Elmas: Piano Concertos (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 82)

Featuring

Howard Shelley
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Stéphan Elmas

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Composer Biography

In 1897, Stéphan Elmas contracted typhoid fever, which led to his hearing loss, and after 1908, he devoted his time to composing and teaching.

Composer Biography

At age thirteen, Stéphan Elmas gave an all-Liszt recital and later, at nineteen, traveled to Weimar hoping to study with Franz Liszt, who advised him to study in Vienna with Anton Door.

Composer Biography

Stéphan Elmas dedicated his six études of 1884 to Franz Liszt and some fifteen varied piano works to his friend Victor Hugo.

Performer Biography

Howard Shelley, the pianist and conductor on this album, has a discography exceeding 160 albums and has recorded works by over eighty composers.

Composition History

The Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor by Stéphan Elmas appears to be the earliest piano concerto written by an Armenian composer.

Composer Biography

Stéphan Elmas, the composer, was a child prodigy born into a wealthy entrepreneurial family in Smyrna (now Izmir), then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Composer Biography

Stéphan Elmas suffered severe depression upon learning of the Armenian genocide in 1915 and was nursed through this period by Swiss painter Aimée Rapin, who was born without arms and created art with her feet.