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Pianist Beatrice Rana experienced perhaps the ultimate command performance this summer when the Italian government asked her to curate and play at a concert for the newly installed Pope Leo XIV. Called “The Harmonies of Hope,” the gala program occurred on June 21 at St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
Rana shared the stage with other acclaimed musicians, including pianists Gabriela Montero, Brad Mehldau, Francesco Piemontesi, Nobuyuki Tsujii and Alexander Malofeev, as well as cellist Aleksey Shadrin.
The event was part of the Vatican’s Jubilee of Governments, a celebration of the Holy Year, and was intended to share music with world leaders and the public. Occurring every 25 years, a Holy Year (or Jubilee) is a period of spiritual significance in the Roman Catholic Church, characterized by pardon and spiritual renewal.
Montero performed her improvisation on Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”; Rossini and Krug’s “Largo al factotum della città” from Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Francesco Piemontesi and Rana; Smetana’s Rondo for 2 Pianos and 8 Hands with Piemontesi, Rana and Alexander Malofeev, and Chaminade’s Les Noces d’Argent Op.13, for 2 Pianos and 10 Hands with Piemontesi, Rana, Malofeev and Brad Mehldau.
This fall, Rana embarks on a North American recital tour of major U.S. and Canadian venues, with programs anchored in 20th-century Russian repertoire and Debussy’s late keyboard studies. The itinerary includes debuts at Bourgie Hall in Montréal and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, alongside return engagements presented by the Cleveland Orchestra; Spivey Hall of Morrow, Georgia; Symphony Center in Chicago (SCP Piano recital on Nov. 2); Cliburn Concerts of Fort Worth, Texas; Celebrity Series of Boston, and Carnegie Hall.
On tour, Rana will perform Prokofiev’s Selections from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75; Debussy’s Études, Book II; Tchaikovsky’s Concert Suite from The Nutcracker (arr. Pletnev), and Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 6. The sequence juxtaposes narrative transcriptions and études with a wartime sonata, structuring a program that moves from character pieces to large-scale form.
For encores, perhaps she will offer samples from works featured on her latest album, Bach Keyboard Concertos (Warner Classics/Erato, released in March. It consists of J.S. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, No. 2 in E Major, No. 3 in D Major and No. 5 in F Minor, all with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
For Rana, part of the genius of Bach’s music lies in the way it “transcends its era and the musical technologies of its time and still feels modern to listeners today.” Bach composed his keyboard concertos during his time in Leipzig, Germany; many of which are believed to have been adapted from earlier versions for another instrument. Rana describes the composer as “an important figure in my life. My piano studies began when I was very young, and Bach was there from the very start.”
