Summer Music Concert 1
Freddy Kempf piano
Friday 6 July 7.30pm

Bach Partita No 6
Bach/Busoni Chaconne in D minor   
Chopin Sonata No 2 in B flat minor
Rachmaninov Sonata No 2 in B flat minor – 1913 version

Biography   |   Supper menu   |   Audience reviews

Freddy's answers to our 'Summer Questions'

Q Who or what always puts a smile on your face?
A The love of my life, Katja

Q Are you going antwhere nice for your summer holidays?
A Bavaria & Venice

Q What is your favourite city?
A Prefer the countryside

Q What are you reading at the moment?
A Vixen 03 by Clive Cussler

Q What music are you currently listening to?
A BBC Radio 1

Q What's your favourite summer drink?
A Champagne

Q What food would you most associate with summer?
A Slightly burnt barbequed chicken and sausages

Q Which composer would you most have like to have met?
A Ludwig van Beethoven

Quotes

'The meteoric success of pianist Freddy Kempf makes it is easy to forget he is in his mid-20s. If it is true that an artist's finest years come with age, then the mind boggles at the possibilities.'
The Guardian

‘Kempf has the maturity and musicality with which to harness his gifts to artistic ends. He has the fearless exuberance of youth. He is prepared to take risks, a readiness that brings spontaneous combustion to his playing; but he has sensitivity, too.’
The Daily Telegraph

Biography

Freddy Kempf was born in London in 1977 and came to national prominence in 1992 when he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition following a memorable performance of Rachmaninov Paganini Variations.  However his first public appearance was at the age of four in a church in Folkestone, England.

It was perhaps his award of third prize in the 1998 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow that established his international career. For him NOT to have won the first prize provoked protests from the audience and an outcry in the Russian press, which proclaimed him 'the hero of the competition' and his unprecedented popularity with Russian audiences has been reflected in several sold-out concerts and numerous television broadcasts.  His triumphant return visit to the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire the following year for solo and concerto appearances prompted the headline 'Young pianist conquers Moscow' in the International Herald Tribune.

His most recent concerts have included appearances at New York's 92nd Street 'Y', Salzburg Mozarteum, Cheltenham Festival, La Roque d'Anthéron Festival, Milan Conservatoire, Hamburg's Musikhalle and Zurich Tonhalle and his debut tour of Japan (which included solo and orchestral concerts culminating in a recital at Tokyo's Suntory Hall that was broadcast on radio and television).  Of a recent Wigmore Hall recital, The Daily Telegraph wrote, 'Kempf has the maturity and musicality with which to harness his gifts to artistic ends. He has the fearless exuberance of youth. He is prepared to take risks, a readiness that brings spontaneous combustion to his playing; but he has sensitivity, too.'  

In recent seasons performances include the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Royal Philharmonic and Daniele Gatti; this extraordinary achievement was recognized by universal acclaim by critics and audiences alike.  He also made his debut on subscription with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Wolfgang Sawallisch.  Other engagements included City of Birmingham Symphony and Sakari Oramo, St Petersburg Philharmonic and Yuri Temirkanov and a tour of Japan with the Dresden Symphony with Günter Herbig, and he performed at the Musikverein in Vienna.

Last season included performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Vassily Sinaisky, the English Chamber Orchestra/Sir Colin Davis, the Residentie Orkest/Neeme Järvi, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and he returned to Japan for two major tours. Upcoming invitations include engagements with the Tonhalle Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Freddy has recently participated in an eleven date tour with the Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra touring all the major concert venues in the UK. He presented two concertos at the Manchester Piano Festival and performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2006.

Upcoming concerts this season include engagements with the Philharmonia, La Scala Philharmonic/Chailly, Seattle Symphony and Vancouver Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, a tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/Jaap van Zweden and the Prague Philharmonia/Belohavek.

He records exclusively for BIS Records, for whom he has recorded recital discs of Beethoven (x2), Chopin (x2), Liszt, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Schumann and in March 2006 Freddy released his first Bach recording. In 2001, he was voted Best Young British Classical Performer in the prestigious Classical Brit Awards.

After concert supper 1

Roast loin of pork stuffed with apricots; gratin of salmon with creamed leeks and mushrooms; new potatoes with butter, chives & parsley; spiced rice salad with toasted almonds; red cabbage, edam and apple salad; mixed leaf salad. Selection of breads. Pavlovas and strawberries. Coffee/tea

If you wish to add your review to the concert please email your comments and they will be uploaded onto the website. Blackthorpe Barn reserves the right to edit comments submitted.

'What an amazing pianist...his talent grows with his reportoire'
Caz, Bury St Edmunds

'Another spectacular performance from Freddy'
George Agnew, Rougham