'Organ! Piano! Candles!' Holiday Concert

'Organ! Piano! Candles!'

Holiday Concert

Pianist and organist Asiya Korepanova 

with special guest, Grammy-nominated pianist Ilya Kazantsev

Join us for a concert of Christmas music and holiday favorites, illuminated by candles and presented by Easton pianist and organist Asiya Korepanova at the Unity Church of North Easton! Bring your children, sing along, and enjoy music from three centuries, performed on both organ and piano!

PROGRAM:

Charles Maria Widor 'Toccata' (organ) 

Johann Sebastian Bach 

'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' (piano)

'Alla Breve' (organ)

'Sleepers Awake' BWV645 (organ)

Peter Tchaikovsky 'Nutcracker' - 'March' (piano)

                  'Nutcracker' - Andante Maestoso (piano)

Sing Along!

'Silent Night'

'Winter Wonderland' 

and more!

Cesar Franck 'Prelude, Choral and Variation' (organ)

George Gershwin 'Rhapsody in Blue' (piano 4 hands)

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The only pianist currently performing Liszt’s 24 Etudes as a single program, and one of the few to possess a concerto repertoire of over 60 works, Asiya Korepanova is a pianistic powerhouse, also highly recognized as a composer, visual artist, and poet.

The author of many original works and solo piano transcriptions of Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata, Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death, Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony, Asiya studied composition with Albert Leman, chair of the composition department of Moscow Conservatory and student of Dmitry Shostakovich. 

She also creates original multimedia projects, featuring her poetry and artwork, for piano music by Liszt, Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Mussorgsky.

In 2023, Asiya became the only pianist in the world who embarked on a monumental project in celebration of Rachmaninoff’s 150th birth anniversary, having performed his complete solo piano music in 6 recital programs. She also premiered her latest transcription—the Manfred Symphony by Peter Tchaikovsky, and toured with Clara Schumann, Grieg, and Rachmaninoff piano concertos. She anticipates the releases of scores of her compositions: ‘Poéme’ for alto saxophone and piano and Con Brio for two pianos, as well as transcriptions of works by Mussorgsky, Franck, Amy Beach, Fauré, Berg, and Bach, in 2024.

The most recent composition events include the world premiere recording of Asiya’s concerto for alto saxophone and piano, Poéme, performed by Thomas Giles and Liana Pailodze Harron; the publication of her transcription of Rachmaninoff cello sonata; the premiere of her Piano Quintet ‘I marvel at the sky’, commissioned by the Third Dimension Music Festival; and premiere of Con Brio for two pianos, performed with her duo partner Ilya Kazantsev as a part of Dranoff Two Piano Foundation series.

Born to a musical family in Russia, Asiya made her orchestral debut at the age of nine with Mozart’s Concerto No. 8, playing her own cadenza. Her early musical awards include the Russian Federation’s President Award for “Exceptional Achievement in the Arts,” and a Gold Medal at the 2012 Nena Wideman International Piano Competition.

Since immigrating to the U.S. in 2012, she has garnered national attention with performances at the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, the Phillips Collection, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series, the International Miami Piano Festival, the Newport Classical Festival, and many other venues. Her recitals have been broadcast on CNN, NPR stations, WFMT, and WETA. 

For more stories, music, images, and store visit www.asiya.us

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Ilya Kazantsev, a fresh and exciting presence on the international music scene, has been hailed by The Washington Post as  “virtually flawless.” He has performed extensively with orchestras  in Russia and the United States, as well as appearing in recitals in Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Canada, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, the United States, and Slovenia.  His many awards and honors include first prize at the Nikolai Rubinstein International Competition (Paris); he also won the International Chopin Competition (Moscow) and the 2007 & 2008 World Piano Competitions (Cincinnati). 

 In 2014, Ilya was invited to join the esteemed Hermitage Piano Trio, which also includes the renowned soloists Misha Keylin (violin) and Sergey Antonov (cello). The trio was nominated for three Grammy awards in 2019.

An enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music, Ilya has presented numerous premieres of works by contemporary American, Russian, and Eastern European composers, many of which have been dedicated to him.  His advanced studies have included working with such prominent contemporary music specialists as Jay Gotlieb, Mark Ponthus and the legendary composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, who praised Ilya for his thoughtful performance of composer's Douze Notations.

Ilya began his music studies in his native Moscow and at the age of nine was accepted as a student of Valeriy Pyasetsky at the Central Music School at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory. Subsequently, he moved to the United States in 2002 to continue his studies at the Mannes College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, working with Arkady Aronov.  He currently resides in Boston, MA.