The Emperor Meets Brahms

Behzod Abduraimov Photo: Official Website

Tonight we are crossing to the Auckland Town Hall for an Auckland Philharmonia concert “The Emperor Meets Brahms” which includes two works by Brahms, the Academic Festival Overture and his Fourth Symphony and Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto played by Behzod Abduraimov from Uzbekistan. Popularly known as the "Emperor Concerto", the Fifth was his last piano concerto, written between 1809 and 1811 in Vienna, and was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven's patron and pupil.
Born in Tashkent in 1990, Abduraimov began to play the piano at the age of five. He was a pupil of Tamara Popovich at the Uspensky State Central Lyceum in Tashkent. At the age of 18, Abduraimov achieved a sensational victory in the 2009 London International Piano Competition, winning First Prize with his thrilling performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3.

Since then Abduraimov has carved out a successful international career working with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vasily Petrenko, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Jurowski, David Zinmann,and Pinchas Zuckerman. (Source: Orchestra Wellington & behzodabduraimov.com)

This concert was recorded live at the Auckland Town Hall by Radio New Zealand