Pianist Nargiz Aliyarova and cellist Sergey Antonov will perform an all-Chopin concert at Carnegie Hall on March 15
Who: Nargiz Aliyarova, Sergey Antonov
What: Benefit concert of Chopin music
Where: Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, 881 Seventh Ave. at West 57th St.
When: Tuesday, March 15, $30-$60, 8:00
Why: “I am so excited,” New York–based Azerbaijani pianist Nargiz Aliyarova told me recently about making her Carnegie Hall debut. “Any musician in the world would be happy to be on this stage!” Aliyarova, who is also a professor with a doctorate in art, will be joined by US-based cellist Sergey Antonov in a special all-Chopin program at Weill Recital Hall on March 15. The concert is being presented by the National Music & Global Culture Society, a nonprofit organization founded by Aliyarova “to unite our multicultural community through the advocacy of music from around the world,” focusing on providing lessons to disadvantaged youth, hosting contests and festivals, and publishing a quarterly online magazine.
Aliyarova, who began giving recitals at the age of nine and was awarded a diploma “for outstanding contribution to the legacy of Frédéric Chopin” by the Polish government in 2010, has released three albums of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and Chopin in addition to two CDs of Azerbaijani music, including compositions by Jovdet Hajiyev, Gara Garayev, Franghiz Alizadeh, Vagif Mustafazadeh, and Javanshit Guliyev. The Russian-born, Grammy-nominated Antonov, a gold medal winner at the XIII International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2007, began playing the cello when he was five; he has released Elegy with pianist Ilya Kazantsev, Strauss & Rachmaninov: Sonatas for Cello & Piano, and an album of music by Robert Schumann. He is also a member of the Hermitage Piano Trio with Kazantsev and violinist Misha Keylin.
The Carnegie Hall program features an exciting mix of works by Chopin, the Polish Romantic composer and pianist who passed away in 1849 at the age of thirty-nine. Aliyarova and Antonov will be performing Polonaise Brillante for cello and piano Op. 3, Sonata for cello and piano Op. 65, Nocturne Op. post in C sharp Minor, Waltz Op. 34 N.2 in A minor, Waltz Op. 64 N.2 in C sharp Minor, Ballade in F minor, Op. 52, and the world premiere of Chopin and August Franchomme’s Grand Duo concertant in E major, B. 70, arranged for cello and piano by Lala Jafarova. Antonov and Aliyarova previously played together at the International Mugham Center in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku in September 2021, performing works by Chopin and Claude Debussy. The Carnegie Hall concert by these internationally renowned musicians is both a respite from the latest news and a reminder of how important it is “to unite our multicultural community through the advocacy of music from around the world.”