Programme:
Beethoven. Piano Sonata No. 4 E-flat major Op. 7
Bartók. Piano Sonata BB 88 Sz. 80
Schönberg. Three Piano Pieces Op. 11
Schumann. Piano sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor Op. 11

The highly-awarded piano artist Gerhard Oppitz is following the traditions of the German piano titans of the past century. He may even be regarded as the spiritual successor of Artur Schnabel, Wilhelm Backhaus, and Wilhelm Kempff with whom he had close relationships with as a student and colleague of theirs. The Oppitz repertoire includes all of the piano sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert and he has repeatedly played the entire selection of piano pieces by Brahms and Grieg in one concert series. In addition to his uniquely wide scale as a piano player, performances by Oppitz are also characterised by an unwavering quest to find the truth, accompanied by intellectual passion and a transcendent sense of form.

Oppitz will be performing a substantive and diverse solo programme in Tallinn, one which serves to entwine grand classical-romantic pieces by Beethoven and Schumann with Arnold Schönberg’s textbook atonal op. 11, and Béla Bartók’s most important piece for the solo piano. Maestro has been passionate about flying since an early age. He has a pilot’s licence and has often flown himself to various concert sites across Europe during the course of his long career as a pianist.