New York Premiere Featuring the Extraordinary Piece of Theater and Music by Viktor Ullmann
Konstantin Soukhovetski, Michael Brown, D. Terry Williams
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED
Pianofest Concert Featuring the Extraordinary Piece of Theater and Music by Viktor Ullmann, Plus Music by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, Including the West Side Story Suite
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Louis K. Meisel Gallery
SoHo, New York
(141 Prince St, New York, NY 10012)
You are cordially invited to experience an extraordinary piece of theater and music by Viktor Ullmann during our event on Wednesday, April 17, at the Louis K. Meisel Gallery in SoHo. The melodrama The Tale of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke for Narrator and Piano will make its New York premiere, and two Pianofest alumni will perform during the event.
The score is a translation and adaptation by John Fink. The rarely performed piece was one of the last for Jewish composer Viktor Ullmann, who wrote it while forced to be at the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt. It is based on poems by the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who gained much success from this particular poem.
Pianofest alumnus and Artist-in-Residence Konstantin Soukhovetski will perform Ullmann, and D. Terry Williams, professor emeritus of theatre at Western Michigan University, will narrate the piece. Also on the program, Pianofest alumnus Michael Brown will perform music by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, including the West Side Story Suite (arr. Leo Smit) and El Salón México (arr. Leonard Bernstein).
The concert is set in the beautiful Louis K. Meisel Gallery, which exhibits new paintings by many of the original Photorealist artists as well as the younger generation of realist painters and sculptors.
The event occurs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will include wine and hors d’oeuvres served before the musical program which starts at 7 p.m.
Seating is limited to 75 people.
$75/ticket for general admission.
Please RSVP by April 13 to Sophia Hiltner by telephone (216.577.7447) or by email (sf.hiltner@gmail.com).
Check may be made payable to: Pianofest, Inc.
View the concert notes to learn more of Viktor Ullman’s work.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Konstantin Soukhovetski
Konstantin Soukhovetski has led a formidable career with solo performances at London's Wigmore Hall, New York’s Weill Recital and Zankel Halls at Carnegie Hall, Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, and Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland, to name a few.
He is an alumnus of The Juilliard School where he has earned his BM, MM, and AD degrees under the tutelage of Jerome Lowenthal. Born in Moscow to a family of artists, Konstantin studied at the Moscow Central Special Music School, under the auspices of the Moscow State Conservatory, with Anatoly Ryabov.
Konstantin is a recipient of over 15 awards, including: Second Prize, 2011 Iowa International Piano Competition; First Prize and Audience Prize, 2007 New Orleans International Piano Competition; William Petschek Debut Recital Award; Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans; Second Prize, 2004 UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa; Third Prize, 2003 Cleveland International Piano Competition; The Juilliard School’s 2003 Gina Bachauer Competition; First Prize, 2002 Hilton Head International Piano Competition and Second Prize, 2002 Walter W. Naumburg International Piano Competition.
D. Terry Williams
D. Terry Williams, professor emeritus of theatre at Western Michigan University, served as chair of the Department of Theatre for 23 years, the longest term of service for a chair in the history of WMU. Prior to that he was director of theatre at the University of Northern Iowa. He has directed more than 100 productions for educational, community and professional theatre and presented dozens of papers and chaired many panels at professional association meetings. He was on the board of directors and the accreditation commission for the National Association of Schools of Theatre, chair of the Theatre Division of the Speech Communication Association and president of Theta Alpha Phi National Honorary Drama Fraternity, and has served on numerous Kalamazoo community arts boards. He is the recipient of the Arts Council’s Community Medal of Arts Award and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the Michigan Council of Governing Boards.
Michael Brown
Michael Brown has been described as “one of the most refined of all pianist-composers” (International Piano) and “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers” (The New York Times). His unique artistry is reflected in his creative approach to programming, which often interweaves the classics and his own compositions.
Winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Brown has recently performed as soloist with the Seattle Symphony, the National Philharmonic, and the Grand Rapids, North Carolina, Maryland and Albany Symphonies; and recitals at Carnegie Hall, Caramoor, the Smithsonian, and the Gilmore Festival. He was selected by András Schiff to perform on an international solo tour making debuts in Berlin, Milan, Florence, Zurich’s Tonhalle, and New York’s 92nd Street Y.
Brown is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing frequently at Alice Tully Hall and on tour, and is a former member of CMS Two. He regularly performs recitals with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and has appeared at numerous festivals including Tanglewood, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Ravinia, Saratoga, Bridgehampton, Bard, Sedona, Moab, and Tippet Rise.