Aug
28
Mon August 28th, 2017
7:00PM
Main Space
Minimum Age: All Ages
Doors Open: 6:00PM
Show Time: 7:00PM
Event Ticket: $20 / $25
Day of Show: $25 / $30
Table Seating: $25 advance, $30 day of show
Standing Room: $20 advance, $25 day of show
This quietly industrious pianist, who has shown a consistent knack for conveying the most challenging works in the modern repertoire with an understated zeal, turns his attention to a longtime specialty, Messiaen’s “Catalogue d’Oiseaux” (1956-58). This sublime thirteen-part cycle not only compiles the distinct songs of specific birds but also evokes their natural traits, and the particular French provinces where they thrive.
—The New Yorker
The New York Times writer, Joshua Barone previews the concert, and interviews Taka Kigawa: The Pianist Taka Kigawa on Playing Messiaen’s Bird Marathon – The New York Times
The NY Times says this concert is one of the “10 Things to Do in NYC Now” – 10 Things to Do in NYC Now – The New York Times
The NY Times music critic, Zachary Woolfe previews the concert: At Le Poisson Rouge, Messiaen’s ‘Catalogue d’Oiseaux’: The World Refracted – The New York Times
Critically acclaimed pianist TAKA KIGAWA will present a solo piano recital at (le) Poisson Rouge on August 28, 2017, at 7:00 pm, performing Olivier Messiaen’s monumental piano cycle, Catalogue d’oiseaux (complete). Doors open at 6:00 pm.
Olivier Messiaen composed Catalogue d’oiseaux between October 1956 and September 1958. It consists of a series of highly imaginative, innovative, ingenious piano pieces, and represents the culmination of Messiaen’s compositional piano technique. At the same time, it magically evokes a variety of bird songs, landscapes, and atmospheric colors of nature. It consists of thirteen pieces in its seven books, with seventy-seven bird songs distributed throughout the thirteen pieces, and totals three hours of solo piano music. The Catalogue d’oiseaux has long been a singular specialty of Taka Kigawa’s. He has performed the work many times, receiving unanimous acclaim from both critics and audiences alike.
Taka Kigawa’s solo recitals at (Le) Poisson Rouge over the past several years have been resounding successes, receiving enormous critical acclaim from critics and audiences alike. His August 2012 recital at LPR, in which he performed J.S. Bach’s The Art of Fugue entirely from memory, broke the attendance record in the solo recital genre, a record it holds to this day. His recital there in August 2010 was chosen as the one of the best concerts of the year by The New York Times. His August 2011 recital was chosen by Musical America as one of the most notable concerts in the 2011-2012 season.
Taka Kigawa has steadily built his reputation as one of today’s most compelling young artists, renowned as much for his superb musicianship as for his courageous programming. The New York Times described him as “A phenomenon. There’s no denying that he’s something special.” Since winning First Prize in the 1990 Japan Music Foundation Competition in Tokyo, and the 1998 Diploma Prize at Concurs Internacional Maria Canals De Barcelona in Spain, he has performed extensively as a recitalist, a member of major chamber music ensembles, and soloist with orchestra in many prestigious venues worldwide, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Kosciuszko Foundation, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Cité de la Musique and Salle Gaveau in Paris, and Plau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona. He has collaborated closely with such renowned musicians as John Luther Adams, the late Pierre Boulez, Unsuk Chin, Myung-Whun Chung and Jonathan Nott. His performances and recordings have been broadcast over many television and radio networks, including WQXR-FM in New York. Mr. Kigawa received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Shinsyu University in Japan, and continued his studies in New York at The Juilliard School, where he holds a Master of Music degree.
PROGRAM:
Olivier Messiaen: Catalogue d’Oiseaux (Catalogue of Birds) (1956-1958)
Book 1
I. Le chocard des alpes (The alpine chough)
II. Le loriot (The golden oriole)
III. Le merle bleu (The blue rock thrush)
Book 2
IV. Le traquet stapazin (The black-eared wheatear)
Book 3
V. La chouette hulotte (The tawny owl)
VI. L’alouette lulu (The woodlark)
Book 4
VII. La rousserolle effarvatte (The reed warbler)
Book 5
VIII. L’alouette calandrelle (The short-toed lark)
IX. La bouscarle (The cetti’s warbler)
Book 6
X. Le merle de roche (The rock thrush)
Book 7
XI. La buse variable (The buzzard)
XII. Le traquet rieur (The black wheatear)
XIII. Le courlis cendré (The curlew)
Taka Kigawa
Celebrated by The New York Times as a “Phenomenon” and “the extraordinary pianist,” and praised by The New Yorker as “an artist of stature,” Taka Kigawa’s playing sparkles with both clarity and intensity. Buenos Aires’ La Nación called him “a stupendous virtuoso.”
Mr. Kigawa has performed across the United States, Europe, South America and Japan—at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Library of Congress, Cité de la Musique in Paris, Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Known for a repertoire that spans the Baroque to the avant-garde, he is equally at home in the classics and in adventurous, contemporary music.
Taka Kigawa has collaborated with legendary musicians, including Pierre Boulez, Myung-Whun Chung and Jonathan Nott, and premiered the final solo piano work of jazz icon Yusef Lateef.
Born in Nagano, Japan, Mr. Kigawa now calls New York City home. He is a Steinway Artist.