Alexander Shtarkman, winner of the prestigious Busoni International Piano Competition, will perform Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013, as part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Piano Series.
Performances in the UAB Piano Series are held at 4 p.m. in the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center’s Reynolds-Kirschbaum Recital Hall, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $5 for UAB students with valid I.D. Call 205-975-2787 for tickets. The UAB Piano Series is presented by the UAB Department of Music; visit the department online at www.uab.edu/cas/music.
On the program for Shtarkman’s UAB performance are Haydn’s Sonata F-Major Hob.XVI 23; Schumann’s Kreisleriana op. 16; Medtner’s Sonata-Reminiscenza; and Stravinsky’s Three Movements from “Petrushka.”
Shtarkman has wowed critics and audiences alike with his dynamic performances. His debut recitals in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City prompted strong words of praise. Martin Bernheimer of the Los Angeles Times wrote: “Alexander Shtarkman. Remember the name.... He plays the piano with all the strength, flash and eagerness that his age would suggest. He also plays with the sensitivity and mellow refinement one associates with certain grand old men of the keyboard, most of them Russian.”
In August 1995, Shtarkman was awarded the First Prize of the Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy. As a result, he has been offered more than 60 European recitals and orchestral engagements. Shtarkman is also a prizewinner of the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and the 1994 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. He won first prize at the First Taipei International Piano Competition, and he is a frequent guest performer at the prestigious Great and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatory. Since 2002, Shtarkman has been a member of the piano faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of Music.