International Piano Series: Steven Osborne OBE

‘Osborne …. has that special ability to make music that you thought you knew inside out seem fresh and totally alive’ (The Guardian)

A force on the international stage since winning the Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1997, Steven Osborne has appeared fifteen times at the BBC Proms and is a regular at both Wigmore Hall and Lincoln Center New York. In the New Year’s Honours 2022 he was appointed OBE for his Services to Music.

Steven’s final concert at SJE Arts was a brilliantly informal delve into 20th century American piano jazz. Tonight, he invites us to join him for ‘Reflections on the waltz’. There is a young Robert Schumann imagining a masked ball, Lili Boulanger taking a dreamy stroll through a garden, Ravel’s eight-movement suite of melodically beautiful but decidedly modern music.

Then comes the Diabelli Variations – Beethoven’s response to Anton Diabelli’s open challenge for a set of variations on a simple little waltz tune. Beethoven submitted his entry late – well past Diabelli’s deadline – but it was magnificent. In the late Alfred Brendel’s opinion, ‘the greatest of all piano works’.

Programme:

R. Schumann Papillons, op.2
Satie Gymnopédie no.3
L. Boulanger D’un jardin clair from Trois Morceaux pour piano
Lyadov A Musical Snuff Box, op.32
Kreisler (arr. Rachmaninov) Liebesleid
Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales
Interval
Beethoven 33 Variations in C on a Waltz by Diabelli, op.120

Tickets

Tickets are available here: https://www.ticketsoxford.com/events/steven-osborne