Duo to perform free, classics concert at Riford Library Sunday

From FanFaire Reports

FanFaire Foundation’s second 2012 Free Family Concerts Series, “From Paris to You,” featuring Paris-based pianist Zachary Deak and violist Virginie d’Avezac de Castera, continues with a 2 p.m. performance Sunday, April 29 at the Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave.

Frequent artistic collaborators, the San Diego-born Deak and Bordeaux-born de Castera have put together a diverse program of Baroque through 20th century music. The duo will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s “Suite from Romeo and Juliet for Viola and Piano,” aptly described as an “opera without words,” and Henri Vieuxtemps’ poignant “Elegie Op. 30 for Viola and Piano.”

Deak will open the program with a solo of Domenico Scarlatti’s virtuosic piano Sonatas K. 450 G minor and K. 517 D minor, and Franz Liszt’s “La Vallée d’Obermann.” He will close with Robert Schumann’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in F sharp minor, the composer’s unique cry of passion for his beloved Clara to whom he dedicated the work.

The pair will perform the same program 2 p.m. April 29 at the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club, 17025 Avenida de Acacias.

“From Paris to You” showcases Deak’s and de Castera’s artistry and reflects their musical preferences.

Deak has performed extensively in France as a soloist and in chamber groups. He has participated in the premieres of many contemporary works and has been recorded by French Radio and Harmonia Mundi. Today, he is a scholar at the Royal College of Music in London where he continues his studies in piano performance with Leon McCawley.

D’Avezac de Castera is a professor of viola at the Cognac Conservatory of Music and conductor of the school’s string orchestra (2004-2010). She lives in Paris where she performs regularly with Deak and other musicians. She has been a member of the Franz String Quartet since 2011.