Emanuel Ax, Mackenzie Melemed and Cantus

Internationally acclaimed pianist Emanuel Ax joins pianist Mackenzie Melemed and men’s vocal ensemble Cantus in Pathways from Prague, Program 2 —

Janáček — Piano Sonata, “1.X.1905, From the street…”
Dvořák — Slavonic Dances for piano four-hands
Dvořák, Burleigh and Janáček — Part-songs for men’s voices

Emanuel Ax has been performng internationally since he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv in 1974. A longtime collaborator with the BSO and a Tanglewood regular, his 2019-2020 season included a European summer festivals tour with the Vienna Philharmonic and long-time collaborative partner Bernard Haitink, an Asian tour with the London Symphony and Sir Simon Rattle and three concerts with regular partners Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Yo Ma at Carnegie Hall in March 2020. This summer, as concerts resume, he will perform at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony and in a Beethoven trio program with partners Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Yo Ma.

Cantus is widely known for its trademark warmth and blend, innovative programming and performances of music ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The Washington Post has praised the Cantus sound as having both “exalting finesse” and “expressive power” and refers to the “spontaneous grace” of its music making, the BSO says. The Philadelphia Inquirer called the group “exquisite.”

As one of the nation’s few full-time vocal ensembles, Cantus has grown in prominence with its distinctive approach to creating music. Working without a conductor, the members of Cantus rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the whole artistic process.

Cantus performs more than 60 concerts each year both in national and international touring, and in its home of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Cantus has performed at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, UCLA, San Francisco Performances, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.

In the 2019-20 season, the group celebrated the allure of upward exploration, the triumph of the human spirit, and striving for excellence through innovation and technology on their touring program One Giant Leap. The poetic arc of the program is structured around the moon landing and the groundwork that was laid to make this historic achievement possible, and includes works by Mohammed Fairouz, Franz Schubert, Kenneth Jennings, Byron Adams, David Bowie, Camille Saint-Saëns, Eriks Esenvalds, Z. Randall Stroope, and a piece originally commissioned for Cantus by Sarah Kirkland Snider.

American pianist Mackenzie Melemed — recipient of a 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, winner of The Juilliard School’s 2019 Leo B. Ruiz Carnegie Hall Recital Prize, 2018 Arthur Rubinstein Prize, the Jade Medal at the 2019 China International Music Competition, and the first prize and chamber music prize at Finland’s 2017 Maj Lind International Piano Competition — has an international career that continues to flourish.

Praised by the New York Times as an “excellent young pianist” Melemed, a Steinway Artist, has performed in venues such as The White House (2004-2008), Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, and the Helsinki Music Centre. He has performed with numerous orchestras, notably the Philadelphia Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and KBS Symphony (Korea). Melemed was named one of ten annual recipients of The Juilliard School’s Career Advancement Grant, providing $20,000 over two years. Melemed was a laureate of the 2021 American Pianists Awards of the American Pianists Association; he received a cash prize of $50,000 for the distinction.
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The 2021-22 season includes performances at the Arvo Pärt Center in Estonia, FPC Myrtle Beach Concert Series, ProMusica San Miguel (Mexico), Jupiter Chamber Players (NYC), Oulu Music Festival (Finland), Naantali Music Festival (Finland), with the Helsinki Philharmonic, Stamford Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Thüringen Philharmonic (Germany) and Lohja City Orchestra (Finland).

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