LIVE CONCERTOS ON CD

Two much-praised live interpretations of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov concertos by Gülsin Onay have now been released as live concert recordings under Lila label.

Tchaikovsky's 1st Concerto was recorded on 7 November 1997, when Gülsin Onay played the concerto to a rapturous reception by a packed audience in Bratislava. The energy, virtuosity, passion and drama of this unique performance speak for themselves. Until now the recording, which existed only as a privately-issued CD, has been hard to obtain.

The recording of Rachmaninov's 3rd Concerto comes from the archives of the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, and captures a concert which took place in Bilkent Concert Hall, on 3 April 2005, to celebrate the 90th birthday of İhsan Doğramacı, the founder of Bilkent University. The admirers of the recording of this interpretation include none less than that acknowledged master of Rachmaninov's piano music, Vladimir Ashkenazy. The distinguished Austrian music writer Peter Cossé describes his first hearing of the recording as “one of the most exciting three quarters of an hour since discovering music in my earliest youth”.

Gülsin Onay, “impressive by her carefree, forceful manner, her spirit and the pleasure in her virtuosity”, captivates the audiences in these gripping performances, now brought to the home in this album. With technical virtuosity and exquisite pianism, she breathes new life into two masterpieces of the concerto repertoire.