Alessio Bax

Alessio Bax

Piano

Artistic Director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival

“Bax is a true storyteller, using the piano as his voice.”
— The Independent

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Lorna Neill

+44 (0)7798 531 819
lorna@musicinteralia.com

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Reviews Archive

“With the APO, the Grieg concerto gave the Italian pianist the opportunity to combine crispness with poetry, effortlessly moving from impeccably chiselled minor to yearning major, in response to eloquently pleading cellos. The cadenza journeyed from rapturous nocturne to leonine roars and after, the adagio allowed Bax further exquisite dialogue with orchestral colleagues; the finale had the unbridled swing of a folk dance in which all were merry participants. A seat in the circle was an advantage at encore time, watching Bax play a Scriabin prelude using just one hand, with a richness of tone that you might have thought was coming from two.”

New Zealand Herald (William Dart), April 2019

“Alessio Bax is a musician who oozes grace and class, both in his stage manner and in his playing.He is capable of great delicacy, as in his handling of the airy birdsong at the top of the keyboard in Liszt’s St Francoise d’Assise: Lapredication aux oiseaux attests, as well as power and muscle, shown to thrilling effect in the same composer’s sonata Apres une Lecture de Dante which followed and closed the evening. After the Liszt pieces in the second half brought the house down, Bax gave two encores to set the seal of this special recital.“

Sydney Daily Telegraph (Steve Moffatt), 26 March 2019

“Making his BSO debut, Bax gave the Mozart concerto a brisk, even-keeled treatment, and orchestra matched soloist in character. [..]Bax’sperformance was built on a foundation of understated grace, moderate dynamic shifts, and easy flow between statements”

Boston Globe (Zoë Madonna), January 2019

“The most exciting debutin recent memory. An elegant pianist, he (Bax) approached every phrase with a singing tone, yet he displayed plenty of fire in the powerhouse passages. (…) Listeners were on their feet, demanding bow after bow from the soloist.”

Cincinnati Enquirer (Janelle Gelfand), April 2017

“But the most dramatic performance of the evening belonged to pianist Alessio Bax, who skippered the remarkable dynamics within Faure’s “Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor, Opus 45.” From the tossed sea sensibility immediately conjured for the opening Allegro movement to the similarly sudden conclusion to the third Adagio non troppo movement that triggered an audible audience gasp a few rows behind me, this was perhaps the most fully realized and openly emotive performance so far in the festival.”

– Lexington Herald-Leader (Walter Tunis) (Faure’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor, Opus 45 at the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington), 2017

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“(…) pianist Bax was impressive. This relatively young artist eschewed overly dramatic gestures of the crowd-pleasing sort and channeled all his considerable energy into the music, demonstrating complete mastery of the demanding writing.”

–Cleveland.com

“Bax is a true storyteller, using the piano as his voice, and Gabetta reminds us through these selections why the cello was created – as an instrument of raw emotion to reflect our own capacity for feeling. This concert was a wonderful showcase of two talented artists.”

–The Independent

“Throughout the evening, pianist Bax proved an inspired partner for Bell. The two ably prodded each other, especially in the night's sonatas. In the Brahms, particularly, Bax's account of the keyboard part was notable for its tonal warmth and excellent textural balance.”

–Telegram

“Bax found plenty of poetry in the work [Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 14 “Moonlight”] and capped it with quite a stormy finale. (…) Pictures at an Exhibition is a virtuoso piece in its piano form, full of many moods including some spooky passages. Virtuosity and variety were strongly present in Bax’s interpretation, which ended with a grand Great Gate of Kiev.”

–Star Telegram

“Bax wisely eschewed extensive rubato in the first movement [Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 14 “Moonlight”], marked Adagio sostenuto, instead creating a dignified, elegant sustained line. He attacked the thorny third movement, marked Presto agitato, at a breakneck clip, but Bax is a musician with technique up to the task.”

–Theater Jones

“Bax gave it [Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 31, No. 1 in A major, Op. 110] a sensitive and insightful performance. (…) The majestic fugal section in the last movement was played with great clarity and the entrance of the subject in octaves in the bottom of the instrument was an awe-inspiring sound. It was fascinating to hear him boldly step forward in this solo appearance and then return to the collaborator a moment later.”

–Theater Jones

“Bax’s bracing prestidigitation was evident in the strongly projected playing of the declarative solo that begins the work [Barber’s Piano Concerto], and even more in the explosive later cadenza and his consistently fast and accurate passagework. Yet the soloist was also able to relax into the more lyrical sections, with some affecting phrasing in the Canto middle movement. (…) Bax racheted up the power and velocity in the virtuosic final section, making the sparks fly in a combustible coda.”

–Chicago Classical Review

 

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Biography

Combining exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions, and is now a familiar face on five continents, not only as a recitalist and chamber musician, but also as a concerto soloist who has appeared with more than 150 orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston, Dallas, Cincinnati, Sydney, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and the NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden.

Since 2017, he has been the Artistic Director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, a Summer Music Festival in the Val d’Orcia region of Tuscany. He appears regularly in festivals such as Seattle, Bravo Vail, Salon-de-Provence, Le Pont in Japan, Great Lakes, Verbier, Ravinia, and Music@Menlo.

The forthcoming season 2023-24 includes debuts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, the CSO Presidential Orchestra Ankara  with Jacek Kaspszyk, and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ruth Reinhardt.   He will also to return to the Dallas Symphony, Pacific Symphony and Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra.  He will undertake his fifth performance at the famed Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, a tour of Asia with violinist Daishin Kashimoto, and of Japan with flutist Emmanuel Pahud, numerous New York appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and a wide range of high-profile chamber music projects, recitals, and concerto performances in Europe, Asia, and across the United States.

Last season saw him debut with Szczecin Philharmonic, Philharmonie Südwestfalen and Orchestra della Toscana and make a return to Australia. As well as tours with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and a tour of Japan with Berlin Philharmonic First Concertmaster Daishin Kashimoto he also performed with Jacksonville Symphony, Hartford Symphony and Santa Barbara Symphony.

Bax constantly explores many facets of his career. He released his eleventh Signum Classics album, Italian Inspirations, whose program was …

 
William BurtonPiano