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Concert Introduction:

Christian Blackshaw is acclaimed as an "authority on the interpretation of Mozart's works." His recording of Mozart's piano sonatas at Wigmore Hall was named one of Gramophone magazine's "50 Greatest Mozart Recordings." His interpretation of Schubert's Piano Sonata in B-flat Major (D.960) has been praised by Piano Magazine as that of "a pianist's pianist." This concert presents a selection of three profound and introspective works by Mozart, Schumann, and Schubert, charting a pilgrimage to the very heart of the Austro-German musical tradition.

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Artist Introduction:

An authority on the interpretation of Mozart's works, his performance of Schubert's Piano Sonata D.960 has been hailed as a signature rendition—"a pianist's pianist" in its class.

Christian Blackshaw is a deeply expressive and sensitive pianist, renowned for performances of unparalleled musicality. His playing marries profound emotional depth with exceptional insight. Born in Cheshire, England, Blackshaw studied under Gordon Green at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London, winning gold medals at both institutions. He then became the first British pianist to study at the Leningrad Conservatory, under Moisei Halfin. Later, he worked closely with Sir Clifford Curzon in London.

He has appeared as a soloist worldwide and at major festivals with distinguished conductors, including Sir Simon Rattle, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Donald Runnicles, Herbert Blomstedt, Trevor Pinnock, Neeme Järvi, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He also serves as founding director of the Hellens Music Festival, established in 2013.

His complete recording of Mozart's piano sonatas for Wigmore Hall, released in four volumes, has received widespread critical acclaim. Reviewers have unanimously praised these "landmark" recordings with terms such as "captivating," "miraculous," and "masterly." Volume IV was named one of The New York Times' "Best Classical Recordings of 2015" and was selected by Gramophone as one of the "50 Greatest Mozart Recordings."

In the 2019 New Year Honours, he was awarded an MBE for services to music. He has been a Wigmore Hall Artist in Residence. In the 2023/24 season, his performances took him to London's Wigmore Hall, the Oxford International Piano Festival, the Tbilisi Tola Festival in Georgia, Bourgie Hall in Montreal, the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. In 2024, his China tour—spanning Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, and Chengdu—drew considerable attention and wide acclaim. In spring 2025, he performs as Artist-in-Residence with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal.

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Programme:

- Mozart: Adagio in B minor, K.540
- Schumann: Symphonic Études, Op.13 (including the posthumous études)

— Interval —

- Schubert: Piano Sonata No.21 in B-flat major, D.960

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The concert opens with Mozart's late Adagio in B minor (K.540). Composed in 1788, this work holds a unique place in Mozart's output—B minor is a key he used only rarely, imbued with a "sombre, introspective colouring." British music critic Jessica Duchen, after hearing Blackshaw perform it at Wigmore Hall, remarked that it was "as if showing us the composer confiding his most intimate moments to the keyboard." Here, Mozart sheds his brilliant exterior, delving with dark hues and profound pathos into the fragility of human nature and the weight of fate.

Next is Schumann's Symphonic Études (Op.13). This is not merely a set of technically demanding études, but a grand poetic narrative of "transformation." Schumann laboured over the title, deliberating from "Symphonic Études in the character of an orchestra" to "Études in Variation Form," before settling on Symphonic Études. Schumann himself was fully aware of the weight of these pieces; in a letter to Clara, he wrote that they were "not written for applause, but exist solely for their own sake." They represent an artist's spiritual forging of the soul in pursuit of an ideal.

The second half features Schubert's swansong—the Piano Sonata No.21 (D.960), completed in the autumn of 1828, just eleven days before his death. Blackshaw's interpretation of this work is likewise regarded as the pinnacle of his art and one of the finest contemporary renditions, hailed as a signature performance of "a pianist's pianist" calibre.