Elégie – Ulverston Festival

Elégie is the fifth ‘Composer Portrait’ concert to be compiled and scripted by pianist Lucy Parham, chronicling the life of composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff. Actor Alistair McGowan – reading from letters and diaries – chronicles the composer’s youth in Russia, subsequent self-imposed exile, and final emmigration to the USA.

The programme includes many of his best-loved works for solo piano, including a selection of Preludes, Etudes-Tableaux and Moments Musicaux, the haunting Elégie, as well as works by Chopin, Scriabin and Tchaikovsky.

Lucy Parham:
“A highly gifted and sensitive musician. This was playing of real artistry and stylistic conviction.” The Telegraph

Alistair McGowan:
“there’s no denying the brilliance of 90 per cent of his mimicries – either uncannily close or foregrounding quirks in their pronunciation.” The Scotsman