Salonline 2020-11-15 Mathilde Handelsman

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Sunday November 15, 2020

Emerson Avenue Salonlines Proudly Presents
Mathilde Handelsman

“Bells, Water, and Fantasies (Well, Almost!)”

Program

L.V. Beethoven – Two Sonatas Quasi Una Fantasia Op. 27 Nos. 1 and 2 (“Moonlight”)
 
Ravel – Vallée des Cloches (“Valley of Bells”)
 
Debussy – Cloches à travers les feuilles (“Bells through the leaves”)
 
Debussy – Ondine
 
Ravel – Jeux d’eau (“Plays of Water”)

Biography

Praised as an imaginative and refined performer with unusual interpretations, for “her calm technical control, immediate sense of balance” as well as “extraordinary vigor, flawless musicality” (Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, 2013), French pianist Mathilde Handelsman has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe and the United States. Recent and upcoming festival appearances include the Tanglewood Music Center, Sarasota Music Festival, Wissembourg International Music Festival, and Pianofest in the Hamptons.

Highlights from the 2019-2020 concert season featured her appearance alongside pianist Nicolas Namoradze at the inauguration of the Tanglewood Learning Institute, in a highly acclaimed two-piano performance. This season, Mathilde celebrated the 250th anniversary of Beethoven, through several performances including a solo recital at the “Beethoven 250” concert series of Nicholls University in Louisiana. Recent solo recital appearances as a guest artist include the University of Maryland, the Frost School of Music in Miami, Southern Methodist University, University of Texas-Arlington, and Lynn University.

In 2020, record label Sheva Collection released Mathilde’s début solo album, “Images,” featuring the complete works of Claude Debussy from 1903 to 1907. A collaborative album devoted to new commissions for woodwinds and piano by Roger Boutry will be released in 2021.  Additionally, Mathilde’s work as a poet includes two published volumes in French, Pré-sage (2016) and L’Absurde Génie des fleurs (2017).

Mathilde was born in Paris to a family of musicians and painters. She started the piano with her mother at age four and was admitted a few years later to the pre-college division of the Conservatoire de Paris (CRR) which led her to perform in prestigious venues including Opéra Bastille and a concert under Seiji Ozawa. She has won prizes at national and international piano competitions in France including Concours International d’Ile-de-France, Concours de Chatou, Claude Kahn and U.F.A.M. In 2009, she was awarded the 1st prize at the Young Artists Competition of Alès.

Mathilde Handelsman holds degrees (B.M., M.M., Doctor of Musical Arts) from Académie Supérieure de Musique de Strasbourg, Indiana University-Bloomington, and Shenandoah Conservatory.  Her principal teachers are Menahem Pressler, John O’Conor, and Laurent Cabasso. She has also received guidance from Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Peter Serkin, and Jeffrey Kahane.

Since 2020, Mathilde Handelsman holds the position of Resident Artist at the University of New Hampshire where she teaches applied and collaborative piano. In her free time, she enjoys beach walks on the New England coast, cooking (and eating) French food, and watching old movies.