Khatia Buniatishvili

An evening with one of the contemporary stars of the piano. Garlanded with accolades yet still only in her mid 30s, Khatia Buniatishvili brings passion and vulnerability to her performances; she acknowledges that the folk music of native Georgia has greatly influenced her musicality, and that is probably reflected in her warm, sometimes sorrowful playing. “The piano is the blackest instrument,” she says, a “symbol of musical solitude”, which even a pianist must become accustomed to. “I have to be psychologically strong and forget the hall if I want to share it with the audience.”

Her recital should bring out the best in her, from the melancholy lyricism of the Satie to a virtuoso climax in the energetic toe-tapping rhythms of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2.

This is a rare and highly recommended opportunity. And she’ll be playing the Dubai Opera Edition by Steinway & Sons, one of the piano maker’s exclusive productions for specific international concert halls. The Dubai version for instance gets Arabesque patterning on the inner lid, a music desk that echoes the traditional shape of dhows, and legs and prop stick that draw inspiration “from the whirling sand dunes of Dubai” (not entirely sure where you’ll find those).

Programme:

• • Satie Gymnopédie No.1
  • Chopin Prelude in E Minor op. 28 no. 4
  • Chopin Scherzo No.3 in C-sharp Minor
  • Bach ‘Air on the G String’ from Orchestral Suite No.3 in D Major (transcr. Buniatishvili)
  • Schubert Serenade from Franz’s Schwanengesang (transcr. Liszt)
  • Chopin Polonaise in A-flat Major op. 53
  • Chopin Mazurka in A Minor op. 17 no.4
  • Couperin ‘Les baricades mistérieuses’ from Sixième ordre: Second Livre de pièces de clavecin
  • Bach Prelude and Fugue in A Minor (transcr. Liszt)
  • Liszt Consolation No.3 in D-flat Major
  • Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in C-sharp Minor (transcr. Horowitz)