Piano Virtuoso Stephen Hough To Make Debut At The Wallis With The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet

Hailed as "the best ensemble of its kind in the world," (Manchester Evening News), the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet make its debut at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Art (The Wallis) with one of the most distinctive artists of his generation, pianist and MacArthur "Genius" Stephen Hough, in a one-night-only performance in the Bram Goldsmith Theater on Saturday, February 10 at 7:30pm. The evening concert includes works by W.A. Mozart, Samuel Barber, Jacques Ibert, Francis Poulenc, and an original work by multitalented Hough.

"Stephen Hough joins an illustrious group of multifaceted pianists at The Wallis this season," said Paul Crewes, the institution's Artistic Director. "We're eager to experience his and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet's rare artistry in our intimate Goldsmith Theater whose acoustics should allow him and the ensemble to present its very best work."

The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet was founded in 1988 during the era of conductor Herbert von Karajan and was the first permanently established wind quintet in the Berlin Philharmonic. Today, the ensemble continues to astonish audiences worldwide with its range of expression, tonal spectrum and conceptual unity. Listeners and critics agree that the ensemble has succeeded in virtually redefining the sound of the classic wind quintet.

The Washington Post said of Stephen Hough that he is "a virtuoso who begins where others leave off." Over the course of his career, Stephen Hough has distinguished himself as a true polymath, securing a reputation as an insightful concert pianist, as a well as a writer and composer. Hough's first novel The Final Retreat?the diary of a middle-aged priest who has lost his faith and is sent on a silent retreat by his bishop?published by Sylph Editions, will be released in early 2018.

About the Program:

STEPHEN HOUGH Was mit den Tränen geschieht

W.A. MOZART Quintet in E flat major for Piano and Winds, K. 452

JACQUES IBERT Trois pièces brèves

Samuel Barber Summer Music, Op. 31

Francis Poulenc Sextet for Piano and Winds, FP 100

Stephen Hough's, Was mit den Tränen geschieht, for piccolo, contrabassoon, and piano, was commissioned in 2009 by the Quintet for performance by the composer with Quintet members Michael Hasel (flute) and Marion Reinhard (bassoon), with whom he also recorded the work for Chandos in 2011. He describes the "great poignancy" of the piccolo and contrabassoon when paired together, and "the alienation of two instruments unable to meet on the same pitch."

Running Time: 2 hours, including a 15-minute intermission

Single tickets are now available for $45 - $95. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit TheWallis.org/Berlin, call 310.746.4000, or stop by in person at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Services located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Ticket prices subject to change.

The Wallis also offers three different options to subscribe to the 2017/18 season: the Premium Subscription Series; the Design-Your-Own option; and the new 3-show Flex Pass for $99, created especially for busy young professionals-39 and younger-giving the most flexibility to join The Wallis family of subscribers. Learn more at TheWallis.org/Subscribe.

About the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet:
The members of the Berlin Philharmonic Quintet are Michael Hasel, flute; Andreas Wittmann, oboe; Walter Seyfarth, clarinet; Fergus McWilliam, horn; Marion Reinhard, bassoon. The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet (Philharmonisches Bläserquintett Berlin) was founded in 1988, the first permanently established wind quintet in the famous orchestra's rich tradition of chamber music.

With four original members since inception (Marion Reinhard succeeded founding bassoonist Henning Trog in 2009), they are living musical witnesses to the hugely productive and influential musical partnerships of the Berlin Philharmonic not only with founder Herbert von Karajan, but also with its two most recent Musical Directors: Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle. Naturally, as members of the Berlin Philharmonic, they have also enjoyed important collaborations with every other major conductor of their times, whether Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Kleiber, Sir John Barbirolli, Günter Wand, Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, James Levine or Daniel Barenboim, to name only a few.

The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet continues to astonish audiences worldwide with their range of expression, their tonal spectrum and their conceptual unity. Many listeners and critics agree that the ensemble has succeeded in virtually redefining the sound of the classic wind quintet. Their repertoire covers not only the entire spectrum of the wind quintet literature but also includes works for enlarged ensemble, i.e. the Sextets of Janá?ek and Reinicke or the Septets of Hindemith and Koechlin. In addition, collaboration with pianists such as Lars Vogt, Stephen Hough, Jon Nakamatsu and Lilya Zilberstein have intensified in recent years.

The ensemble's commitment to the wind quintet repertoire is passionate and in 1991 they found the perfect partner for their recording plans, the Swedish company BIS Records, already well known in its own right for its uncompromising standards. The results of this long and exclusive collaboration have received critical accolades worldwide - indeed many of these recordings are already widely held to be "definitive" or "reference" performances.

In addition to their concert appearances throughout Europe, North and South America, Israel, Australia and the Far East, the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet are also popular guests at international festivals such as the Berliner Festwochen, the Edinburgh Festival, the London Proms, the Quintette-Biennale Marseille, the Rheingau Festival and the Salzburg Festival. Their television productions and radio broadcasts are seen and heard throughout Europe, Asia and North America.

About Stephen Hough:
Stephen Hough is regarded as a renaissance man of his time. Over the course of his career he has distinguished himself as a true polymath, not only securing a reputation as a uniquely insightful concert pianist, but also as a writer and composer. Hough is commended for his mastery of the instrument along with an individual and inquisitive mind which has earned him a multitude of prestigious awards and a long-standing international following.

In 2001, Hough was the first classical performing artist to win a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Fellowship. He was awarded Northwestern University's 2008 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano, won the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award in 2010, and in January 2014 was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Stephen Hough has appeared with most of the major American and European orchestras and plays recitals regularly in major halls and concert series around the world. He has given recitals in such cities as Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Montreal, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Stockholm, Sydney, and Tokyo. He has also appeared with the BBC, Czech, London, Los Angeles, Netherlands, New York, and Royal Philharmonics; the Atlanta, Baltimore, BBC, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Montreal, National, NHK, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Toronto symphonies; and the Budapest Festival, Cleveland, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Russian National, and Tonhalle Zürich orchestras, among others. He is a regular guest at such festivals as Aldeburgh, Aspen, Blossom, Edinburgh, Hollywood Bowl, Mostly Mozart, Musica Viva, Ravinia, Salzburg, Tanglewood, Verbier, and the BBC Proms, where he has made more than 20 concerto appearances, including performing Tchaikovsky's complete works for piano and orchestra over the summer of 2009-a series he later repeated with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Highlights of Hough's 17/18 season include re-engagements with the Detroit, Dallas, Vancouver, Baltimore, New Jersey and Utah symphonies and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa; a four city tour on the West Coast with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet; and a fourth recital at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, with additional recitals in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Miami, at Duke University and four recitals throughout the state of Hawaii. Internationally, he appears with the Seoul Philharmonic and the Singapore Symphony in Asia; makes his annual appearance at the BBC Proms; plays a Beethoven cycle with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; and returns in recital to London's Royal Festival Hall with additional recitals in Paris at the Louvre and in Milan and Naples.

Many of Hough's catalog of over 50 albums have garnered international prizes including the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Diapason d'Or, Monde de la Musique, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Magazine Awards including the 1996 and 2003 "Record of the Year" Awards and the 2008 "Gold Disc" Award, which named his complete Saint-Saëns piano concertos the best recording of the past 30 years. His 2005 live recording of the Rachmaninoff piano concertos was the fastest selling recording in Hyperion's history, while his 1987 recording of the Hummel concertos remains Chandos' best-selling disc to date. Recent releases on the Hyperion label include a solo recording pairing works by Scriabin and Janá?ek and a recording of Grieg's Lyric Pieces. His latest album is an all-Debussy recording, featuring Estampes, Images, and Children's Corner, released for the occasion of the centennial of the composer's death in 1918. Hough is also the featured artist in an iPad and Apple TV app about the Liszt Sonata in B Minor, which includes a fully filmed performance and commentary, released by TouchPress.

Published by Josef Weinberger, Hough has composed over 40 works for orchestra, choir, chamber ensemble and solo piano. His "Mass of Innocence and Experience" and "Missa Mirabilis" were respectively commissioned by and performed at London's Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. In 2012, the Indianapolis Symphony commissioned and performed Hough's own orchestration of "Missa Mirabilis," which was subsequently performed by the BBC Symphony as part of Hough's residency with the orchestra and recorded for Hyperion with the Colorado Symphony. Hough has also been commissioned by the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic, London's National Gallery, Wigmore Hall, Le Musée de Louvre and Musica Viva Australia among others and he has performed his two piano sonatas, "Sonata No. 1 (broken branches)" and "Sonata No. 2 (notturno luminoso)" on recital programs in London, New York, St. Paul and Chicago.

A noted writer, Hough regularly contributes articles for The Guardian, The Times, The Tablet, Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine and wrote a blog for The Telegraph for seven years (2008 - 2016), which became one of the most popular and influential forums for cultural discussion and for which he wrote over 600 articles. His book, The Bible as Prayer, was published by Continuum and Paulist Press in 2007. Also an avid painter, Hough gave his first exhibition in London at the Notting Hill-based Broadbent Gallery in 2012. Entitled "Appassionato," this solo show displayed nearly twenty abstract acrylic paintings dating from 2007.

Hough resides in London where he is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in Manchester. He is also a member of the faculty at The Juilliard School. To find out more about Mr. Hough, please visit his website www.stephenhough.com.

The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet appears by arrangement with David Rowe Artists (davidroweartists.com).

About the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts:
Since opening its doors in October 2013, The Wallis has produced or presented more than 150 dance, theatre, opera, classical music and family programs to an ever-expanding audience. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Paul Crewes and Managing Director Rachel Fine, The Wallis brings audiences world-class theater, dance and music, performed by many of the world's most talented and sought-after artists. Featuring eclectic programming that mirrors the diverse landscape of Los Angeles and its notability as the entertainment capital of the world, The Wallis offers original and revered works from across the U.S. and around the globe.

The mission of The Wallis is to create, present and celebrate unique performing arts events and educational programs that reflect the rich cultural diversity of our community. Nominated for 47 Ovation Awards, four L.A. Drama Critic's Circle Awards and the recipient of six architectural awards, The Wallis is a breathtaking 70,000-square-foot venue that celebrates the classic and the modern and was designed by Zoltan E. Pali, FAIA of Studio Pali Fekete architects. The building features the restored, original 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office (on the National Register of Historic Places) that serves as the theater's dramatic yet welcoming lobby, and houses the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater, GRoW at The Wallis: A Space for Arts Education (a gift of Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family and the Annenberg Foundation) and the contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the-art Bram Goldsmith Theater. Together, these structures embrace the city's history and its future, creating a performing arts destination for L.A.-area visitors and residents alike.

The Official Sponsors of The Wallis' 2017/18 Season include: Delta Air Lines (Official Airline Sponsor), Montage Beverly Hills (Preferred Hotel) and Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills (Official Automotive Sponsor).