Norman Bemelmans gave his first public solo concert at the age of 7; that was surely a few decades ago and he's still at it. After studying with such luminaries as Jean Houpt, Stefan Bardas, Richard Cass, Patrizia Benkman, and Ozan Marsch, Bemelmans toured under the sponsorship of Pobitzer Artists International and the Franz Liszt Foundation.
Bemelmans takes the stage with another renowned musician, Hungarian pianist Elizabeth Loparits, winner of the National Bartok Piano Competition, the Kodaly-Bartok Chamber Music Competition, and the North Carolina Symphony/UNCG Concerto Competition.
Norman Bemelmans & Elizabeth Loparits. Kenan Auditorium. Thursday, January 28 @ 7:30 pm
Tickets are available at the Kenan Auditorium Box Office: 910-962-3500 or online.
Music for the evening includes work from Frederic Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, AlexanerScriabin, and Franz Liszt. Listen to Bemelmans speak about the concert below.
Critical response to Bemelmans' performances:
“ . . . Bemelmans’s Liszt is electrifying . . . the audience was cheering even before the final chord had finished sounding.”
-Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“ . . . the combination of lyrical subtlety and virtuosic power was overwhelming in its impact. Bemelmans plays Liszt the way Liszt is meant to be played.”
- Il Tempo
“ . . . Chopin of the highest order. The familiar music emerged under Bemelmans’ hands as a revelation . . . We are not accustomed to hearing Chopin performed with such grandeur.”
- Neue Zeitung