Music by the Sea Presents Andrea Lam

This program tracks the evolution of the sonata and begins with Beethoven, whose 32 sonatas are revered as a touchstone of the form. Here we start with his very first work in this form, and a later one, known as 'Les Adieux', dedicated to his patron, the Archduke Randolph, on his departure from Vienna, and considered one of Beethoven's most challenging works given the mature emotions encapsulated in the music.

By contrast, Nigel Westlake's Second Piano Sonata from 2004 is a single movement work, beginning in quiet contemplation but ending with rhythmic and virtuosic music influenced by both jazz and rock and roll. The program ends however with Prokofiev's magnificent Piano Sonata no.6, the first of his Three War Sonatas. It comes from a mature period in the composer's life, marked in part by the enveloping enormity of the Second World War. It follows the traditional structure of sonata form, however, is anything but conventional or stately.

Of this sonata, Richter said, "The remarkable stylistic clarity and the structural perfection of the music amazed me... With wild audacity the composer broke with the ideals of Romanticism and introduced into his music the terrifying pulse of twentieth-century music."

5 August, 7:30pm, Sandgate Town Hall

Andrea Lam - solo piano recital

BEETHOVEN Sonata no. 1 in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1
BEETHOVEN Sonata no. 26 in E flat major, Op. 81a "Les Adieux"
WESTLAKE Sonata no. 2 (2004, rev. 2007)
PROKOFIEV Sonata no. 6 in A major, Op. 82

About Andrea Lam

?Pronounced a "real talent" by the Wall Street Journal, New York-based pianist Andrea Lam enjoys consistent acclaim as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician for her "great style and thrilling virtuosity" (Sydney Morning Herald). A semifinalist in the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition, Andrea is winner of the 2010 Astral Artists Auditions, Silver Medallist in the 2009 San Antonio Piano Competition, the ABC's 'Young Performer of the Year' Award (Keyboard section), the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and the Yale Woolsey Hall Competition.

Andrea Lam has given over 70 performances with orchestras in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong and the United States, including with San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, Wichita Symphony, and Columbus Symphony Orchestra. A regular guest of festivals including Sydney Festival and Musica Viva's Huntington Festival, the USA's Yellow Barn, Norfolk, Skaneateles, and Great Lakes Chamber Music Festivals, and Canada's Orford Festival, she has collaborated with artists including the Takacs Quartet, Misha Amory, Ani Kavafian, and the Australian String Quartet. Andrea holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. A native of Sydney, Australia, Andrea was featured in two nationally televised programs, including Andrea's Concerto, documenting her life as a young pianist and her performance of Tchaikovsky's piano concerto no. 1 with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

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