Classical Artists You Won’t Want to Miss

The history of the Gilmore Piano Festival is steeped in classical music, and for a long time, classical was all we presented. With so much to choose from these days, we want to turn your attention to four artists – all virtuoso pianists performing solo – sure to bring stellar performances to the Festival.  

In a special festival event, British pianist Paul Lewis will give four recitals, surveying
Franz Schubert’s piano sonatas on April 30 and May 2 at the Wellspring Theater, and on May 4 and 6 at the Dalton Center Recital Hall. He is regarded as one of today’s foremost interpreters of the central European classical repertoire. Of his Schubert performances in particular, The New York Times wrote, “Paul Lewis is one of today’s finest exponents of Schubert, noted for his clarity of tone and simplicity of interpretation.”
Learn More: Series I – Series II – Series III – Series IV

The last of the four recitals is devoted to the composer’s last three sonatas, which, though neglected while Schubert was alive, are now widely accepted as among the most important of his output. Mr. Lewis gives master classes on May 1, 3, and 6, and will join Pierre van der Westhuizen in conversation on stage after the April 30 recital.

On May 7, Simone Dinnerstein will make her Gilmore debut with an evening program titled Undersong, to include works by Couperin, Satie, Glass, and the Schumann masterpiece Kreisleriana. She is known for her distinctive musical voice and evocative interpretations of classical masterpieces.

“Schumann’s “Kreisleriana” is a powerful display of the full spectrum of human drama and emotion,” notes Gilmore Executive and Artistic Director Pierre van der Westhuizen. “ Only someone with Ms Dinnerstein’s pianistic control and emotional depth could take the audience along on this almost bewildering, yet ever so rewarding, experience.”

Ms. Dinnerstein rose to international prominence in 2007 with her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and 13 of her albums have topped the Billboard classical charts. She founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series open to the public and hosted by New York City Public Schools to raise funds for their music education programs, and Philip Glass’ Piano Concerto No. 3 was composed for her and co-commissioned by twelve American and Canadian orchestras.
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2010 Gilmore artist Kirill Gerstein will perform a varied program on May 10 that includes a Gilmore commission by Matthew Aucoin, The tracks have vanished. Mr. Aucoin will talk about his work in a concert preview at 1 pm.
“Kirill Gerstein is a visionary.” says van der Westhuizen. “He is a great virtuoso making an impact on the field of music. He has commissioned many of the world’s leading composers, and I am very  much looking forward to his return.”

Aucoin has said of his new work, “I have become fascinated in recent years by Dostoevsky’s prophetic novel Demons (better known in English as The Possessed), a story that … deals with the way that the spiritual malaise of young, privileged, bored, lost young men can have deadly consequences. But music is music, and none of these dramatic ideas served as more than an initiating impulse. Just as Beethoven once said that the metronome markings in his scores were only valid for the first few bars, the narrative inspiration for each of these movements only proved to be valid for the first few bars. After that, the music had its own ideas.”
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2002 Gilmore Artist Piotr Anderszewski will first perform in a solo recital on May 9 at the Dalton Center Recital Hall. His program includes Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825; and mazurkas and bagatelles – folk dances from Poland and Germany, respectively.  

“Piotr is a fiercely intellectual and deeply emotional artist,” notes Gilmore Executive and Artistic Director Pierre van der Westhuizen. “His quest for artistic truth makes him seem almost a bit eccentric, but his performances leave critics and audiences breathless.”  This concert will also be preceded one hour prior by a concert preview by musicologist Dr. Zaide Pixley.
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 Purchase your Festival tickets today – some performances have only a few left!