Third Time, Promising Charm and Depth, at UC Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall

UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) has had a blithe habit of putting significant and/or emerging new voices into the local “serious music” scene and then making a point of extending repeat engagements. Meteorically ascendant pianist Yuja Wang was one example from past years.

Another more recent example is Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, whose upcoming recital at Campbell Hall on November 17 marks his third A&L appearance in four years. He won instant and gushing accolades and fandom around town in his first two performances here, with an all-Bach program in 2020 (shortly pre-COVID lockdown) and a varied Campbell Hall program in 2022.

Of course, we’re not alone: The strong local response has mirrored a global response. At the age of only 32, Trifonov’s lofty spot is secure in the classical music firmament by now, as a Grammy-winning (for 2016’s Transcendental album) Deutsche Grammophon artist and winner of 2019’s Musical America Musician of the Year award. That came during a period when Trifonov was an artist-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic, a tenure including the premiere of his own composition, a piano quintet.

This concert season, Trifonov has a busy slate of both concerto and recital work. Santa Barbara’s stop is part of an expansive tour, taking him from Southern California to points European and winding up at Carnegie Hall in mid-December. Trifonov has focused on specific composers in his discography — Liszt on Transcendental, the namesake romantic composer on Chopin Evocations: Silver Age and a fascinating Bach family tree exploration with Bach: The Art of Life. That album ranged from Bach’s The Art of Fugue, completed by the pianist himself, and music of other Bachs down the generational line.

But his recital programs can lean more into the notion of interweaving compatible varieties. Here, he will range from French Baroque of Rameau to Mozart and forward to Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses, Op. 54. As a centerpiece, he will take on the formidable challenge of Beethoven’s late period masterwork, Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106 (Hammerklavier). Judging from his reputation to date, Trifonov will uncover new deposits of expression and meaning in Beethoven’s infamously complex and deeply moving score.

The pianist’s third time in town promises to be another sublime charm, and hopefully one of many visits to come.

Daniil Trifonov performs Friday, November 17, 7 p.m., at UCSB’s Campbell Hall. For tickets and information, see artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.