Calgary Herald: Honens Festival 2019 – Nicolas Namoradze dazzles on piano

Calgary Herald
Kenneth Delong

Hot on the heels of the week-long Banff International String Quartet Competition comes the Honens Festival 2019, the September festival of piano-related events that takes place in the years between competitions. As is frequently the case, one of the main events is a solo concert by the winner of the previous competition, in this instance pianist Nicolas Namoradze, now a resident of the New York area…

Fundamentally, however, Namoradze wears his enormous technique lightly. He sits quietly, with mostly just his fingers in evidence. His playing is effortless to a degree that can hardly be imagined, and the focus of his performance is entirely upon musical values. And here the range of his imagination in the shaping of line, control of texture, and fleetness in execution takes one’s breath away.

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