Front Row Washington

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Athena Deng

From the semi-final round of the 68th Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, we hear semi-finalist Athena Deng in music by Chopin and Szymanowski.

The Kosciuszko Foundation's Chopin Piano Competition was established in 1949, in honor of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Frédéric Chopin. Today, the Kosciuszko Foundation's Chopin Competition continues to encourage gifted young pianists to further their studies and to perform the works of Polish composers.

Athena Deng currently studies with Professors Dang Thai Son and Stanislav Ioudenitch at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She made her orchestral debut at age 11, playing Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major with the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra. She has been awarded many important national and international prizes, including the concerto first prize and solo second prize at the 2015 Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, the first prize in the 2017 National Canadian Music Competition, third prize in the 2021 William Knabe International Piano Competition, etc. Athena has been selected and awarded scholarships to participate at the Miami Frost Chopin Academy, the Lake Como Summer Festival, the Beijing International Music Festival and the Southeastern Piano Festival.

Classical Breakdown

Some secrets composers take to the grave, and no matter how much research, digging around attics, and wishful thinking... mystery remains. Elgar's masterpiece Enigma Variations, which pushed him into the international spotlight, is filled with hidden clues and ideas in the music. John Banther and Evan Keely look at the people and places Elgar depicts, things to listen for, and what the Enigma probably isn't. 

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Edward Elgar

Choral Showcase

We're remembering the late conductor Seiji Ozawa this month on Choral Showcase. This weekend, a 1980 performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, "Symphony of a Thousand."

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Seiji Ozawa, c.1984 by Walter H. Scott, BSO Archives

Opera Matinee

The Metropolitan Opera's fantastic staging of Massenet’s Cendrillon -- based on the Cinderella fairytale -- is presented with an English translation in an abridged 90-minute adaptation, with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as its rags-to-riches princess. Led by Emmanuel Villaume.  A recorded performance from January 2022.

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cinderella

From the Top

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From the Top

This week, From the Top is in residence at the 37th Annual Irving M. Klein International String Competition to celebrate the phenomenal young players who gathered there to compete. We’ll hear the adrenaline filled performances taking place at this super charged event, meet the players, hear from the jury, and of course, learn who wins. Violinist Tessa Lark and pianist Peter Dugan co-host this portrait of one of our country’s top competitions for young players.

Filed under: Program highlights

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