Sasha Grynyuk | Piano Recital

19:00, Doors Open

19:30, Concert Starts

Sasha Grynyuk is a Ukrainian-British award-winning pianist whose performances have been praised for their exceptional musicality and electrifying interpretations. A winner of more than ten international competitions and awards, he received First Prizes at the Grieg International Piano Competition and the BNDES International Piano Competition, as well as the Gold Medal of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Sasha has performed at major venues worldwide, including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Royal Festival Hall and Teatro Real, appearing with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic and National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. His recording of music by Glenn Gould and Friedrich Gulda was named Record of the Month by Piano News. Sasha is Artistic Director of the Elgar International Music Festival in Alassio, Trustee of the Keyboard Trust and an Ambassador for the London Music Fund.

Program:

Beethoven, Sonata No. 29 in Bb Major, Op. 106 (Hammerklavier)

I. Allegro

II. Scherzo: Assai vivace

III. Adagio sostenuto

IV. Introduzione: Largo... Allegro – Fuga: Allegro risoluto

-pause-

Beethoven, Sonata No 32 in C minor, Op. 111

I. Maestoso; Allegro con brio e appassionato

II. Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile

Beethoven’s final piano sonatas stand at the summit of his exploration of the instrument—and of musical form itself. The Hammerklavier, Op. 106, is monumental in scale and ambition: its dramatic contrasts, uncompromising technical demands, and vast fugue seem to push the piano beyond its physical and expressive limits.

With Op. 111, Beethoven turns inward. The sonata’s two movements encompass an extraordinary journey, from the turbulence of the opening to the serene, almost timeless variations of the Arietta. Here, conventional sonata form gives way to something more elusive: music that seems to transcend its own structure and move toward silence.

Written only a few years apart, these works reveal two sides of Beethoven’s late style—confrontational and expansive in the Hammerklavier, contemplative and profoundly intimate in Op. 111.

The beautiful Steinway in our salon is on loan from The Netherlands Musical Instrument Foundation.