Steinway Sundays with Susan and Svetlana: All About Recitals, Concertos, and Recordings with Special Guest Pianist Jeffrey Biegel

Steinway Sundays with Susan and Svetlana

on Sunday, December 13, 2020 at 3:30 pm PM CST

The dynamic duo are back at it again for Steinway Sundays with Susan and Svetlana with special guest American Pianist, Jeffrey Biegel.

Steinway Artist Susan Merdinger is a multi-awarded classical pianist, music director, recording artist, and educator with a distinguished career. She has been internationally acclaimed in prestigious newspapers and journals for her stunning performances. Critics have described her playing as “eloquent”, “spellbinding”, and “virtuosic”. With a riveting stage presence, she regularly commands standing ovations from her emotionally charged and spiritually uplifting performances with orchestras and solo recitals in major concert halls around the world. Indeed, performances by Ms. Merdinger are a celebration of a life passionately immersed in classical music.  Merdinger is an alumna of Yale University, the Yale School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. 

Dr. Svetlana Belsky, is an award-winning recitalist, chamber pianist, and recording artist, noted for her remarkable rapport with audiences and stylistic versatility. She has toured internationally in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Italy, Canada, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and throughout the United States, performing at Carnegie Recital Hall, Kiev Philharmonic Hall, Dame Myra Hess Series, Music in the Loft, Chicago’s Cultural Center and Harris Theater, countless university concert series, live recitals on Chicago’s WFMT and New York’s WQXR. Dr. Belsky served as the Director of the Piano Program at the University of Chicago for fifteen years, teaching students from four continents, guiding numerous students to victories in competitions for professionals and amateurs alike.

Considered the most prolific artist of his generation, Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters upon Jeffrey Biegel, for his achievements in performance, recordings, chamber music, champion of new music, composer, arranger and educator. Since 1999, Jeffrey Biegel has commissioned ten composers to bring new music for piano and orchestra to the repertoire. On February 10, 2019, Kenneth Fuchs's "Piano Concerto: 'Spiritualist'" with the London Symphony Orchestra led by JoAnn Falletta garnered a Grammy win in the Best Classical Compendium category, featuring Mr. Biegel as its soloist. Anticipated first performances will be in 2021. Planning into the 2023-24-25 seasons, Mr. Biegel is currently organizing the "Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue" project, composer already involved to be announced shortly, for a planned 50-state and perhaps global project post-pandemic. This will coincide with centennial celebrations for George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" .

An avid composer, Mr. Biegel's choral music is published by the Hal Leonard Corporation, Carl Fischer, Porfiri & Horvath and The LeDor Group. Leonard Bernstein said of pianist Jeffrey Biegel: "He played fantastic Liszt. He is a splendid musician and a brilliant performer." These comments launched Mr. Biegel's 1986 New York recital debut, as the third recipient of the Juilliard William Petschek Piano Debut Award in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. He studied at The Juilliard School with Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of Josef Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel, and is currently on faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, a City University of New York (CUNY).

Watch the livestream here on December 13, 2020 at 3:30 PM CST or 4:30pm EST: 

https://in.live/concertDetails/CLzZWnsuII

For inquiries, you may reach out to Sheridan Music Studio’s Assistant Manager Miguel Tarrosa at tarrosamiguel@gmail.com