Guest Pianist to Perform at UW March 25

The University of Wyoming Department of Music will present guest pianist Ney Fialkow performing “The Art of Brazilian Piano Music” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts Recital Hall. The performance is free and open to the public.

The recital features music by Brazilian composers Vagner Cunha, Camargo Guarnieri, Claudio Santoro, Radamés Gnáttali and Francisco Mignone.

Fialkow, winner of several piano competitions, including the coveted Eldorado Music Prize in São Paulo, Brazil, conciliates a busy career as a soloist and collaborative pianist with that as a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Fialkow’s recital appearances have captivated audiences in many distinguished concert halls in Brazil and abroad. He explores the repertoire of many styles and historical periods, and has premiered new works for piano in solo, chamber music and concerto genres. He made his debut at the age of 18 with the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra and has since appeared as soloist with several prominent orchestras, with distinguished conductors.

A devoted chamber musician, Fialkow has collaborated extensively with internationally acclaimed musicians such as Cármelo de Los Santos, Viktor Uzur, Marcos Machado, Joel Quarrington, Yang Liu and Alexander Bailey.

As a recording artist, Fialkow released the live recording of “Sonatas Brasileiras” with acclaimed violinist Cármelo de los Santos, which received the Açorianos Prize for Best Classical CD in 2009. In 2010, he was soloist in the premiere of “Mahavidyas” by Brazilian composer Vagner Cunha, as well as in the recording of the integral version of the work.

His album “Metamorfora,” released in collaboration with double bassist Marcos Machado, was praised in Strad Magazine for the duo’s “fresh and lively rendition” of Beethoven’s “Variations on a Theme” from Mozart’s “Magic Flute.”

Fialkow released a second recording with Machado, featuring works by Proto, Falla, Devreese, Korngold and Mozart. In 2020, the album “Claudio Santoro: The Complete Works for Cello and Piano,” released with cellist Hugo Pilger, was nominated for best classical album at the 2021 Latin Grammy Awards. In 2023, Fialkow released a solo album, featuring the world premiere recording of “Piano Preludes Book II,” dedicated to him by Brazilian composer Vagner Cunha.

For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email kirisk@uwyo.edu.