Raphael Minaskanian, an internationally acclaimed artist and eminent Iranian classical pianist and professor of music will render a piano recital on December 26 at the Vahdat Hall.
Born in Tehran, Minaskanian began his musical studies at the age of six. Several years later, he performed his first live broadcast on Iranian television.
He studied under the distinguished teacher and composer, Emanuel Melik-Aslanian, and with internationally known masters, including Aube Tzerko in Los Angeles, Karl Ulrich Schnabel in Italy, Ilona Kabos in London and at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
Over the past three decades, he has continued to teach and perform, making solo, chamber and orchestral appearances in his native Iran and Armenia, Europe, Canada, and the United States. His unique style and musicianship has earned him high acclaim by critics around the world.
Minaskanian said he would play compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Schumann, and Bela Bartok, namely ‘Fantasy No. 4 in C minor, K. 475’ and ‘Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major, K 330’ by Mozart, ‘Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs’, by Bartok, and ‘Kreisleriana, Op. 16,’ by Schumann.
The recitals will be in two parts: pieces by Mozart and Bartok will be rendered during the first half and Kreisleriana in the second half, he said in an interview with Honaronline.
The pianist said the two chosen pieces composed by Mozart are among his most acclaimed and “playing them requires expert skills.”
He further said that Bartok is among the most important composers of the 20th century. The artist is widely known for integrating Hungarian folk music within his compositions. ‘Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs’ is a collection of short folk melodies; thus the movements are rather different from the standard perception Iranians’ have of western music. The local audience, who are familiar with their own folk tunes, “will probably find this melodic collection pleasing to the ear.”
The program note has been prepared by writer and translator Ramin Dargahi.
Greatest Composers
Schumann is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era.’ Kreisleriana’ is a dramatic work composed in eight movements and considered as one of Schumann’s finest compositions. It was written in only four days in April 1838 and revised in 1852.
The work’s title was inspired by the character of Johannes Kreisler from works of E. T. A. Hoffmann. Hoffmann was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror and his stories were very influential during the 19th century. During the Romantic era these types of stories inspired several composers and musicians.’ Kreisleriana’ was dedicated to Frédéric Chopin.
The venue for Minaskanian’s piano recital is Vahdat Hall located at Shahriar St., Hafiz St., Tehran. The performance begins at 3pm.Tickets are sold online at www.3670.ir and are available at the venue, and also at Beethoven Music Center located at No. 23, Sanei St., Karimkhan St., Tehran.
