - Isaac Albéniz - Frédéric Chopin
The Canadian pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin, winner of the silver medal and the Krystian Zimerman Prize for the best sonata at the 2015 International Chopin Competition, is one of the most internationally successful pianists of his generation. In 2014, he was awarded second prize at the Montreal International Music Competition and third prize and the special prize at the Seoul International Music Competition in South Korea. Charles Richard-Hamelin has performed as a soloist with a wide variety of orchestras, including I Musici de Montréal, the Korean Symphony Orchestra Seoul, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Giancarlo Guerrero, Jacek Kaspszyk, Jacques Lacombe, Kent Nagano, Grzegorz Nowak, Alexander Prior and Aziz Shokhakimov. He has also performed at many renowned music festivals such as the Chopin and his Europe Festival in Warsaw, La Roque d'Anthéron in France, Lanaudière Festival in Canada and the Prague Spring Festival.
His first solo CD with late works by Chopin was released by the Analekta label in September 2015. The second album, which was recorded live at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City in May 2016, includes works by Beethoven, Chopin and Enescu and was also released by Analekta in September 2016.
His virtuoso and confident playing is characterized by nobility, musicality and a rich sound palette. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung, music critic Harald Eggebrecht praised his interpretation with the following words: "The young pianist's power, splendor and sense of emphasis were just as captivating as his enormous ability to convey dream, poetry and longing."