Simone Dinnerstein to Play Bach’s Goldberg Variations at PS21

Simone Dinnerstein (photo Lisa-Marie Mazzucco)

(CHATHAM, N.Y.) – Pianist Simone Dinnerstein will perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century on Saturday, July 22, at 8pm. Dinnerstein’s globally acclaimed rendition of this iconic work is featured as PS21’s 12th annual Paul Grunberg Memorial Bach Concert.

Dinnerstein gained an international reputation with the success of her 2007 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. It hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Classical Chart and was named to several Best of 2007 lists.

The Goldberg Variations are among Bach’s most beloved works. “Goldberg Variations has become an iconic monument in Western music,” writes Tom Huizenga of NPR, “On one level, it’s simply a beautiful keyboard work, and on another, it’s a Rubik’s Cube of invention and architecture.”

Dinnerstein made her mark by bringing a fresh interpretation to this monumental work, and the critics fell in love with her.  Slate’s Evan Eisenberg describes his reaction on first hearing her playing the Goldbergs: “I turned on my radio and heard Variation 13 played in a way I’d never heard it played before: pensively, wistfully, with an ebb and flow as natural as breathing.” The New York Times wrote, “An utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation, Ms. Dinnerstein brings her own pianistic expressivity to the ‘Goldberg’ Variations, probing each variation as if it were something completely new.”

The New York-based Simone Dinnerstein has performed around the world since her acclaimed New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2005, to venues including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Sydney Opera House, Seoul Arts Center, and London’s Wigmore Hall; festivals that include the Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival, the Aspen, Verbier, and Ravinia festivals; and performances with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra a Sinfonica Brasileira, and the Tokyo Symphony.

Dinnerstein has played concerts throughout the U.S. for the Piatigorsky Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing classical music to non-traditional venues. She gave the first classical music performance in the Louisiana state prison system at the Avoyelles Correctional Center, and performed at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in a concert organized by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Dedicated to her community, in 2009 Dinnerstein founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series open to the public hosted by New York public schools which raises funds for their music education programs.

Simone Dinnerstein (photo Lisa-Marie Mazzucco)

Dinnerstein is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she was a student of Peter Serkin. She also studied with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music and in London with Maria Curcio. She is on the faculty of the Mannes School of Music and is a Sony Classical artist.

Dinnerstein has performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Berlin Philharmonie, Sydney Opera House, and London’s Wigmore Hall among other venues. She has participated in festivals and performances with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, and many others. Recently, her latest album, Mozart in Havana, made No. 2 on the Billboard Classical chart.

Tickets for the PS21 performance by Simone Dinnerstein are $40 general admission, $35 for PS21 members, and $20 for students. Tickets can be purchased at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century, by calling 1-800-838-3006. Reservations are recommended as seating is limited. For information about this or any other event at PS21, call (518) 392-6121.

PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century is a not-for-profit organization in Chatham, N.Y., dedicated to the performing arts and to serving a diverse community with concerts, programs and residencies by professional artists and ensembles, youth and children’s programming and cultural education opportunities for all ages.

PS21 is located at 2980 Route 66, just one mile north of the village of Chatham.

 

 

 

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