In Rare L.A. Recital, ANGELA HEWITT Performs a BACH ODYSSEY

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents The Wallis debut of award-winning pianist Angela Hewitt, celebrated worldwide for her performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, on Sunday, February 23, 2020, 7 pm, in The Wallis' Bram Goldsmith Theater. The Bach Odyssey program features Hewitt on Bach's Recital XI; Four Duets, BWV 802-805; Eighteen Little Preludes, BWV 924-928, 930, 933-938, 939-943, 999; Fantasia and Fugue in A minor, BWV 944; Italian Concerto in F major, BWV 971; and French Overture in B minor, BWV 831. A pre-concert Preludes @ The Wallis conversation with Hewitt, moderated by Classical KUSC’s Brian Lauritzen will take place at 6 pm.

Hewitt launched her Bach Odyssey in September 2016, playing the composer's complete keyboard works in a series of twelve recitals. After her performances of the complete Well-Tempered Clavier at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival, the London Times wrote, "…the freshness of Hewitt’s playing made it sound as though no one had played this music before." BBC Music Magazine said, "I know of no musician whose Bach playing on any instrument is of greater subtlety, beauty of tone, persuasiveness of judgement or instrumental command than Hewitt’s is here."

This evening is dedicated in loving memory of arts and culture journalist Scott Timberg. Support for the performance is made possible in part by a generous grant from the Colburn Foundation.

"Angela Hewitt, a phenomenal artist whose recitals and award-winning recordings have been praised by critics and audiences around the world, is one of the great modern Bach interpreters," says The Wallis’ Artistic Director, Paul Crewes, "and we are honored she's chosen to make her Wallis debut with this exceptional program.”

Tickets, $39 to $99 (prices subject to change), are available at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills. To purchase tickets and for more information, please call 310-746-4000 or visit TheWallis.org/Hewitt.

About the Artist:

ANGELA HEWETT began her “Bach Odyssey” in September of 2016, performing the complete keyboard works of Bach in a series of 12 recitals. The whole cycle, which culminates with The Art of Fugue in June 2020, is being presented in London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s 92nd Street Y, and in Ottawa, Tokyo and Florence. Recent and upcoming appearances include recitals in Vancouver, Amsterdam, Beverly Hills at The Wallis, Atlanta, Oxford, Dortmund, Leipzig and Malta. She appears as soloist with the Montreal Symphony (also performing Schubert’s Winterreise with Ian Bostridge), Aurora (London), Toronto Symphony and Helsinki Philharmonic orchestras, and will conduct Bach concertos from the piano with the Orchestre Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. Special events include an evening with author Ian McEwan at Vienna’s Konzerthaus. Hewitt’s award-winning recordings have garnered praise from around the world, and her ten-year project to record Bach’s major keyboard works for Hyperion has been described as “one of the record glories of our age” (The Sunday Times). Hewitt’s penultimate volume of Beethoven Sonatas (including the Waldstein) was released in May 2019. A new recording of Bach’s Six Partitas was recently released.

About the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts: 

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is a dynamic cultural hub and community resource where local, national and international artists share their artistry with ever-expanding audiences. The campus, located in the heart of Beverly Hills, CA, is committed to robust and distinctive presentations and education programs curated with both creativity and social impact in mind. Distinguished by its eclectic programming that mirrors the diverse landscape of Los Angeles and its location in the entertainment capital of the world, The Wallis has produced and presented more than 275 dance, theater, opera, classical music, cinema and family programs since its doors opened in October 2013. Hailed as “au courant” (LaLa Magazine), The Wallis was lauded by Culture Vulture, which proclaims, “If you love expecting the unexpected in the performing arts, you have to love The Wallis.” Its programming has been nominated for 57 Ovation Awards and seven L.A. Drama Critic's Circle Awards. The campus itself, a breathtaking 70,000-square-foot facility, celebrating the classic and the modern, has garnered six architectural awards. Designed by acclaimed architect Zoltan E. Pali (SPF:architects), the restored building features the original 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office (on the National Register of Historic Places), which serves as the theater's dramatic yet welcoming lobby, and includes the contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the-art Bram Goldsmith Theater; the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater; an inviting open-air plaza for family, community and other performances; and GRoW @ The Wallis: A Space for Arts Education, where learning opportunities for all ages and backgrounds abound. Together, these elements embrace the city's history and its future, creating a performing arts destination for L.A.-area visitors and residents alike. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is led by Chairman of the Board Michael Nemeroff, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer Rachel Fine and Artistic Director Paul Crewes.

For more information about The Wallis, please visit: TheWallis.org.

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