Kavakos
Grammy-nominated violinist Leonidas Kavakos is set to make his Princeton debut in an all-Beethoven program with pianist Enrico Pace.
Together with Pace, Kavakos will perform three of Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas, including two written just before the composer penned his Heiligenstadt Testament, in which he explained that encroaching deafness was responsible for his withdrawal from society.
The program includes Beethoven’s Sonata No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 23; Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24, “Spring;” and Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96, “The Cockcrow.”
Born in Athens into a musical family, Kavakos’s first steps as a violinist were guided by his parents. He studied at the Hellenic Conservatory with Stelios Kafantaris, who was one of the three important mentors in his life, together with Josef Gingold and Ferenc Rados.
He broke into the international music scene when he won three major violin competitions before he was 21. In 1985, he won the Sibelius Competition and he subsequently was awarded first prize for the Paganini and Naumburg competitions in 1988.
Since 2012, Kavakos has been an exclusive Decca recording artist. His first release on the label, the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas with Enrico Pace, resulted in the Instrumentalist of the Year award at the 2013 ECHO Klassik Awards in Germany.
Pace studied piano with Franco Scala both at the Rossini Conservatory, Pesaro, Italy, where he graduated in Conducting and Composition, and later at the International Piano Academy.
Winning the Utrecht International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in 1989 marked the beginning of his international career. Since then Enrico Pace has toured extensively, performing in cities such as Amsterdam, Milan, Rome, Berlin, London, Dublin, Munich, Salzburg, Prague and various cities in South America.
The performance is scheduled for 8 p.m. Feb. 27 at Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall. A pre-concert talk will be given by Princeton Professor Scott Burnham is set for 7 p.m.
Tickets prices range from $45 to $20.
More information is online at princetonuniversityconcerts.com.