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"ELECTRIFYING & UNFORGETTABLE."
“Venkatesh has an extremely rare combination of effortless technical command and authority with a sense of poetry and refinement that belies his years…electrifying and unforgettable… he’s a spectacular pianist.”
JEFFREY KAHANE
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Mr. Venkatesh's two upcoming releases consist of a debut on Naxos in an all-Mozart program, and the music of Lucas Richman on Albany Records.
SOLO
Recital
Works by Scarlatti, Clara Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Beethoven
Zipper Hall, Los Angeles, CA
Saint-Saëns: "Aquarium" from the Carnival of the Animals
with Eva Schaumkell, piano
CONCERTO
Gershwin: Concerto in F
Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor
Reneé and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
Colburn Orchestra
CONCERTO
Saint-Saëns: Concerto No. 2 in G Minor
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor
Sarasota Music Festival
Sarasota Orchestra
"Vijay Venkatesh is blessed with it all: transcendent technique, unbridled passion, and irresistible charisma. He breathes with an oxygen of imagination."
- Washington Post
Venkatesh has rapidly established a major international reputation as top prizewinner in the San Jose, Seattle, Zimmerli, World Piano, and Waring International Piano Competitions. Recent and upcoming concerto highlights include performances with Columbus Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Roanoke Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Redlands Symphony, Bangor Symphony, and more. He has performed as soloist with such celebrated conductors as Jeffrey Kahane, James Conlon, Ludovic Morlot, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Roger Kalia and more.
"Venkatesh exudes a musical confidence, as his reading of the concerto was far more languid, more lyrical and more nuanced than the standard performance. His sense of color, of dynamics and of phrasing all revealed lyricism in areas that many play as barren passagework. With both an endearing stage presence (could we be thinking Van Cliburn here?) and a personal voice, Venkatesh seems destined to make a musical impact on bigger stages.”
- THE DAY, NEW LONDON
"Myriad gradations of tone"
(Lucas Richman, Variations | Albany Records)
In a blaze of pianistic light...Venkatesh's performance is replete with lightning reflexes, but he also knows how to sit on the knife-edge of expression and Schmaltz without tipping over, and that is no mean achievement. The recording is excellent, allowing appreciation of Venkatesh’s myriad gradations of tone… I really want to hear more of Venkatesh’s sterling pianism. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (5/5)
Colin clarke, FAnfare magazine