Music on Park Avenue is back! The popular series hosted by Scandinavia House and Per Tengstrand welcomes its audience back to Victor Borge Hall in the fall of 2021. In the second concert in the series, Tengstrand will perform Beethoven’s “33 Variations over a Waltz by Diabelli.”
In 1819, the music publisher Anton Diabelli asked a large group of composers to write one variation each on a waltz. Beethoven submitted not one, but 33, and it is celebrated as perhaps the greatest set of piano variations next to Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.” With relentless imagination, Beethoven turns this simple and banal theme into creations full of beauty, drama and, in fact, mockery.
Do not miss Per Tengstrand’s interpretation of one of the most important piano works in history!
“The greatest of all piano works“—Alfred Brendel
Tickets to this event must be purchased in advance online at the link above; screenings will take place in Victor Borge Hall. Attendees are required to follow all Scandinavia House safety protocols, including wearing masks during the program and observing social distancing rules in signage. Please read our full safety protocols here.
Music on Park Avenue will continue with performances on January 6, February 17, March 17, and April 21, 2022.
The Music on Park Avenue concert series is supported in part by a generous grant from The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation and in part by the Lynn Carter Fund of the ASF.
About Per Tengstrand
Per Tengstrand has firmly established himself as one of today’s most exciting pianists. He has been described by The Washington Post as “technically resplendent, powerful, intuitively secure,” and by The New York Times as “a superb Swedish pianist” whose recital “was rewarding, both for its unusual programming and for his eloquent, technically polished performances.”Tengstrand is the subject of the acclaimed Swedish documentary The Soloist, directed by Magnus Gertten and Stefan Berg (Sweden, 2003), which was featured at the International Festival of Cinema and Technology in New York.
In 2005 he was decorated by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden with the “Litteris et Artibus” Medal for outstanding service to the arts. During the pandemic, Per started making music documentaries which were viewed and appreciated by people all over the world. As this line of work will continue, the documentary Beethoven and the Freedom of the Will is planned to have its world premiere at Scandinavia House in 2022.