The Denison University Vail Series will open its 2005-2006 season with a recital from the world-renowned pianist Emanuel Ax at 8 p.m. Friday (Sept. 16) in Swasey Chapel. Ax will perform selections from Beethoven'sSonata in A Major, Op. 2, No. 2, Brahms'Ballades, Op. 10, and Chopin'sBallades No. 1-4. A limited number of tickets for the performance may be available to the public for $15 each. Beginning Monday (Sept. 5), please call the Vail Hotline at (740) 587-6557 for a message about ticket availability.

Ax is renowned for the exceptional breadth of his performing activity. Each season his career includes appearances with major symphony orchestras worldwide, recitals in the most celebrated concert halls, a variety of chamber music collaborations, the commissioning and performance of new music, and additions to his acclaimed discography on Sony Classical.

Ax first captured public attention in 1974 when, at age 25, he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists and, four years later, took the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. He has been an exclusive Sony Classical recording artist since 1987, making his debut on that label with a collection of Chopin scherzos and mazurkas. His third volume in the recording cycle of Haydn Piano Sonatas received a Grammy Award in February 2004 -- the previous recording in the cycle also won a Grammy. Other recent releases include a two-piano program (with Yefim Bronfman) of works by Rachmaninoff; period-instrument performances of Chopin's complete works for piano and orchestra; and the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with Bernard Haitink and the Boston Symphony.

Ax has been featured in a number of premiere performances across the country, including the world premiere of John Adams' "Century Rolls" with the Cleveland Orchestra in 1997, the European premiere with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1998, and the New York premiere with the Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2000.

Devoted in his career to chamber music literature, Ax also regularly works with such artists as Young Uck Kim, Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Serkin and Jaime Laredo, and he was a frequent collaborator with the late Isaac Stern. He has made a series of popular recordings with Ma, and as a duo they have won three Grammy Awards for the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas for cello and piano. The pair also has teamed with Richard Stoltzman for a Grammy Award-winning album of clarinet trios and with Pamela Frank, Rebecca Young and Edgar Meyer for the Schubert "Trout" Quintet. The Ax-Stern-Laredo-Ma Quartet recorded the piano quartets of Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Fauré, Mozart and Schumann for Sony Classical.

More information about Emanuel Ax can be found at www.emanuelax.com

Mr. Ax records exclusively for Sony Classical, with exclusive management by ICM Artists, Ltd.

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville -- Denison's Vail Series opens the season with a recital featuring world-renowned pianist Emanuel Ax; 8 p.m., Friday (Sept. 16) in Swasey Chapel. A limited number of tickets may be available to the public for $15 each. Please call the Vail Hotline at (740) 587-6557 for more information.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

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Barbara Stambaugh

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