Review: Anne Sofie von Otter Mezzo Soprano & Kristian Bezuidenhout Fortepiano at Ordway Concert Hall

Internationally acclaimed Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie Von Otter's career spans more than three decades at the very top of her profession in opera, concert, and recital. She remains one of today's most recorded artists, and her project range from iconic operatic roles, to collaborations with legendary artists from Claudio Abbado and Giuseppe Sinopoli to Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright, and string quartet Brooklyn Rider.

Kristian Bezuidenhout is one of today's most notable and exciting keyboard artists, equally at home on the fortepiano, harpsichord, and modern piano. Born in South Africa in 1979, he began his studies in Australia, completed them at the Eastman School of Music, and now lives in London. After initial training as a pianist with Rebecca Penneys, he explored early keyboards, studying harpsichord with Arthur Haas, fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson, and continuo playing and performance practice with Paul O'Dette. Kristian first gained international recognition at the age of 21 after winning the prestigious first prize, and audience prize in the Bruges Fortepiano Competition.

This concert was the 2022-2023 opener for the International artist series with the Schubert Club. It was nice recital inside the beatiful Ordway Concert Hall. The acoustics were great and getting to see both Ann and Kristian live was a treat! The duo's also used the Graf(Rieger) Fortepiano from Schubert Club's historic keyboard collection.They did musical works by Franze Schubert, Mozart, and Adolf Lindblad. It was a nice compbination of voice and piano. The audience enjoyed it as they both shared more about the works and why they were performing them. They gave more of a background.

For the encore, Ann sang a beautiful renedition of Try to Remember from the Fantastiks.

Thank you Ann and Kristian for a lovely evening of beautiful music.

Photo credit: Ann Sofie Von Otter

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