Welcome to another great year of The Wassermann Piano Series. We hope you'll join us!
Nikolai Lugansky
Recital
February 18, 2024 | 7:30 pm
Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall
$35 General Admission
$20 non-USU students (call the Box Office to request the rate)
$15 Students/Youth(8-17)
Program
- Felix Mendelssohn | Six Lieder ohne Worte:
Op.19 No1 in E
Op.38 No6 in A flat 'Duett'
Op.67, No 4 in C 'Spinnenlied'
Op.67, No 6 in E 'Lullaby'
Op.67, No 2 in F sharp
Op.85, No 4 in D - Robert Schumann | Carnaval de Vienne (Faschingsschwank aus Wien)
- Wagner/Lugansky | 4 Scenes from "Götterdämmerung"
Brünnhilde and Siegfried's love duet
Siegfried's Rhine Journey
Siegfried's Funeral March
Finale: Brünnhilde's ImmolationPiano Transcription by Nikolai Lugansky
- Wagner | Isolde's Liebestod. Act III from "Tristan und Isolde"
Piano Transcription by Franz Liszt
"…Lugansky is not simply the most wonderful Russian pianist of modern times; he is one of the most outstanding artists of our epoch…"
Biography
The pianist Nikolai Lugansky is renowned for his interpretations of Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Chopin and Debussy. Described by Gramophone as “the most trailblazing and meteoric performer of all,” Nikolai Lugansky is a pianist of extraordinary depth and versatility. He has received numerous awards for recordings and artistic merit.
He collaborates regularly with conductors of the calibre of Kent Nagano, Yuri Temirkanov, Manfred Honeck, Gianandrea Noseda, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Vasily Petrenko, Lahav Shani. He is invited by leading international orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orquestra Nacional de España.
Nikolai Lugansky appears at some of the world’s most distinguished festivals, including the Aspen, Tanglewood, Ravinia and Verbier festivals. Chamber music collaborators include Vadim Repin, Alexander Kniazev, Mischa Maisky and Leonidas Kavakos.
In the 2024/25 season, he has been invited by the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo (Dutoit), the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover (Kochanovsky), the Brussels Philharmonic (Ono), the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (Peltokovsky), the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester (Valčuha), the Philharmonia London (Rouvali), at St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (Deneve). He will continue touring his Wagner’s transcriptions in recitals at the Teatro alla Scala, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Wigmore Hall, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Piano à Lyon, the Gulbenkian, among many others. He will also return to Korea with a recital tour in Ulsan, Daegu and Seoul, as well South America in Bogotà and with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and to the US with a recital tour in various cities, including Aspen, Washington and Kansas City.
In 2023, he celebrated the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninov’s birth by performing all of the Russian composer’s major solo works in a three-concert cycle at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and the Wigmore Hall in London, along with other individual performances throughout Europe, including at the Konzerthaus in Vienna and Berlin, the Bozar in Brussels, the Rudolfinum in Prague and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The performances have been a great success with audiences and critics alike, where “Lugansky’s command of the piano is exceptional…. He is masterful in his knowledge of tempo, structure and expression” (Bachtrack).
In the summer he returned to the US to perform Rachmaninov concertos with the Cleveland Orchestra with Stanislav Kochanovsky and at the Colorado Music Festival with Peter Oundjian.
Nikolai Lugansky has won several awards for his many recordings. His recital recording featuring Rachmaninov’s Piano Sonatas won the Diapason d’Or, and his recording of concertos by Grieg and Prokofiev with Kent Nagano and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice.
Lugansky has an exclusive contract with Harmonia Mundi and his Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes (2018) received rave reviews while César Franck, Préludes, Fugues & Chorals (2020) won the Diapason d’Or. His latest recording Richard Wagner was released in March 2024 and was an Editor’s Choice and included in The Best Classical Albums of the Year by Gramophone and also won the Premio Abbiati del Disco 2024 for solo repertoire. Lugansky’s album Rachmaninov: Études-Tableaux; 3 Pièces was awarded Radio France’s Classica Choc de l’Année 2023 and Gramophone Editor’s Choice in March 2023.
"The pianist of the overwhelming sensitivity, who puts forward not himself, but the music…"
"…Lugansky has such technical abilities which will make the majority of his colleagues go pale. The movements of his fingers are accurate, the touch is exquisite and the use of the pedal is deliberate. However he is not only the brilliant virtuoso; first of all he is the pianist, who is completely immersed into music…"
"Lugansky is a debonair and poetic player, only sometimes unfurling the full force of the coiled springs in his hands"
Credits
We would like to thank Dean Nicholas Morrison of the Caine College of the Arts, Music Department Head Cindy Dewey, and all our individual supporters, without whom this series would not be possible. If you would like to contribute to The Wassermann Piano Series in any amount, we enthusiastically welcome your support to bring these memorable events to Logan. To make a tax-deductible donation, or for more details about the series, please email Dr. Cahill Smith or use our online donation portal.
We also invite you to follow our piano program on Instagram and Facebook to stay up-to-date on exciting developments with our program and students.