Emanuel Ax, Piano

Saturday, February 1, 2014 | 8:00 pm

Baldwin Auditorium

PLEASE NOTE: We have recently learned that Yoko Nozaki will be unable to perform on Saturday, Feburary 1 due to illness. Emanuel Ax has graciously agreed to play a full-length solo concert in place of the originally scheduled program. The date and time of the concert remain unchanged, and original tickets will be valid for entry.

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Emanuel Ax is the essential pianist of our time — the Los Angeles Times praises “his greatness, his overwhelming authority as a musician, technician, and probing intellect.” Yoko Nozaki, Ax’s wife, is a Juilliard-trained piano soloist hailed by the New York Observer for her “grace and power.” Together, they are the leading performers of the brilliant but rarely heard repertoire for two pianos. In high demand, they play only a handful of public concerts together each year, but this area merits a special visit: Nozaki, the daughter of a Duke biochemist, grew up right here in Durham.

Their homecoming performance in Baldwin Auditorium includes Mozart’s only sonata for two pianos, a joyful dialogue between instruments, and Brahms’ Haydn Variations, which follows a single theme through eight different styles. The program also features another Mozart sonata and a set of Brahms variations; these works will showcase the masterful Ax alone.

Program