Sergio Tiempo Asks the Audience to Choose Which Chopin Etudes He'll Play at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on 4/29

On his last appearance at Southbank Centre's prestigious International Piano Series in 2011, Sergio Tiempo was one of the season's most popular recitalists, so his return has been eagerly awaited. And his appeal has not dimmed - in recent months he has toured China, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Latin America (where he is something of a superstar) - and audiences have, as in London, flocked to his concerts. Meanwhile some of his videos on YouTube have reached around the 750,000 page-view mark, especially his Chopin performances. And Chopin will be a centrepiece of a varied program he will bring to the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 29th April 2014 - it is a new concert program that means a lot to him, with each work chosen to represent a different member of his family.

"I have recently experienced the greatest change in my life: I have become a father!" explains Tiempo, "Among the many, many effects it has on my life, it makes me realise anew that my family relationships ARE me. I am these relationships. And as I see myself in the eyes of my baby, I can't help thinking about the way in which this strong of relationships gives meaning. Everything in music only exists in relation to something else, and it this very relation that yields meaning. So I allowed myself to dream up a slightly Freudian program in which I let the personalities of those closest to me evoke a certain piece of music. Brahms for my sister, Beethoven for my mother, Prokofiev for my niece, Villa Lobos for my baby girl, Ginastera for her mother, Piazzolla for my father, Debussy for me."

"But the audience is my other symbolic family member whom I have been in contact with since I was three years old. Therefore I have asked the audience to choose six Etudes for me by Chopin, one of the most influential composers in my formative life."

Tiempo has therefore posted online live performances of 12 of the Chopin Etudes, where listeners are invited to vote for their favourites. The six most-voted-for will be in the concert! Other works in the recital are Brahms's Intermezzo in B minor, Beethoven's Appassionata sonata, Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau from Images, four pieces from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, four Villa-Lobos works, Piazzolla's Fuga y Misterio, and Ginastera's Malambo, Op.7 for piano.

You can hear Tiempo play those 12 Chopin Etudes, and of course vote, here, and view the programme at Southbank Centre's website.

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