The 39-year-old pianist Alexandra Dariescu has been concertizing since her debut at age nine in her native Romania. She has dozens upon dozens of concertos at her fingertips. Her repertory is richly laced with commissions and long-neglected treasures. Yet on the cusp of the pandemic, she discovered a new favorite with quite some lore behind it. We’re talking the Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 7, by the 16-year-old prodigy Clara Wieck. Already a seasoned pro of international renown, Wieck introduced it on November 9, 1835, with the top-flight Gewandhaus Orchestra of her native Leipzig, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn, who was 10 years Clara’s senior and himself one of the supreme prodigies in the history of music. Since 2018, Dariescu has toured her fresh, authoritative reading of Clara’s concerto to a dozen cities on three continents, from Melbourne to Bucharest to St. Petersburg, Florida. Frequently, the performances mark a local premiere for Clara, a local debut for Dariescu, or both, as will be the case at the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. —Matthew Gurewitsch
The Arts Intel Report
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra: The Schumann Couple and Felix
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In Perth, just about as far from Clara Schumann’s native Leipzig as you can get, a tardy debut for her piano concerto and a debut for her champion Alexandra Dariescu with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
When
January 9, 2025
Where
Etc
Courtesy of West Australian Symphony Orchestra