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The Italian pianist, Alessio Bax, graduated with top honors at the record age of 14 from the Conservatory of his home town, Bari under Angela Montemurro. He studied in France with François-Joël Thiollier and attended the Chigiana Academy in Siena under Joaquín Achúcarro. In 1994 he moved to Dallas to further his studies with Mr. Achúcarro at the Meadows School of the Arts where he is now on the teaching faculty. He has won various international competitions including, at the age of 19, the First Prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan. In 2000 he won First Prize at the universally acknowledged Leeds International Pianoforte Competition.
Alessio Bax has already established himself as an accomplished performer throughout the world. Praised by the international press, his performances have been described as “ real music-making that makes its own world on stage and invites the audience in as guests ” (The Independent), and “ successfully combining authority and poetry ” (The Daily Telegraph). Festival appearances include London 's International Piano Series (Queen Elizabeth Hall), the Verbier Festival in Switzerland , the Aldeburgh and Bath and Festivals in England, the Ruhr Klavierfestival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, BeethovenFest and Musikfestspiele Saar in Germany. As a recitalist, he has been seen regularly at the main music halls in Rome, Milan, Madrid, Paris, London, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, New York, Washington and Mexico City.
Alessio Bax' extensive concerto repertoire has lead him to appear with over 70 orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE, Rome Symphony Orchestra, Hungarian Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with a number of esteemed conductors such as Marin Alsop, Petr Altrichter, Sergiu Comissiona, Alexander Dimitriev, Jonathan Nott, Vernon Handley, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Owain Arwel Hughes, Ken-ichiro Kobayashi, Dmitry Sitkovetsky and Sir Simon Rattle. As an active chamber musician, he has collaborated with the likes of Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis and Nobuko Imai, among others.
Alessio Bax' recording for Warner Classics, "Baroque Reflections" received rave reviews by the international press and was selected as "Editor's Choice" by Gramophone magazine and "Best Buy" by Classical FM Magazine. In January 2005, Alessio Bax was selected to play the Fugue of L.v. Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata for Maestro Daniel Barenboim in "Barenboim on Beethoven". The documentary was produced by Channel 13/PBS, in conjunction with Bel Air Media, BBC and NHK Japan. It will be broadcast worldwide and will also be released as a DVD box set in late 2006 under the EMI label. In 2003, Bax recorded with his wife, Lucille Chung, the complete works for two pianos and piano four hands of György Ligeti (Dynamic). Most recently, they recorded Camille Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals with conductor Miguel Hart-Bedoya and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. The disc was released at the end of 2005. Previously, he recorded the complete works for piano and organ of Marcel Dupré (Naxos) and Johannes Brahms Piano Concerto No.1, live with the New Japan Philharmonic (Fontec). His second release for Fontec was a live recording of L.v. Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Hamamatsu Symphony Orchestra and a recital. His performances are often broadcast live on BBC Radio, BBC 2 TV, CBC (Canada), RAI (Italy), RTVE (Spain), NHK (Japan), WDR, NDR and Bayerische Rundfunk (Germany), Hungarian Radio Television and Serbian RTE among others. |
