This is not a Recital

THIS IS NOT A RECITAL is a rede­f­i­n­i­tion of the tra­di­tion­al piano recital from within.

Alfre­do Ovalles per­forms works by Paul Desenne and Leile­hua Lanzilot­ti, as well as his own com­po­si­tions for piano and elec­tron­ics, includ­ing the piece Ran­dom Acts of Sense­less Violence.

Per­for­ma­tive ges­tures — includ­ing spo­ken text and sub­tle dis­rup­tions — alter the flow of the con­cert, blur­ring the clear bound­aries between pieces. The piano remains at the cen­tre of atten­tion, but the rit­u­al sur­round­ing it begins to shift.

Pro­gram:

Alfre­do Ovalles Illu­mi­nati Rainbows*Paul Desenne 7 Impre­siones de Reverón*Alfredo Ovalles my mem­o­ries are pre­cious to no one but myself*Leilehua Lanzilot­ti say it in your heart, say it when you sleep*King Crim­son Indis­ci­pline* (arrange­ment by Alfre­do Ovalles)Alfredo Ovalles Ran­dom Acts of Sense­less Violence*Alfredo Ovalles only a place*Alfredo Ovalles Fear Is Just a Word*

*Pol­ish premiere

Per­form­ers:

Alfre­do Ovalles piano

Pro­duc­tion:

pro­gramme con­cept and text: Alfre­do Ovalles pro­duc­tion: Olga Pasekvi­su­al iden­ti­ty: Alek­san­dra Ołdak­sound engi­neer­ing: Kos­ma Standera

The Hash­tag Lab Con­tem­po­rary Music Space is co-fund­ed by the City of War­saw. The media patron of the Hash­tag Lab Con­tem­po­rary Music Space is POLMIC​.PL and Dwój­ka Pol­skie Radio.

If you want to learn more about the artists/works:

Born in Cara­cas, Venezuela, Alfre­do Ovalles is a ver­sa­tile pianist and com­pos­er who has explored many areas of music. Draw­ing on his clas­si­cal train­ing and expe­ri­ence per­form­ing with rock and pop bands in Cara­cas, he views music as a coher­ent whole in which bound­aries blur and insights from one genre inform his approach to seem­ing­ly unre­lat­ed musi­cal contexts.

Alfre­do is a high­ly regard­ed soloist and cham­ber musi­cian. He has per­formed with orches­tras such as the Bournemouth Sym­pho­ny Orches­tra, the Pol­ish Baltic Phil­har­mon­ic in Gdan­sk, and the Nation­al Sym­pho­ny Orches­tra of the Domini­can Repub­lic, among many oth­ers. He has also appeared at pres­ti­gious music fes­ti­vals across Europe, includ­ing Wien Mod­ern, the Transart Fes­ti­val in Bolzano, and the Warsza­wska Jesień Festival.

His pro­grammes often focus on Bach and Leonard Bern­stein. One of his sig­na­ture con­cert pieces is his own arrange­ment for solo piano of Bern­stein’s “Sym­phon­ic Dances” from West Side Sto­ry, which has been enor­mous­ly pop­u­lar with audi­ences. “Full of verve and sym­phon­ic colour, Alfre­do’s inter­pre­ta­tion is per­formed with com­plete phys­i­cal com­mit­ment and all that this entails” (Pianist Magazine).

As a com­pos­er, Alfre­do also draws on those ear­ly musi­cal inspi­ra­tions, blend­ing his clas­si­cal roots with rock, pop, jazz, and elec­tron­ic music to forge his own dis­tinc­tive and deeply per­son­al voice in the con­tem­po­rary music scene.

Alfre­do fre­quent­ly per­forms and pre­mieres solo and ensem­ble works, col­lab­o­rat­ing close­ly with com­posers such as Rober­to Sier­ra, Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, and François Sarhan. Com­mit­ted to find­ing uncon­ven­tion­al venues, Alfre­do once joined The Black Page Orches­tra on an aban­doned sub­ma­rine dock in Croa­t­ia, where they per­formed Stock­hausen’s Mikro­phonie I. “It was an inspir­ing, ear-open­ing, and trans­for­ma­tive experience.”

Alfre­do’s love of music began ear­ly. Accord­ing to his father, he asked for piano lessons as a birth­day gift when he turned five. Com­ing from a non-musi­cal fam­i­ly, his first encounter with the sound of a piano came not from clas­si­cal music but from an old VHS tape of a Queen con­cert that was always cir­cu­lat­ing around the house.

Alfre­do is a proud artist for Bösendor­fer and Remic.

Tickets

30 PLN