ANTHONY DE MARE: LIAISONS — RE-IMAGINING SONDHEIM FROM THE PIANO
Ticket: 15,00€
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Anthony de Mare, one of America's most adventurous and innovative pianists, performs in Portugal for the very first time, exclusively for Porto Pianofest. The concert marks the festival’s first collaboration with Serralves.
De Mare presents a selection of his internationally acclaimed Liaisons Project, a bold reimagining of songs by Stephen Sondheim through the lens of contemporary composers. A unique programme at the intersection of musical theatre, classical music, and bold creativity.
LIAISONS: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano (Selection)
(All works based on material by Stephen Sondheim)
PROGRAMME
Into the Woods (2013), Andy Akiho
(Into the Woods)
Pretty Lady: gymnopédie (2019), Stephen Hough
(Pacific Overtures)
The Gun Song / The Ballad of Booth (2019), Jon Batiste
(Assassins)
The Demon Barber (2010), Kenji Bunch
(A Fantasia on “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”)
Johanna in Space (2014), Duncan Sheik
(after “Johanna” – Sweeney Todd)
The Worst [Empanadas] in London (2011), Ricardo Lorenz
(Sweeney Todd)
Sunday in the Park ~ Passages (2011), Anthony de Mare
(Sunday in the Park with George)
Finishing the Hat –Two Pianos (2010), Steve Reich
(Sunday in the Park with George)
I Think About You (2010), Paul Moravec
(after “Losing My Mind” – Follies)
Being Alive (2019), Kevin Puts
(Company)
De Mare on Sondheim / Liaisons:
Stephen Sondheim’s music has been a part of my life as far back as I can remember. As I embarked on a concert career, working and collaborating with some of the greatest contemporary classical composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, I often found myself imagining how the familiar and beloved songs of the Sondheim canon would sound if transformed into serious piano works along the lines of what Art Tatum and Earl Wild did for George Gershwin and Cole Porter, or what Liszt did for Verdi, Schubert and so many others.
The idea never left me, and in 2007 I finally began inviting composers to try their hand at the idea. Thanks to a generous spark of encouragement from Mr. Sondheim, Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano was born. The first 36 pieces premiered to sold-out audiences in New York City between 2012 and 2015, and the project has continued to blossom like a dream. THE LIAISONS PROJECT has now extended to 50 works representing a range of idioms – from classical and theater to jazz and film music. The result is a remarkable compendium of homages, rhapsodies, and re-imaginings that make the case for Sondheim as one of the 20th century's most influential composers.
Sondheim was delighted by the Project, telling concert audiences, “To hear composers take my music and take it seriously – it’s a thrill.” The 3-disc ECM recording was released in 2015, and a subsequent set of 14 commissions, in honor of Sondheim’s 90th birthday year in 2020 premiered again in New York in 2021-22. These have now been recorded as Liaisons II: All Things Bright and Beautiful, just released by Avie Records in March 2025.
From the start, my greatest hope for Liaisons was for it to contribute to Sondheim’s legacy, helping it to spread further and live long beyond his years. I am thrilled to continue to celebrate him. Each of the works presented is a true testament to the diversity of talents represented by the Project, and to the singular impact Sondheim’s music has had on us all.” — Anthony de Mare
More information at liaisonsproject.com.
About Porto Pianofest:
Directed by Portuguese pianist based in New York, Nuno Marques, and coproduced with Porto City Hall, Porto Pianofest is an engine of cultural development that invites musicians from all over the world and in all stages of their career to perform, teach, learn, and build a community centered in the creation of meaningful musical experiences and fusing the European and North American methods of music pedagogy through educational residencies.
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ANTHONY DE MARE is one of the world’s acknowledged champions of the music of our time, having commissioned and premiered works by hundreds of diverse composers from across the globe. He is both a multifaceted pianist and recording artist as well as an avid collaborator, known for innovative performance projects that expand the repertoire and the audience for contemporary music. His versatility over the past three decades has inspired the creation of new works by some of today’s most distinguished artists across multiple genres, including the 50 pieces in the Liaisons compendium, while also having pioneered the speaking-singing pianist genre with Frederic Rzewski’s ground-breaking De Profundis, in addition to Jerome Kitzke’s Sunflower Sutra and vocal-piano works by Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, and many others. DeMare’s breadth has led him to perform in venues ranging from prestigious classical concert halls to jazz clubs, theaters, museums, and non-traditional spaces. Notable New York City concert venues have included Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, 92nd Street Y, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, BAM, and Art Bath; festival appearances include the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, London Jazz Festival at The Barbican Centre, Bari Piano Festival, Porto Pianofest, Puerto Piano Festival (PR), American Pianists Association, and 21C Festival in Toronto. Other major venues include UCLA’s Royce Hall, Ravinia, Melbourne Recital Centre, The Mondavi Center, SF Jazz, Cal Performances (Berkeley), and Green Music Center; he has also been heard on NPR’s “All Things Considered”, WNYC, and HBO’s “Six By Sondheim”. Additionally, he has been soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic, and others. His discography of over twenty recordings – released by ECM Records, Avie Records, New World Records, Innova, Koch, and CRI, among others – includes works by Charles Ives, Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, John Cage, Meredith Monk, Frederic Rzewski, Laurie Anderson, Peter Gena, Paul Moravec, David Del Tredici, and Astor Piazzolla, among many others. Since his debut with Young Concert Artists, his accolades and awards have included First Prize and Audience Prize at the International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition (The Netherlands) and The International Contemporary Piano Competition of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (France). A Steinway Artist, he is currently Professor of Piano at Manhattan School of Music and a faculty member at the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, NY. He is a guest curator for Kaufmann Music Center and has also served as new music curator for the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in NYC.
Image: Paolo Soriani