Episode 3: Ballades

October 16

Garrick Ohlsson and Ben Laude explore the epic poetry of Chopin’s Nocturnes.

Featuring

Avery Gagliano

1st Prize, 2020 US National Chopin Competition

Celebrated as “a distinctive young talent” (International Piano), pianist Avery Gagliano is recognized for interpretations with great emotional depth and a “distinctly narrative approach” (Miami International Piano Festival). Having first risen to international acclaim as the winner of the First Prize and Best Concerto Prize at the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition, she has performed in prominent venues including Carnegie Hall, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, the Louis Vuitton Foundation, Salle Cortot, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Ehrbar Saal in Vienna, and La Grange au Lac in Évian. In the Fall of 2024 she joins Sir András Schiff’s Performance Programme for Young Pianists at the Kronberg Academy in Germany. 


Alan Walker on Chopin’s 4th Ballade

Author of Frydyrik Chopin: A Life and Times, Alan Walker has written several books, including his definitive three-volume biography Franz Liszt, which received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in Biography and the Royal Philharmonic Society Book Award, among other honors. His writing has appeared in The Musical Quarterly, The Times Literary Supplement, the Times Educational Supplement, and other publications. A professor emeritus at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Walker was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1984 and was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 2012.

Critic’s Corner

Jed Distler on Great Recordings of Chopin’s Ballades

Jed Distler is a composer, pianist, music writer, and arts presenter based in New York. He is the official Gramophone blogger for the International Chopin Competition.