Sergei Babayan

21C Welcomes Sergei Babayan

Sergei Babayan is thrilled to announce that he is now represented by 21C Media Group for press and digital media; his worldwide management remains with Felsner Artists. Having devoted decades to his distinguished teaching career, the Armenian American pianist is now expanding his own presence on the international stage. Over the coming months, he performs Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with Thailand’s Royal Bangkok Symphony (Aug 24), France’s Orchestre symphonique de l’Opéra de Toulon (Sep 19), and Belgium’s Antwerp Symphony, led by its Chief Conductor, Elim Chan (Dec 13 & 14). He previews “Songs,” an imaginatively curated new solo recital program, in England, South Korea, and China, before touring it extensively next season.

Babayan is active in the States this summer. He performs Mozart’s Ninth Piano Concerto, the “Jeunehomme,” at Maine’s Bowdoin International Music Festival (Aug 2) and gives solo recitals at Colorado’s International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival (Aug 6) and Canada’s Vancouver Piano Sessions (Aug 9). These August engagements follow returns earlier this season to Bravo! Vail, where his residency combined a solo recital with a program of Rachmaninoff piano duos, performed with his former student and frequent duo partner Daniil Trifonov, and the Aspen Music Festival, where he and Trifonov reprised their program. “The firepower they achieved together is rare among piano duos,” writes the New York Times of their partnership, while BBC Music magazine hails their recent recording of Rachmaninoff’s duos as “a winning mix of limitless pianism, deep knowledge and visionary boldness.”

Learn more here.

Summer Performance Highlights

This month, Sergei Babayan travels to Brazil for performances of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Xian Zhang (June 13-15). On June 25, Babayan joins Daniil Trifonov to open Bravo! Vail’s Chamber Music Series with an all-Rachmaninoff program featuring two pianos, followed by a solo performance at the festival on June 27, before reprising his duo program with Trifonov at Aspen Music Festival on June 29.

On July 30, Babayan plays a program as part of the Oxford Piano Festival that includes works by Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Gershwin, and others. August begins with Mozart’s Ninth Piano Concerto, the “Jeunehomme,” at Maine’s Bowdoin International Music Festival (Aug 2) and a solo performance at The International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival in Fort Collins, CO (August 6). On August 9, he plays a concert at the Vancouver Piano Sessions, before heading to Asia for performances of his “Songs” recital program in Bangkok (August 24), Shanghai (August 28), and Seoul (August 30).

New DG Release “Rachmaninoff for Two”

Sergei Babayan and Daniil Trifonov released their first full album of piano duets on March 29. “Rachmaninoff for Two” contains performances of the composer’s two Suites for two pianos and the two-piano version of his Symphonic Dances, together with Trifonov’s own transcription of the Adagio from Symphony No. 2. Released by Deutsche Grammophon digitally and on 2 CDs, the album pays tribute to one of the world’s most beloved pianist-composers, as part of this year’s Rachmaninoff 150 celebrations. The duo recorded “Rachmaninoff for Two” at the Vienna Konzerthaus soon after performing there in May 2023 as part of their acclaimed series of Rachmaninoff concerts across Europe.

“It’s a gift to have Daniil next to me onstage in this extraordinary music, because you feel there’s someone there who understands you, without looking, without words,” says Babayan, long-time friend and mentor to Trifonov. “Maybe it’s because we spent time together as teacher and student, but I don’t think that is necessarily so. It was there from the first lesson, when he brought Chopin and we began working. I had the feeling that he took more from me in two weeks than people who had studied with me for five years.”

Listen to the album >here.

Miniatures of intimate poetry - Sergei Babayan presents new DG album

On 7 August 2020, pianist Sergei Babayan will release his latest solo recording on Deutsche Grammophon: "Rachmaninoff" (as the composer's name is correctly spelled) will present an inimate selection of precious miniatures, including selected Études-Tableaux, Préludes and Moments Musicaux as well as various song transcriptions from Rachmaninoff's own hand. "A small detail, a single bar with a different touch can change the entire piece", said Babayan who works obsessively on the smallest aspects of his interpretations before sharing them with the public. The works selected for his Deutsche Grammophon solo début have accompanied him for many years. Their combination aims at telling a musical tale as in a song cycle of his own.

Sergei Babayan at Verbier Festival 2019

Daniil Trifonov and Sergei Babayan on fire: 'Under no circumstances whatsoever would I have missed this concert', a senior gentleman stated at the entrance. He was not alone. Mischa Maisky was there. Valery Gergiev showed 86 year old Rodion Shchedrin to his place. This would prove a concert of rare intensity. (...) In Schumann's Andante and Vatiations Op. 46, the piercing theme travelled from one keyboard to the other with a natural ease and a sense of unity that were almost disturbing. Nothing was left to chance here. The master and his former student seemed to share the same understanding of the scores, while approaching it in different style: Sergei Babayan's is dense and warm; that of Daniil Trifonov is uplifted and intense. (...) It came as no surprise that so complementary artists would choose Mozart's Concerto for two pianos to conclude this programme: the Salzburg genius had written it for his sister and himself. The two artists made us understand Michel Bouquet's saying: 'Mozart is music of the spheres.'

source: Le Figaro, 22 July 2019 (http://www.lefigaro.fr/musique/au-festival-de-verbier-verbier-daniil-trifonov-et-sergei-babayan-tout-feu-tout-flamme-20190722)

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