What

In Stairway to Self, the listener ascends through a musical meditation on life’s essential facets, beginning in quiet, moonlit introspection and passing through the shadows of death and loss. As each step unfolds, love and longing emerge from the darkness, and memories stir with tender nostalgia. The pain of the past is gently confronted and forgiven, and hope dawns on the horizon like the first light of morning. In the end, the journey reaches a place of warmth and light—a heartfelt embrace of life and love at the summit of the self.

Debussy – Clair de Lune (from Suite bergamasque)
Say – Black Earth (“Kara Toprak”)
Fueyo – Stairway to Self
Brahms – Six Klavierstücke, Op. 118
Granados – El amor y la muerte (Ballade from Goyescas)
Soukhovetski – Blue. The Loss and Orange. A New Beginning (from The Pride Suite)
Ginastera – Danza de la moza donosa
Gershwin-Wild – Virtuoso Etude No. 4, Embraceable You

—

Masks and Mirrors explores the shifting boundaries of selfhood—where irony reveals pain, and reflection conceals as much as it discloses. It opens with Pärt’s Für Alina, a work of radical intimacy born from distance and silence, where structure and freedom intertwine in fragile equilibrium. Prokofiev’s Sarcasms sneer and sting, only to turn inward in shame as laughter collapses into vulnerability. In Schumann’s Kreisleriana, inner voices fracture and blur, drawn from Hoffmann’s fantastical tales and the composer’s own splintered psyche. After the break, Brahms offers a solitary voice in twilight, followed by Beethoven’s Op. 109, a transcendent arc of variation where, in Celibidache’s words, “the end is in the beginning.”The journey closes with Golijov’s Levante, a mythic invocation that rises from memory and ash, leaving us suspended between the seen and the sensed.

Pärt – Für Alina (1976)
Prokofiev – Sarcasms, Op. 17
Schumann – Kreisleriana, Op. 16
Brahms – Klavierstück in B minor, Op. 119 No. 1
Beethoven – Sonata in E major, Op. 109
Golijov – Levante (2021)

—

I Am a Stranger Everywhere traces the quest of a restless soul through exile, longing, grief, and hope. Framed by two precious musical jewels, the program’s heart beats with four major works: two beloved pillars of the canon and two modern masterpieces, from Schubert’s desolate search and Bach’s towering lament to Muhly’s maze of challenge and Retinsky’s widening road of promise.

Silvestrov – Bagatelle Op. 2 No. 3
Muhly – You Can’t Get There From Here
Schubert – Fantasy in C major “Wanderer,” D. 760
Bach–Busoni – Chaconne in D minor, from Partita No. 2, BWV 1004
Retinsky – “And the path widened…”
Griboyedov – Waltz No. 2 in E minor

—

The Shape of Echoes traces a secret conversation through time, where forms like sonatas, arabesques, preludes, and études reveal not imitation, but the infinite ways of being. Scarlatti’s fragility and sophistication give way to Medtner’s overlooked, impassioned romanticism. Schumann’s Arabeske distills a complex mastery into a few luminous pages, inspiring Debussy’s flowing, water-like arabesque and his late preludes, where sound dissolves into dream and kaleidoscopic color. The journey ends with a tapestry of études: Chopin’s lyric breath and storm, Rachmaninoff’s brooding depth, and Kapustin’s dazzling contrapuntal jazz, each strand distinct yet intertwined.

Scarlatti – Sonata in C-sharp minor, K. 247
Medtner – Sonata Romantica, Op. 53 No. 1
Schumann – Arabeske in C major, Op. 18
Debussy – Arabesque No. 1 in E major
Debussy – Three Préludes from Livre II:
  “Ondine…”, “Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses…”, “Feux d’artifice…”
Chopin – Étude in A-flat major, Op. 25 No. 1
Kapustin – Concert Étude in C major, Op. 40 No. 1
Rachmaninoff – Étude-Tableau in E-flat minor, Op. 39 No. 5
Chopin – Étude in E major, Op. 10 No. 3
Chopin – Étude in A minor, Op. 25 No. 11