Friday, April 25, 2025 @ 8:00pm – 10:00pm (EDT)
Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, DC, United States
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One of the world's most celebrated pianists, acclaimed for technical mastery and captivating, deeply expressive interpretations, Hélène Grimaud plays late works by Beethoven and Brahms in a program that ends with the great Bach-Busoni Chaconne in D minor. Author, human rights activist, and passionate wildlife advocate, Grimaud has created a number of projects rooted in a profound engagement with the natural world, like her recent album, Water. For our concert, she will play the Beethoven Op. 109 Sonata held in manuscript at the Library, and Brahms intermezzi and fantasies that she describes as "abstract instrumental songs. It's pure music, just as highly concentrated as his greatest, largest works…very intense, very poetic and poignant, like most of Brahms' music…it's quite a hypnotic experience to play them, and also, for the listener, it's really an intense emotional journey."

Preconcert Lecture: David Plylar, 6:30pm in Whittall Pavilion.