Bach in the Sky with Diamonds

In the concert titled Bach in the Sky with Diamonds, original works by Johann Sebastian Bach converse with some of the most famous melodies by The Beatles, as well as by Bill Evans and Hiromi Uehara, all of them in unique arrangements by the distinguished pianist and composer Alexandra Papastefanou.

Different musical styles coexist under the baton of the great Cantor, highlighting the diverse facets and timeless transformations of music. Each Bach piece is heard in its entirety at the beginning or, occasionally, at the end, while Bach and The Beatles coexist, overlap and, gradually, are transformed by variations or contrapuntal treatment to often culminate in free improvisation. They thus create a palimpsest that bridges three centuries of music into a single, timeless musical language and reaffirms Bach's proximity to contemporary musical idioms.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Alexandra Papastefanou

She studied at the Athens Conservatoire, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, and the Indiana University Bloomington, under Aliki Vatikioti, Peter Solymos, György Sebők and Alfred Brendel. She was a finalist at the Toronto Bach Festival and Clara Haskil Competitions, while she received the Liebstoeckl and Fazioli Prizes at the International Geneva Competition. She studied music theory and composition with Y. A. Papaioannou and Frederic Fox. She recorded Dimitris Mitropoulos' Greek Sonata and the complete piano works of Y. A. Papaioannou, as well as works by Giorgos Koumendakis, Periklis Koukos, Yorgo Sicilianos, Vangelis Katsoulis, etc. She was awarded the Spyros Motsenigos Prize by the Academy of Athens. She has recorded Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, French Suites, Fantasias and Goldberg Variations, works by Schumann and the CD Tears of Babylon (FHR) on her own arrangements of Bach cantatas for solo piano. Her work as a composer includes the albums 12 Minerals, 12+1 Shells and Shadows and the song cycles Pasiphae and Smalto. She received the Best Recording of 2018 award by the Union of Greek Critics for Drama and Music.

https://www.alexandrapapastefanou.com/

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