Piano recital by Natalie Gourman

Stunning Scandinavian/Russian pianist Natalie Gourman will perform a superb programme of classical and romantic works at St John’s, Smith Square on June 13th 2012.

The recital opens with an early work of Beethoven – his 12 Variations on a Russian Dance. The dance in question was from a popular pantomime-ballet called Das Waldmädchen by Paul Wranitzky, which was all the rage in 1790s Vienna. This rarely-heard piece is sure to make a compelling start to the evening, which continues in dramatic style with Liszt’s wonderful transcription of Schumann’s celebrated song Widmung (Dedication), and selections from his Années de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage). Nathalie has also chosen to play Tchaikovsky’s Romance in F minor – one of the most enduring and best loved pieces in the solo piano repertoire – and the impressionistic Sonata-Fantasy by Scriabin, which he intended as a musical portrait of the sea’s varying moods (and which is musically and technically extremely challenging for the performer). She will conclude her recital with movements from Rachmaninov’s Moments Musicaux, op. 16. Although composed as a set, each movement stands by itself as a showpiece of great virtuosity. Written in 1896, long before Rachmaninov emigrated to the United States, they were dedicated to his friend Aleksandr Zatayevich, a renowned musicologist who collected Russian folk tunes.


About the artist
Natalie Gourman began her performing career at the tender age of seven, and has since played to appreciative audiences in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany and Great Britain. After taking her bachelors and masters degrees at the Stockholm and Oslo conservatories, she came to the UK in 2009 to take up a postgraduate scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she studied with professor Paul Roberts.

Among Natalie’s many awards are the prestigious Maj von Rosen Scholarship and a chamber music scholarship for talented new ensembles. She has been a prizewinner in numerous competitions throughout Scandinavia – including the Royal Swedish Academy of Music at the beginning of this year. Natalie is the recipient of scholarships from the Anglo-Swedish Society, John Lodge and the Dobloug Stiftelsen Foundation.

Natalie has performed for Swedish TV, at the Stockholm Concert Hall and at the Festpillen Festival in Norway. She has performed as a concerto soloist with the symphony orchestra of the Stockholm Conservatory and at the Usedom Music Festival in Germany. Recently she played for King Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden at a special performance in Stockholm. She is a devoted player of chamber music, and in 2007 was invited to take part in the Saxå Kammarmusikfestival of chamber music in Sweden.

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