Go and do

What: Piano recital by Igor Lovchinsky

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7

Where: Franco-American Heritage Center, 46 Cedar St., Lewiston

Tickets: $15 for adults, $12 for seniors $12; students 21 and younger, free. Call 689-2000 or visit www.francoamericanheritage.org

Igor Lovchinsky Renowned, young pianist will perform at Franco center

LEWISTON – Igor Lovchinsky, hailed as “a star of the future” by Gramophone magazine, will present a solo recital Saturday, Feb. 7, at the Franco-American Heritage Center as part of the 2008-2009 Piano Series season.

The 24-year-old’s program include works by Chopin, Scriabin, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich.

“Elegance and rapturous beauty” – that is how Germany’s Piano Magazine described performances by this native of Kazan, Russia, who moved to the United States at age 10. Lovchinsky showed extraordinary accomplishment and promise at a very early age, not only as a pianist, but as a composer and improviser. By age 4, he was playing entire recitals for his family and friends.

Lovchinsky entered the Kazan Special Music School of Gifted Children and, after coming to the United States, went on to garner first prizes in the Eastman International Piano Competition and the National Chopin Piano Competition of the Kosciuszko Foundation.

Lovchinsky received his undergraduate degree from The Juilliard School and is currently in a graduate program at the New England Conservatory. His teachers have included Nina Polonsky, Steven Glaser, Jerome Lowenthal, Partricia Zander and Wha-Kyung Byun.

Lovchinsky’s repertoire ranges from the Renaissance to the 21st century, and he is known for presenting innovative programs, often combining classical repertoire with jazz – a reflection of his diverse musical interests.

He likes to speak to recital audiences, engaging both the seasoned concert-goer and first-time listener.

Lovchinsky has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Auditorium, Hartford’s Bushnell Center, Rochester’s Eastman Theater and the Ohio Theater. Foreign tours have included recitals in Warsaw, at the American Embassy in Beijing and in Calgary, Alberta.

He recently took part in the Boston premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s “Catalogue d’Oiseaux” at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, in celebration of the composer’s 100th birthday.

Lovchinsky has championed works by contemporary composers, including virtuoso performer Earl Wild, who, after hearing his “Etudes on Themes of Gershwin” performed by Lovchinsky, offered to produce the young artist’s debut disc. That CD, on Wild’s Ivory Classics label, features compositions by Chopin and Scriabin, as well as the Wild arrangements of Gershwin. It received glowing reviews and was chosen as one of the top five recordings of 2008 by Time Out International.