South African Living Treasure and prizewinning pianist Franklin Larey will perform works by Brahms, Scriabin and Mussorgsky in a concert at the Rhodes Music Department tonight at 7.30pm and will give a masterclass open to the public tomorrow morning.
South African Living Treasure and prizewinning pianist Franklin Larey will perform works by Brahms, Scriabin and Mussorgsky in a concert at the Rhodes Music Department tonight at 7.30pm and will give a masterclass open to the public tomorrow morning. At tonight's concert Larey will play Brahms's Three Intermezzi, Scriabin's Prelude in B Major and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
A teacher at the South African College of Music, at the University of Cape Town, Larey has been hailed as one of South Africa’s leading pianists and was featured in South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council’s published series, Living Treasures.
Particularly acclaimed for his performances of works by Brahms, Mozart, Scriabin and Ravel, his recent recording of works by Brahms was met with critical acclaim in the US and in South Africa.
Larey appears regularly as recitalist, soloist and accompanist, and has worked with conductors such as Isaiah Jackson, Gabriel Chmura, Bernard Gueller, Victor Yampolsky and Lesley Dunner. He is in partnership with Francois du Toit as a piano duo.
Of his appearance with the San Jose Symphony, the San Jose Mercury News wrote, When Franklin Larey turned to soft poetry, time stood still, and the audience held its breath for an eternity. His slow movement was sheer ecstasy – clear, measured, lyrical.
Larey has studied with Bruce Gardiner, Laura Searle, Frank Weinstock and Richard Fields and has received several honours for his work as a concert pianist, and for his contribution to music in South Africa. His awards include first prize at the Young Chang International Piano Competition (1991) and third prize at the New Orleans International Piano Competition (1996).
In 2003 he was awarded a prestigious Fullbright Researcher Award and spent six months in residence at his alma mater, the University of Cincinnati, where he was honoured with a Distinguished Alumnus Award. During this time he also performed at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in Washington DC, as an invited Fulbright artist. In South Africa, he has served on the National Arts Council and a documentary of his career was aired on satellite television.
He currently serves as Director of the summer session of the Adamant Music School in Vermont, US, and in 2010 he performed in Carnegie Hall at an anniversary concert of the school. Last year Franklin Larey was featured in the The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, published by the US Library of Congress.
Tonight's concert in the Beethoven Room at the Rhodes Department of Music and Musicology starts at 7.30pm. Entry is R50 (concessions R20) and refreshments will be served.
Tomorrow's free masterclass in the same venue starts at 8.40am.
