Ferruccio Busoni

Busoni’s equal talents as performer and composer made him a regular presence on the Wigmore Hall stage during its first two decades; he played here at least 33 times including at the very first concert on 31 May 1901, where he performed Beethoven and Brahms and as well as a Bach violin sonata with Eugène Ysaÿe. His solo recitals often contained arrangements or compositions of his own as well as works by Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt and more, and it’s this combination of musicianship that was celebrated in the 2022/23 Composer Focus Busoni and his World, with pianist Kirill Gerstein.