In 2018, Pianomania! brought iconic, internationally renowned pianists to Lisbon for a keyboard extravaganza. These electrifying highlights show the performers’ incredible variety in six first-class concerts from the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, beginning with the moving Piano Concerto by Schumann. For Daniil Trifonov, Schumann is “important in the heart of any pianist,” to which his deeply felt and mature rendition attests.
Next up, Menahem Pressler, at age 94, brings a lifetime’s worth of experience and emotion to the haunting second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, “the most intimate and the most heartwarming” Mozart work, capable of “elevating [a pianist] up to heaven.” Young star Beatrice Rana brings pyrotechnic panache to Stravinsky’s Firebird before Elisabeth Leonskaja’s Beethoven, brimming with passion, gives way to Mário Laginha’s Concerto for Two Pianos with the composer himself as soloist, accompanied by Pedro Burmester. Piano lovers: Get comfortable—this one’s for you!
