A portrait of Sir Stephen Hough

This Friday Series concert, held in Norðurljós Hall, gives the audience a chance to see the other side of ISO Artist-in-Association Stephen Hough, who follows up the previous evening’s performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 3 with a solo recital of virtuosic pieces from far and wide. The performance concludes with his recitation from one of his books and a conversation about life and art. Few contemporary artists are as versatile as Hough, who is a composer, author, and painter, as well as a pianist.

The programme for the concert shows his wide-ranging field of interest. Debussy’s Estampes – whose title means Prints – is an unusually graphic and richly coloured piece strongly evocative of faraway places. The two pieces by Franz Liszt, on the other hand, were inspired by literature – specifically, works by two Italian giants, Dante and Petrarca. The programme also includes a composition by Hough himself, Partita, which was inspired by massive sacred works for organ and by the music of Catalonian composer Federico Mompou.