LXXXI Festival of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Concert Schubert on fortepiano
Jin Ju
La Sonata in La maggiore D 959 e la Sonata in Si bemolle maggiore D 960 insieme alla Sonata D 958 presentata nel concerto del 13 maggio, sono considerate opere di altezza sublime, che raggiungono le più elevate vette dell'espressione artistica di Schubert. “These Sonatas contain Schubert’s soul”, così il grande critico Olin Downes descriveva questi tre capolavori che rappresentano un vero e proprio testamento della poetica schubertiana. La Sonata in La maggiore D 959 alterna momenti di grandiosa drammaticità ad aperture di grande dolcezza e struggente bellezza. La Sonata in Si bemolle D 960 ancor più distilla in maniera mirabile tutti i più segreti recessi dell’animo schubertiano trasportando l’ascoltatore in un mondo incantato nel quale sembra che tutto si Fermi in un superamento della condizione umana.
Program
Franz Schubert
Sonata in A major D. 959
Sonata in B-flat major D. 960
Artists
Fortepiano
Conrad Graf op. 1041
Jin Ju
Conrad Graf op. 1041
Jin Ju
Celebrated in China as one of the greatest virtuosos of her country, regarded by the international critics and audience for the technical perfection, the warm sensibility for the singing lines and the astonishing clearness of the narrative subtleties, Jin Ju is a rising star in the piano music world. Born in Shanghai in a musicians family, she obtained the Degree and the Master in Piano Performance at Beijing Conservatory, then the Master of International Piano Academy of Imola, the Degree and Gold Medal in “Professional Performance” of Royal North Music College in Manchester and the prestigious “Gold Medal of Honour” of Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. Awarded in prestigious international contests, among them the Tchaikovsky and the Queen Elizabeth competitions in Moscow and Bruxelles, she conquered first prizes at China National Piano Competition, Beethoven Society Competition in London, UNISA International Piano Competition, Theodor Leschetizky International Piano Competition in Taiwan, Romanian International Music Competition in Bucarest. Jin Ju regularly plays in all the major music halls of China and has been one of the first pianists to be invited to perform in the Forbidden City in Beijing. She has played and plays in important concert halls of Europe, among them the Berlin and Vienna Konzerthaus, the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, the Palais de Beaux Arts in Bruxelles. In Italy she regularly plays in celebrated venues like Sala Verdi in Milano, Teatro della Pergola in Florence, Sala Maffeiana in Verona, etc, and is regular guest of the most important concert series. Jin Ju is establishing herself also as one of the most interesting new names of the piano performance on historical instruments. In October 2009 she played a worldwide telecasted “special concert” in Sala Nervi in Vatican City, in front of a 5000-people audience and the Pope Benedict XVI, performing in the same evening musics from Scarlatti to Rachmaninov on seven different period instruments (fortepianos and pianos from the late XVIII to the early XX centuries). Jin Ju has collaborated and collaborates with various important orchestras in all five continents. They include China National Symphony and Macao Symphony orchestras, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Orchestra Philarmonique de Lìege and Wallonia Royal Chamber Orchestra, Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica “Giuseppe Verdi”, Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philarmonia Orchestra, South Africa New Philharmonic and Johannesburg Philharmonic orchestras, and many other. Her recording of the Yellow River Piano Concerto with the Macao Symphony Orchestra has reached a so wide circulation in China to be added among the “first 10 world successes of classical music”. Her first issue in Western countries, by the indipendent label Frame with the complete Debussy’s Etudes, received enthusiastic reviews by the specialized press. In summer 2010 Jin Ju has signed an exclusive recording contract with the German label MDG. Two first CDs have been released in 2011: the first in January, dedicated to Schumann, has received important feedbacks from the international critique; the second, released in December 2011 and dedicated to two major sonatas like Beethoven’s “Appassionata” and Schubert’s C minor D958 plus the unusual Czerny’s “La Ricordanza” Variations, has been already defined by SA-CD.net “some of the best piano playing issued this year”. Her performances have been broadcasted by radio and television around the world (NPR “Performance Today” in USA, “Sky Classica” in Italy, “Canvas” in Belgium, BBC in UK). The Chinese National tv and radio regularly broadcast her concerts and recordings, and she has received special awards by the Chinese Culture Ministry. In 2008 the Chinese State Television CCTV realized a long documentary about her life and artistry, broadcasted more time on the principal National channel; in 2010 another documentary has been realized by the same channel about Jin Ju’s Italian tour with I Virtuosi Italiani, broadcasted in all China in November 2010. Jin Ju has been a faculty member of the Central Conservatory in Beijing and she has taught at Royal Northern Music College in Manchester. At present she is professor of International Piano Academy of Imola and teaches in numerous Master Classes in China, Europe and the United States.
