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Sunday, February 16, 2025
— a “hybrid” event —
Mathilde Handelsman
piano
The World of Yesterday
“…But in the last resort, every shadow is also the child of light and only those who have known the light and the dark, have seen war and peace, rise and fall, have truly lived their lives.“
Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday (1942)
This program for solo piano brings together two composers that, on the surface, one wouldn’t necessarily think of associating, their sound worlds being so different: Maurice Ravel and Dmitri Shostakovich. And yet, across two major works represented here – Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, and Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues Op. 87 – a few connecting features seem to appear, discreetly, in corners. First, because of the war context for each of these works, and second in the common feeling of nostalgia these pieces share, of looking towards the past and paying homage to composers of yesteryear and ancient forms.
At the center of the program, I chose to insert a contemporary piece by the living, female Korean composer Unsuk Chin, who pays tribute both to her elder, the composer György Ligeti, and to the tradition of Javanese gamelan from which she draws inspiration for this study of pianistic virtuosity.
PROGRAM
Dmitri Shostakovich –Preludes et fugues, Op. 87, 1st book (1951) :
No. 1 in C major
No. 3 in G major
No. 4 in E minor
No. 5 in D major
No. 7 in A major
Unsuk Chin – Etude No. 1 « In C » (1999, revised in 2003)
Maurice Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914)
Prélude
Fugue
Forlane
Rigaudon
Menuet
Toccata
BIOGRAPHY
Recognized for her “calm technical control, extraordinary vigor, and flawless musicality,” (Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, 2013), Dr. Mathilde Handelsman is a concert pianist, poet, and educator from Paris, France.
In 2020, Mathilde’s début album devoted to Claude Debussy, Images, was released for Sheva Collection. Passionate about French music, she regularly gives lecture-recitals on Debussy and champions the piano works of the late Roger Boutry (Grand Prix de Rome, 1954).
Highlights from the 2019-2020 concert season featured Mathilde alongside Nicolas Namoradze at the inauguration of the Tanglewood Learning Institute in a highly acclaimed two-piano performance. Recent festival appearances include the Tanglewood Music Center, Sarasota Music Festival, and the Wissembourg International Music Festival. Next season, Mathilde will début at Carnegie Hall as a 1st Prize winner of the 2021 American Protégé Concerto Competition.
Mathilde was born in Paris to a family of musicians and painters. 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 Robert Levin. After graduating from the Académie Supérieure de Musique de Strasbourg, Mathilde furthered her studies at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University-Bloomington. In 2020, she graduated from the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Shenandoah University.
Dr. Mathilde Handelsman currently serves as a Resident Artist and piano faculty at the University of New Hampshire. Her work as a poet includes two published volumes, Pré-sage (2016) and L’Absurde Génie des fleurs (2017).
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