GUEST ARTIST PERFORMS SCHUBERT’S FINAL THREE SONATAS FOR SOLO PIANO

The Music Program of the University at Albany’s Department of Music and Theatre is pleased to present guest pianist Kwok-Wai Lio in A Schubert Trilogy on Monday, October 3, 2022 at 7:30pm at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the uptown University at Albany campus at 1400 Washington Avenue.

The program will include Sonata in A major, D. 959; Sonata in B major, D. 960 and Sonata in C minor, D. 958 – all of which were composed in September of 1828.  Truly written at the very end of Schubert’s life, the ink had dried on the final sonata a mere three weeks before his early death.  Swirling with melodies and formal inventions from other famous compositions, such as Winterreise, and also showing significant connections in formal structures to each other, these final three sonatas form a unified set that stands as a punctuation mark at the end of Schubert’s short but brilliant composing career. 

Franz Schubert lived in Europe during the first third of the 19th century and was a man famous for living the pauper’s romantic life in devotion to his art.  In his short 31 years, he was extremely prolific, composing more than six hundred art songs, several symphonies, celebrated chamber music, incidental music, sacred music and even an opera.

A graduate of Curtis Institute of Music, Kuok-Wai Lio studied under Gabriel Kwok, Gary Graffman, Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Boris Berman, Jack Winerock and Stanislav Ioudenitch.  His mentors include Imogen Cooper, Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss.  He was invited by Sir András Schiff to take part in his masterclasses in Europe and by Leon Fleisher to attend his mentorship program at Caramoor in upstate New York. 

Praised by the Vancouver Sun as a "musician's musician" and for his "sensitive playing" by The New York Times, the Macau-born pianist is active as a soloist and chamber musician worldwide. He has performed at venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Tonhalle Zürich and Herkulessaal in Munich.

A frequent participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, Kuok-Wai has performed with musicians such as Peter Wiley, Kim Kashkashian, Pamela Frank, Cho-Liang Lin, Peter Stumpf, Joseph Lin, Christoph Richter, Hsin-Yun Huang, Zoltan Fejevari, Oliver Herbert, Andrei Ionita, Ben Beilman, Danbi Um and Shanghai Quartet. During an anniversary celebration of Sandor Vegh and the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove, he was chosen to perform in masterclasses and concerts at Wigmore Hall in London and the Salzburg Festival. He has also performed at a Schubertiade curated by Vancouver Recital Society alongside pianists Inon Barnatan and Jonathan Biss.

A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant administered by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts as well as the Career Advancement Award given by Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, Kuok-Wai is also a prize winner of numerous international competitions and received a Commendation of Merit given by the Chief Executive of Macau. He was invited to perform with his brother Lio Kuokman for Hu Jintao, then President of the People’s Republic of China.

Advance tickets are $5 for the general public and $3 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff.  Tickets purchased on the day of the show are $10 for the general public and $8 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff. All tickets must be purchased on-line from the UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s site at www.albany.edu/pac.  Information and assistance can be obtained by contacting the UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s main office at (518) 442-3995 or [email protected].