The Strad Magazine (UK) describes Sébastien Hurtaud as "a cellist to watch, because he has his own style of performance, a high level of imagination, and a combination of elegance and drive", and for Fanfare Magazine (US) he has "the soul of a Rostropovich and the technic of a Feuermann".
After receiving the most important recognitions from several world-leading music schools (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Manchester Royal Northern College of Music, Dallas University), Sébastien Hurtaud won the First Prize at the Adam International Cello Competition (New Zealand, 2009). Subsequently, he played various concerts as a soloist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO).
Since the age of 15, he has been concertizing as a soloist and chamber musician all over the world. He has performed in very prestigious concert halls and international festivals in Europe, US, Asia and New Zealand: New York Metropolitan, Dallas Caruth Concert Hall Museum, Charles Wadworth music series in Nashville, Cello festival in Fort Worth (US); Manchester Brahms Festival, Haden Freeman Concert Hall (UK); Town Hall in Christchurch (New Zealand); Icho Hall in Tokyo (Japan); Taiwan Youth Symphonic Orchestra; Théâtre National Mogador and Salle Cortot in Paris, Deauville, Cordes-sur-Ciel, Laon Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and Vexin Festivals, Salon Musical of Belfort, International Cello Festival of Beauvais, Musique en Ré, Classique au vert, Colmar Opera, etc. (France).
Sébastien Hurtaud has regularly performed with orchestras under the baton of Antoni Wit, Werner Andreas Albert, Arie van Beek and Edmon Colomer, amongst others. His solo repertoire includes the great cello concertos (Shostakovich, Haydn, Dvorak, Schumann, Saint-Saëns, etc.) as well as "jazz concertos", including Gulda's cello Concerto, to be performed with the Slovak Philharmonic in 2018.
Accompanying Hurtaud on the Piano is Bruno Canino.
Born in Naples, Bruno Canino studied piano and composition at the Conservatorio Verdi in Milan where he taught piano for 24 years. Then, for 10 years, he gave a course in piano and chamber music at the Berne Conservatoire.
He has performed both as a soloist and a chamber musician in all the principal concert venues of Europe, the United States, Australia, Japan and China. For over 50 years he has been regularly performing with Antonio Ballista, his piano duo partner. He has collaborated with many prominent string players, such as Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, Salvatore Accardo, Viktoria Mullova and Uto Ughi and has played with leading orchestras including the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, Milan, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome, the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France, and with distinguished conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Pierre Boulez.
Deeply interested in contemporary music, has has worked with many composers including Luciano Berio, Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti, Pierre Boulez, Bruno Maderna, Luigi Nono, Sylvano Bussotti and Mauricio Kagel often giving world première performances of their works. From 1999 to 2002, he was director of the Music Section of the Venice Biennale.
Bruno Canino's recordings include Bach's Goldberg Variations; Mendelssohn's compositions for cello and piano (with Lynn Harrell); works by Prokofiev, Ravel, and Stravinsky (with Viktoria Mullova for a disc that was awarded the Edison prize); piano compositions by Debussy (including the Preludes), Chabrier (the complete piano works), and Casella.
The concert, titled Gallic Music for Cello and Piano includes works for Cello and Piano by Debussy, Saint Saens, Chopin, Faure and Orr will be held on Tuesday, 10 January 2017 at 8pm.
Tickets from www.teatrumanoel.com.mt, [email protected] or 21 246389