Alexei Volodin Performs At The Jorgensen 10/15

Alexei Volodin brings his sparkling, yet elegant, technique to Jorgensen at 7:30 p.m. on October 15 with performances of Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109 and Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110 by Ludwig Van Beethoven, followed by Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 28 by Frédéric Chopin. Learn more about the composers and their music at a free concert talk at 6:45 p.m.

Mr. Volodin began studying piano at the age of nine. His triumph at the 2003 Géza Anda Competition launched his international performance career in cultural capitals from Paris to New York to Tokyo. He has performed in Berlin with the Radio Symphony Orchestra under Marek Janowski, with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra under Zoltan Kocsis, and with the Dresden Philharmonic under Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos. He has also appeared in Amsterdam, Paris, Luxembourg, St. Petersburg, Brussels and Milan as well as in cities in Spain, Japan, Poland, France and England. Alexei Volodin collaborates regularly with conductor Valery Gergiev and has toured with him and the London and Mariinsky Symphony Orchestras.

Following his European success, he made his U.S. orchestral debut under the baton of Maestro Gergiev. Mr. Volodin's technique is at once subtly galvanizing and persuasively refined. Le Monde calls him "a superb musical discovery," a virtuoso who relies on the music to express itself through him, rather than indulging in theatrical hyperbole or resorting to gimmickry.

With a touch that is tremendously assured, yet shows great depth, Mr. Volodin authentically expresses the music's character. He is as capable of letting a work's fire blaze free as he is of banking the coals to show its hot, latent strength. He can move from a brooding whisper to precise gentility, to dazzling, soaring enchantment, capturing both the wild, jagged boldness of Beethoven and the varied textures of Chopin's Preludes.

Enjoy the music of Beethoven and Chopin with Alexi Volodin at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, located at 2132 Hillside Road on the UConn campus in Storrs. Regular tickets are $28 and $30, with some discounts available. For tickets and information, call the Box Office at 860.486.4226, Monday through Friday, 11 am-5 pm, or order online at jorgensen.uconn.edu. Convenient free parking is available across the street in the North Garage.