Living in Peru : your everyday companion

On Saturday, September 15 at 7:30 p.m. Alexander Paley will come to Lima to perform a concert in aid of the victims that were worst affected by the earthquake which struck Peru on August 15. All proceeds will be donated to help Peru's earthquake victims. This benevolent act will take place at the Auditorium in Santa Ursula School.

Alexander Paley is widely recognized for his exceptionally broad and extensive repertoire of concerti and solo piano works, his dazzling technical prowess, and his convincing, personal interpretations. The Washington Post called Paley's 1991 debut with the National Symphony a "flawless performance," and since then he earned similar accolades for performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and the St. Louis, San Diego, Utah, Colorado, Milwaukee, Seattle, and Syracuse Symphony Orchestras.

His Carnegie Hall debut was with the American Composers Orchestra in the world premier of a new concerto by Sheila Silver. The New York Times wrote "The pianist...played like a man posessed." Recent recital appearances throughout the United States have taken Paley to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Richmond, Atlanta, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Chicago's Allied Arts Series, and the Seattle International Music Festival.

A favorite of audiences in Washington D.C., Mr. Paley made two recital appearances during the 1999-2000 season, playing the dedicatory recital on the German Embassy's new Blüthner piano in December and performing at the Dumbarton Concert Series in April. His program for this concert featured J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations and French Suite No.5. The Washington Post review of this recital began: "Once in a while, never often enough, a recital is so exhilarating that it reaches far into the intermission, which becomes a delicious interlude between the lingering vapors of superlative artistry already experienced and the enormous pleasure of knowing there is still more to come."

About Alexander Paley

Born in Kishiniev, Moldavia, Mr. Paley began playing the piano when he was six. He gave his first recital at the age of thirteen and at sixteen won the National Music Competition of Moldavia. Subsequently, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Bella Davidovich and Vera Gornostayeva, completing his graduate work in 1981. He went on to win major awards, including First Prize at the Leipzig International Bach Competition in 1984, the Bösendorfer Prize in 1986, and the Grand Prix at the First International Pancho Vladigerov Competition in Bulgaria, also in 1986.

Mr. Paley performed frequently as a recitalist and soloist throughout Eastern Europe, as well as in France, Belgium, Italy, Germany and Spain. He was a featured soloist during numerous tours with the Moscow Virtuosi under Vladimir Spivakov. He made his debut at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, playing the world premier of French composer Jean-Louis Agobet's Piano Concert with the Strasburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Jan-Latham Koenig. A few weeks later he returned to Paris to perform Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Radio-France Philharmonic Orchestra, with Myung-Whun Chung conducting. He has been a featured artist during the last three Radio-France Festivals where he performed as a recitalist, chamber musician and as soloist with the Montpellier National Symphony Orchestra.

Other recent European appearances include performances at Radio France in Paris, the Grandes Interprétes series in Lyon, the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as concerto performances with orchestras such as the Orchestre National de France, the NDR Orchestra of Leipzig and the Montecarlo Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Paley performed in major venues and festivals both in the United States and in Europe. He partnered eminent artists such as Bella Davidovich, Mstislav Rostropovich and played with important ensembles such as the Vermeer, Ysaye and the Fine Arts string quartets, as well as with principal players from major orchestras including the NDR Leipzig Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

The year 2005 marked the fourteenth anniversary of Mr. Paley's festival at the Moulin d'Andé in Normandy, France. This festival, a week-long series of recitals, lieder and chamber music concerts, has become a highlight of the season for many French music lovers. It has been the subject of an hour-long documentary by Russian television which has been broadcast throughout eastern Europe as well as in Israel, and has led to the creation of the Paley Piano Quartet and the Moulin d'Andé Chamber Orchestra directed by Mr. Paley. The artist made his operatic conducting debut with this chamber orchestra with performances of Pergolese's La Serva Padrone and Telemann's Pimpinone at the Theatre of Evreux Scène National in France and has since gone on to conduct La Traviata at the National Opera of Moldavia.

In August of 1998, Mr. Paley created a new festival in Richmond, Virginia, The Paley Festival, (www.paleyfestival.com) which has drawn both popular and critical acclaim for its bold programming and brilliant performances.

Mr. Paley recorded the complete solo piano works of Balakirev for ESS.A.Y. and works by Scriabin and Weber for Naxos. His recording of Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concertos Nos.2 and 4 with the Russian State Orchestra is available on the Russian Disc label. Mr. Paley has recently completed a series of recordings for Acte Sud including the world premier recording of the Sgambati Piano Concerto with the Montpellier Philharmonic Orchestra, sonatas for 'cello and piano by Chopin and Rachmaninoff, and solo works including Liszt's transcription of the Beethoven Septet. In 2004, Alexandre Paley recorded a CD with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Strasbourg.

Washington Post Press Release

Mr. Paley's program September 15, 2007:

Bach

Beethoven

Intermission

Schubert

Bartok

Tickets

Tickets can be purchased at Teleticket stands in Wong and Metro stores