Sergio Tiempo

QSO Studio Recital

Brisbane, March 2023

a touching and personal recital that also allowed Tiempo to showcase his remarkable virtuosity across a wide-ranging recital of favourites and lesser-known works...

The highlight of this first half, though, was the titanic Sonata No. 3 in B minor. Here, Tiempo shaped the first movement’s mercurial moods easily, but the beating heart of this work is the Largothird movement, where it was clear that Tiempo had Freire in mind with the gentleness of the melody floating through this movement.,,

Villa-Lobos wrote a colossal amount of music and perhaps doesn’t always fire on all cylinders, but on those occasions when he does, the results speak for themselves. These character pieces were both rhythmically fascinating and truly splendidly virtuosic – real show-stoppers. Alberto Ginastera’s Malambo continued in a similar vein but with even more satisfyingly crunchy harmonies.

Finally, the encore was a Chopin prelude that Tiempo had earlier teased – the Prelude No. 4from Op. 28. Richly chromatic, it provided a reflective end for this impressive virtuoso recital.

Paul Ballam-Cross, Limelight Magazine

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra: Rachmaninoff 3 with Domingo Hindoyan

Philharmonic Hall Liverpool, March 2023

From the first flourish there was no disappointment with Tiempo’s virtuosity, which was abundantly clear. His articulation was crisp and clear, with meticulously executed staccato playing...Tiempo was a master at extracting the tone of the Steinway’s upper register, cutting through the orchestral textures effortlessly...Tiempo showcased his skill especially by delicately balancing his hands to perfection, demonstrating staggeringly impressive fingerwork with rapid repeats of notes and crystal clear trills...There is no doubt that Tiempo has great stage presence and skill, with charisma and charm. The audience were incredibly focused and it was difficult to take one’s eyes off him.

Leighton Jones, Bachtrack

It’s never good news when you find yourself without a soloist days before a practically sold-out concert...What started as an organisational headache thus morphed into an unexpected treat for a Thursday night audience at Hope Street as the Venezuelan-born Argentine virtuoso delivered a dazzling interpretation of Rachmaninov’s fiendish Third Piano Concerto...

Power, phrasing, pace…and perspiration (literally) combined in an effervescent performance which made the three-quarters-of-an-hour running time feel like 10 minutes. Tiempo fugit as it were.

Along the way there was a flamboyant cadenza – punctuated by the sweetness of Cormac Henry’s flute, an intermezzo which brought both romantic reflectiveness and spiky scherzando playing, and a frankly heroic finale all round.

But a concerto is a partnership. And while there was a perhaps fleeting moment at the start of the first movement where the Phil could have held back a touch to allow the piano to really sing, under Domingo Hindoyan’s nuanced direction Rachmaninov’s complex orchestral accompaniment was otherwise flawless, from the lovely swelling ebb and flow of the first movement themes to the expressive intermezzo (introduced by Jonathan Small’s beatific oboe) to the work's cinematic climax.

Arts City Liverpool *****

Stunningly absorbing, this performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 conducted by Domingo Hindoyan is unmissable. Considered as an archetype showpiece, the concerto is renowned for being a challenge and demands technical prowess – pianist Sergio Tiempo rises to this and more, demonstrating what a maestro he is...

Sergio Tiempo was not originally billed to perform tonight, making his playing all the more impressive. Throughout most of his playing, he subtly smiles and loses himself in the intensity of playing – the audience, seeing the difficulty in the task, smiles with him.

Delightful. The relationship between Hindoyan, the musicians and Tiempo is a joy to watch. From the expressions on faces and frequent glances to Hindoyan, this is an ensemble that love the music they’re playing...

Although Tiempo’s virtuosity provides the glue to the concerto, there is a strong sense of this being a communal performance.

As the interval approached, the concerto edged towards a blistering climax with the orchestra bobbing in unison and the audience keen to show appreciation. Everyone was on their feet applauding as the final note sounded.

Ezzy LaBelle, NorthWest End UK *****

Los Angeles Philharmonic: Prokofiev 1 with Ludovic Morlot

Walt Disney Concert Hall, March 2022

[...] pianist Sergio Tiempo more than fulfilled his obligations. This was the first time I had heard Maestro Tiempo play: he is unquestionably one of the best contemporary pianists, and I look forward to future performances.
Rhythm is rightly cited as one of music’s predominant elements, and when it came to driving this particular concerto, Tiempo showed his pianistic and rhythmic mastery in each of the three movements. From downbeat to final chord, the pulse was strong and steady, not overly driven, and the pure musicality of the concerto proved to be a primary basis and purpose. Tiempo’s musical strengths were evident everywhere, but the delicacy and taste that accompanied the middle movement was an even more direct acknowledgement of the work’s beauty. That Tiempo’s technical ability is superseded only by his divine taste was demonstrated in the encore: Liszt’s ‘Consolation No.3’, which Tiempo dedicated to his father who died on 28 February. The contrast between his awesome power in the Prokofiev Piano Concerto and the sensitivity shown in the Liszt was heart-breaking. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, including mine.

Douglas Dutton, Seen and Heard International

Philadelphia Orchestra: Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1

Philadelphia, March 2022

Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 offered a soloist of considerable artistic individualism. Sergio Tiempo had such a big sound you might have thought his piano was amplified. But he also had dimensions. His suddenly explosive outburst in the second movement wasn’t a gratuitous one, but, rather, an expressively beautiful one. He could be brawny or flowery, and the orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin expertly hewed to his contours and flashes.

Peter Dobrin, Philadelphia Enquirer

New York Philharmonic: Esteban Benzecry Piano Concerto 'Universos Infinitos'

David Geffen Hall, Jan 2020

Pounding rhythms, cascading chords, spiralling swirls of fast notes... a dizzying perpetual-motion toccata. Mr Tiempo gave a scintillating and virtuosic performance.

Anthony Tommasini, New York Times

The evening’s most rewarding item was the New York premiere of Universos infinitos, a piano concerto by Esteban Benzecry...Pianist Sergio Tiempo, Benzecry’s fellow Argentine, gave an inspired reading, showing in this first movement complete comfort with the virtuosic demands of the part, but also finding moments to pull back and draw whispering phrases out of the instrument... [In “Ñuque Cuyen] an airy texture accompanies the flowing lines of the solo part, which Tiempo played with a breathing freedom, delicately and thoughtfully interweaving his voices... [the] thrilling finale calls to mind the close of Rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto, ending in a flash of light and a blazing chordal progression in the solo part.

Eric C. Simpson, New York Classical Review

This is an absolutely outstanding composition, undoubtedly the most engaging and satisfying new piano concerto I have heard from a living composer. Tiempo played it with absolute commitment and an extraordinary range of touch, sometimes creating hallucinatory dreamscapes of notes, sometimes hitting an individual key so hard you could hear the note distorting slightly, and integrating percussive effects like double elbow clusters and slaps on the bass strings without seeming affected.

David Wolfson, Bachtrack ****

The mostly restless piece is a bravura challenge for the pianist...The soloist, the young and fearless Sergio Tiempo, dispatched the virtuosic demands of the part with remarkable ease. In the mystical, dream-like slow movement, ‘Ñuque Cuyen’ (Mother Moon), he played the flowing solo lines with great delicacy and tenderness. In the whirlwind-paced closing toccata, ‘Willka Kuti’’ (Return of the Sun), his furiously energetic playing most effectively depicted the dance rhythms of the Ayamará and Guaraní ethnic groups gathering to celebrate the start of a new agricultural cycle.

Susan Stempleski, Classical Source

Frankfurter Museumsorchester: Rachmaninov 'Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini'

Alte Oper / November 2019

The Venezuelan pianist Sergio Tiempo played with an open, virtuosic, and agitated driving force, without missing even the smallest of notes, setting itself apart from the more introverted interpretations of the same work.

Axel Zibulski, Frankfurter Allgemeine

The phenomenal pianist Sergio Tiempo, from Venezuela, formed a dream team with conductor Alexander Prior. The two made all aspects of the work their own, with a swirling, percussive but also subtle shape. At the same time, it was completely unforced, sparkling and crystalline. Rachmaninov's ideas were exposed , broken down with with rapidly changing perspectives. Tiempo and Prior - remember these names.

Bernhard Uske, Frankfurter Rundschau

Sergio Tiempo has without a doubt immensely powerful reserves of showmanship, which seem to me to favour soft lyricism and the elegiac main features of the work...with a highly virtuosic colour palette, Tiempo impressed especially in Variation No. 6 through his organic and stylish tempo changes.

It was fascinating to see the intensity which with the artist manoevred from dramatic climaxes to brilliant pathos, and with sparkling lustre and an elastic cantabile in Variations 11 and 12 to name but a few, the spirited pianist seemed to play these as a nostalgic swansong, full of melancholy even in the less expressive passages, gave us emotional depths and lyrical elegies.

Gerhard Hoffmann, Online Merker

Los Angeles Philharmonic: Esteban Benzecry Piano Concerto 'Universos Infinitos' World Premiere

Walt Disney Concert Hall, October 2019

The concerto is dedicated to the virtuoso Venezuelan pianist Sergio Tiempo, who played it from memory, which seemed an impossibility. A catapulting Tiempo almost never stops for 30 minutes. The Steinway is subject to all you might ever want to subject it to. Phenomenal runs. Tone clusters banged out with the elbows. Percussive playing of the strings inside the instrument. Tiempo somehow made the impossible possible.

Mark Swed, LA Times

Dudamel’s performance of Universos infinitos achieved a combination of expansive musical imagination and when-worlds-collide momentum. And Tiempo played it with much virtuosic frazzle-dazzle...It’s a work that deserves a place in the contemporary repertory, though it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Tiempo being able to display its full range of fierce, take-no-prisoners dynamics.

Jim Farber, San Francisco Classical Voice

Boston Symphony Orchestra: Ravel Piano Concerto

Boston Symphony Hall, April 2019

When I last heard Sergio Tiempo play, he was a teenager. I thought then that he was one of the greatest talents of his generation. He had everything: taste, tone, technique, temperament and intelligence. I finally got a chance to hear him again and my opinion hasn't changed. At 47, he remains one of the best pianists alive. His performance of Ravel's Concerto in G major with the Boston Symphony surpassed every live and recorded version of the piece I've ever heard. The encores made me desperate to hear him again.

Stephen Wigler, International Piano June 2019

Through the lushness of the orchestra, pianist Sergio Tiempo's phrases glistened with a pearly sheen, manifesting with nonchalant loveliness. The slower second movement took a prayerful, introspective tack...from there it was an all-out gymnastic Presto to the end, and Ginastera's roaring Danza del gaucho matrero came as an encore in lieu of the canceled concerto. With luck, Symphony Hall will see Tiempo again.

Zoe Madonna, The Boston Globe

A vigorously robust interpretive playing of the Ravel. Tenderness of remarkable delicacy and immediacy he adeptly called up as savorable 'moments'...The Allegramente thrilled.

David Patterson, The Boston Musical Intelligencer

Sergio Tiempo's poignant and dynamic interpretation of Ravel was the highlight. The pianist demonstrated an appealingly forceful and secure technique. Delicate and reflective in the exquisitely rendered Adagio, he was full of verve in the jazzier moments of the outer movements.

Susan Stempleski, Classical Source

Würth Philharmonic: Rachmaninov Concerto No. 3

Künzelsau, February 2019

This difficult piece begins quite light-footed as the Argentinian star pianist Sergio Tiempo displays his technical brilliance... One experiences a mature pianist, who brings a fresh approach to Rachmaninov's music. Tiempo masters the fast passages with a playful lightness and elegance... he carries us away with this work.

Andreas Dehne, Heilbronner Stimme

Queensland Symphony Orchestra Residency: 'Soloists and Spontaneity'

Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Brisbane, August 2018

Sergio Tiempo was sensational in Rachmaninov’s colossal Third Piano Concerto... [he] had the virtuosic challenges nailed yet consistently directed towards pathos. Demanding though the big and scampered chordal flurries were, the clarity of the melodic line, accents and harmonic nuance was superb. Meaning flowed through Tiempo’s fingertips and never more so than in the light and feathery tender passages. His charismatic persona and luminous exploitation of the Concerto’s mood swings ensnared the audience who were swept up in Tiempo’s insightful pianistic might from start to finish.

Gillian Wills, Limelight Magazine

Sergio Tiempo’s Concerto Repertoire

BACH	Concerto for Two Pianos in C minor, BWV 1062
BEETHOVEN	No. 1 in C major, Op.15 No. 3 in C minor, Op.37 No. 4 in G major, Op.58 Triple Concerto
BENZECRY, ESTEBAN	Piano Concerto, "Universos Infinitos"
CHOPIN	No. 1 in E minor, Op.11 No. 2 in F minor, Op.21
GINASTERA	No.1, op.28
GRIEG	Concerto in A minor, Op.16
JUSID	Tango Rhapsody
LISZT	No. 1 in E-flat major, S.124 Totentanz, S.126
MARTINŮ	Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, H292
MENDELSSOHN	Concerto for Two Pianos in A flat major, MWV O 6
MOZART	No. 21 in C major, K. 467 Concerto for 2 pianos in E flat major, KV.365
POULENC	Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in D minor, FP 61
RACHMANINOV	No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43
RAVEL	Concerto in G major, M. 83 Concerto in D major for the Left Hand, M. 82
SAINT-SAËNS	Le carnaval des animaux
SCHUMANN	Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
TCHAIKOVSKY	No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23