NEW YORK – A ‘history’ making “Live” concert from New York’s Carnegie Hall played by the Romantic Virtuoso Artur Papazian will be broadcast by WLIW21 PublicTelevision on November 20 and 27, Monday Evenings, 9:00 p.m. (in two parts). This 1995 concert before a full house at Carnegie Hall features Artur Papazian’s spectacular performance of Frederic Chopin’s all 24 Etudes and 24 Preludes — in one sitting – a history making first! Narrated by Martin Bookspan, you will witness a rare musical adventure of Chopin’s most formidable piano works played by Mr. Papazian with bravura virtuosity and poetic sensibility. As stated by Mr. Bookspan: “It is one thing to play the Etudes in a recording studio, stretching out the performances over several days or even months, it is quite another challenge to play them all in a concert in one sitting. That is a feat that even such renowned Chopin specialists as Artur Rubenstein and Vladimir Horowitz never attempted.” In a memorable quote by Alfred Cortot, Chopin’s Etudes “…are as inaccessible to the musician without virtuosity as they are to the virtuoso without musicianship…” The thunderous applause and lengthy standing ovation demonstrates that Mr. Papazian is both a musician with virtuosity and a virtuoso with extraordinary musicianship. It is not a wonder that The Washington Post has called him “…a monster pianist…”
In addition to Chopin’s Preludes and Etudes, Mr. Papazian pays a tribute to Gomidas Vartabed by playing as an encore Harutiun Delalian’s “Dedication to Gomidas” sonata. Mr. Papazian had premiered this piece in America during his debut concert at Carnegie Hall in 1985. The New York Times then described the piece as “…a haunting composition…” Mr. Papazian’s most powerful performance of this musical monument is also a memorial to the Armenian Genocide of 1915.