Change of pianist on 14 June
Soloist of the Bard College Conservatory of Music Orchestra for Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 will be Benjamin Hochman, who replaces Peter Serkin.
Due to an unexpected injury, three-time Grammy Prize winner Peter Serkin has been forced to withdraw from his European tour with Bard Conservatory Orchestra, the fourth stop of which is the concert in the Liszt Academy, Budapest on 14 June. Benjamin Hochman, rated by the American press as one of the most promising young pianists, has undertaken to take his place at short notice. The professor of the faculty of piano at Bard Conservatory is winner of the Avery Fischer Career Grant for 2011, and his second solo album – Homage to Schubert – was released this year. Interestingly, Hochman has several connections to Hungary and the Liszt Academy: critics consider him an authority on interpreting the works of György Kurtág, and in 2010 he partnered Miklós Perényi at the New York 92Y concert centre.
Benjamin Hochman (photo: Jürgen Frank)
The programme on 14 June includes Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3, an orchestral work by Bohuslav Martinů commemorating the Lidice massacre of 1942, and Symphony No. 3 by Aaron Copland. Leon Botstein, who is president of Bard College, one of the most prestigious American universities, will conduct the orchestra. He was also present as conductor at a Holocaust memorial concert in the Liszt Academy on 11 May.