COMPOSERS IN PLAY XIV: Paraphrases for a New World

PROGRAM:

Julien BILODEAU: Four Spring études (revised 2024*)

György LIGETI: Three études (selections from Book I and III)

Thomas ADES: Blanca Variations (2015)

Julien BILODEAU: Three Paraphrases on La Reine-garçon (2025*)

*NYC Premiere; Piano Lunaire commission

The knack for story-telling that Quebec composer Julien Bildodeau commands is on full display in his piano music, just as much as in his operatic works. A master of pacing and colour, Bilodeau also wields a prodigious dexterity of dimensionality and emotional sincerity in his music. The intimacy and impact of his piano music is gazed through two premieres on this programme: the four Spring Études, composed in 2011 before the composition of Bilodeau's first piano concerto and revised in 2024, and Three paraphrases on La Reine Garçon (2025), written especially for Adam Sherkin and given its US premiere.

From Bilodeau: “Through these paraphrases, the listener will be transported on a condensed journey that recounts the highlights of the opera while being able to appreciate a mode of pianistic writing that is both virtuoso and poetic.”

Host or Publisher PIANO LUNAIRE