Virtuoso Pianist and Composer Stephen Hough To Make Athens Debut April 2


March 20, 2023

Stephen Hough sits at a piano in a concert hall

“Listening to this recital I felt as though I were a guest at a sumptuous banquet … for here is a pianist at the height of his powers.”—Gramophone

With the heart of a poet and the hands of a magician, British pianist, composer, and writer Stephen Hough is a virtuoso in the grand tradition. Playing Romantic and Impressionistic masterworks alongside knuckle busting showpieces, he creates a truly singular concert experience. His highly anticipated first visit to Hodgson Concert Hall Sunday, April 2 at 3 p.m. includes works by Liszt and Debussy and his own Partita.

Since taking first prize at the 1983 Naumburg Competition in New York, Hough has appeared with most of the major European, Asian and American orchestras and plays recitals regularly in major halls and concert series around the world, from London’s Royal Festival Hall to New York’s Carnegie Hall.

His Athens program begins with music by Catalan composer Federico Mompou, the subject of his most recent album. He then moves through pieces by Claude Debussy and Aleksandr Skryabin. The second half includes Hough’s Partita and mesmerizing music by perhaps the greatest of all virtuoso pianists, Franz Liszt.

This UGA Presents performance is supported by John A. Maltese. There will be a pre-performance talk in Ramsey Concert Hall by Despy Karlas Professor Emeritus of Piano Richard Zimdars at 2:15 p.m. (free admission).

About Stephen Hough

Sir Stephen Hough has distinguished himself as a true polymath. In 2001, he became the first classical performing artist to win a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. In 2014 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honors in 2022.

He regularly contributes articles for The Guardian, The Times, Gramophone, and BBC Music Magazine. His first novel, The Final Retreat, was released in 2018 by Sylph Editions, and was followed by Rough Ideas: Reflections on Music and More, an anthology of essays on musical, cultural, lifestyle, and spiritual subjects, published in 2019. His memoir, Enough: Scenes of Childhood, is being released this spring by Faber. As a composer, he has written for orchestra, choir, chamber ensemble, and solo piano.

Sir Stephen records extensively for Hyperion Records. Many of his more than 60 albums have garnered international prizes including the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Diapason d’Or, Monde de la Musique, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Magazine Awards including the 1996 and 2003 “Record of the Year” Awards and the 2008 “Gold Disc” Award, which named his complete Saint-Saëns piano concertos the best recording of the past 30 years.

Sir Stephen resides in London, where he is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in Manchester. He is also a member of the faculty at The Juilliard School. To learn more about Sir Stephen, visit his website StephenHough.com and follow him on Twitter at @HoughHough.

For a complete list of UGA Presents performances, click here.

Three Ways to Order Tickets

  1. Purchase tickets online 24/7 online here.
  2. Call the Performing Arts Center Box Office at (706) 542-4400, Mon.-Fri., 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
  3. Visit the UGA Performing Arts Center Box Office, Mon.-Fri., 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (5 minute parking is available in the drop off circle at the Performing Arts Center for purchasing or picking up tickets.)

Photo: Robert Torres