NYCA Concerto Competition Winner Review

Dr. Wael Farouk’s performance of Rachmaninoff third piano concerto as the winner of the 2012 NYCA concerto competition was described By Rorianne Schrade as “That is how it should be, but only when one hears it does one realize how rare it is. Soulful melodic inflection, growling outbursts, coruscating passagework, and powerful peaks all combined with the unity of a master to bring the piece the unique life it deservesMr. Farouk simply lived and breathed the music with the poetry of a born artist..“

Watch the full performance below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhxD1vLhk88&t=287s

Read the full article below:

https://nyconcertreview.com/reviews/new-york-concert-artists-and-associates-winners-evening-evenings-of-piano-concerti-in-review/

With his history-making concert, pianist Wael Farouk speaks to social inequities and is ready to reach higher. – Chicago Tribune

Here is piano playing that brings chills to the flesh, performed with a rare virtuoso technique. – David Dubal

Pianist Wael Farouk is a ‘super-virtuoso.’ – New Jersey Star-Ledger

Wael Farouk played the highly virtuoso, technically challenging solo part with absolute mastery. – Nordwest Zeitung

Wael Farouk is, without a doubt, a formidable and magnificent pianist . . . Of the most interesting and individualistic I have heard in a long time. – New York Concert Review

Here was . . . absolutely masterful playing. – New York Concert Review

Breathtakingly poetic – New York Concert Review

Wael Farouk is a completionist… a marathon man in music world -Chicago Tribune

Mr. Farouk simply lived and breathed the music with the poetry of a born artist. – New York Concert Review

An audacious and inventive pianist. – La Tribune Le Progrès

Absolute pianistic brilliance. Technically, one can hardly imagine more pearly runs and differentiated articulation and arpeggios. – Westfalen-Blatt Bielefelder Zeitung

One of the best renditions of the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto I’d ever heard. – New York Concert Review

Completely the virtuoso. – Wilhemshavener Zeitung

The way Mr. Farouk sailed through the piece, as if daydreaming out loud, made masses of notes seem merely incidental. That is how it should be, but only when one hears it does one realize how rare it is. – New York Concert Review

A virtuosity and an expression without equal. – La Tribune Le Progrès

Wael Farouk imposed from the first chords of Bach’s Partita in C Minor a gravity of tone, a height of view that belongs only to the greatest. – La Tribune Le Progrès

Mr. Farouk daringly showed his mastery and discipline over all sorts of technical hurdles and was even more impressive in making a breathtakingly poetic, singing tone. – New York Concert Review

A very special musical genius. – Al Ahram Weekly

Absolute virtuosic mastery. – Westfalen-Blatt Bielefelder Zeitung

Tremendous music making, the kind that defies and transcends any and all challenges. – New York Concert Review