Music with a View presents a Special Event Series

For a Limited Time Only

October 29- November 1, 2021

Virtual Livestream Shows at 1pm, 4pm, 7pm

On SheridanMusicStudio.IN.LIVE

Sheridan Music Studio Founder and Artistic Director, Susan Merdinger, presents a special run of a “Ghost-Themed” Concert, Book Presentation and Discussion: A Halloween Haunting in Music and Literature. The pre-recorded concert features Merdinger along with Violinist Alex Koffman and Cellist Martine Benmann in a program of “ghost” music including Beethoven’s Ghost Trio Op. 70 No.1, William Bolcom’s Graceful Ghost Rag for Solo Piano, and A World Premiere of  “The Dybbuk Piano Trio” (2021)  by Grammy-nominated composer Ilya Levinson , Composer-in-Residence at Sheridan Music Studio. The concert is then followed by a Book presentation by Karen Kaplan, Author of “Conjoined: A Holocaust Haunting- One Man, Two Hearts and Me”, and concludes with a three-way discussion of the Pianist, the Composer and the Author. There will be three shows per day, at 1pm, 4pm and 7pm, from October 29 through November 1st.  Virtual Livestream tickets start at $15 each, and the proceeds will go to help establish scholarships for young aspiring  musicians.

Internationally acclaimed Steinway Artist, Susan Merdinger has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in major concert halls worldwide and on recordings. Merdinger is a Gold Medalist and First Prize Winner of numerous competitions, most recently The American Prize’s Lorin Hollander Award, Gold Medalist of The Global Music Awards and First Prize Winner of the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition. She has been a frequent performer on The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music Series, as well as on radio and television programs such as WFMT, WQXR and the BBC.  She is a graduate of Yale University and the Yale School of Music and also studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the Fontainebleau Conservatory of Music (France). She is the Founder and Artistic Director of Sheridan Music Studio in Chicago, is on Faculty of the Summit and InterHarmony Music Festivals and is an Artistic Advisor for IN.LIVE.

Violinist Alex Koffman was born in Minsk, USSR in a musical family where his grandfather taught him Jewish folk music.  Alex received his Master’s Degree from the Conservatory of Minsk, and, when drafted into the Red Army, conducted a military orchestra. After immigrating to America in 1990, Alex studied with Albert Igolnikov of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He then joined Maxwell Street Klezmer Band and soon became its violinist, Musical Director, and arranger. Alex’s creative arrangements and compositions combine the traditional klezmer style with classical, jazz and contemporary influences. Since the 1990s, Alex has recorded five CDs and performed across the world with Maxwell Street, with highlights including Carnegie Hall, the Barbican Theatre in London, and the Vienna Mozart Hall. In 2008, Alex was the featured soloist in the world premiere of “Klezmer Rhapsody'' by Ilya Levinson, which he reprised in Symphony Center in 2014 with Chicago Sinfonietta.  In 2015, Alex was a featured performer in Lyric Opera of the first klezmer opera, “The Property.” In 2019, Alex was Musical Director of "The Dybbuk," an original setting of a folktale, at DePaul Theatre School. As an educator, Alex teaches klezmer musicians of all ages and levels, Alex conducts three grassroots synagogue bands and mentors young musicians in the Junior Klezmer Orchestra. Alex’s other musical credits include the Chicago Music Consortium, the David Rothstein Orchestra, the Bill Porter Orchestra, the Steppenwolf Theater, and movie and commercial soundtracks.  

Cellist Martine Benmann is an active free-lance performer and teacher.  She has performed with various chamber ensembles in Europe, Russia and the United States.  She has collaborated in a number of new productions, including instrumental, theatrical pieces and film scores. Martine is a member of the Lincolnwood  and Bach and Beyond chamber orchestras. She has performed with the CUBE Ensemble, Ars Musica Chicago, Syntagma, and has served as principal cellist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.  She regularly collaborates with colleagues, performing at the University of Chicago,  Sherwood Music School, Blackstone Public Library, Montgomery Place, Self-Help Home, PianoForte"Schubertiades"and PianoForte Salon Series broadcasts on WFMT. Martine  Benmann is an Artist Diploma graduate from Roosevelt University. She received  an Advanced Certificate in Cello Performance from the Moskow Conservatory of Music (Russia), a Master Degree from the American Conservatory of Music ( Chicago), and a Bachelor Degree (Kuenstlrische Abschlusspruefung) from the Folkwang Hochscule ( Essen, Germany).

Composer Ilya Levinson was born in Russia and graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory, where he studied composition with Alexander Pirumov and orchestration with Edison Denisov. After immigrating to the United States in 1988, Levinson completed a Ph.D. in Composition at the University of Chicago. Levinson is Associate Professor at the Music Department of Columbia College Chicago and Music Director of the New Budapest Orpheum Society, artists-in-residence at The University of Chicago Humanities Division, specializing in performance of Jewish Cabaret music. NBOS was nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium for their album, As Dreams Fall Apart —The Golden Age Of Jewish Stage And Film Music (1925-1955). 

Author Karen Kaplan was born and raised in West Rogers Partk, A jewish neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. After publishing her first memoir, Descendants of Rajgrod: Learning to Forgive, Karen has been engaging audiences worldwide. She continues to share her compelling life story and message of forgiveness. After receiving her B.A. from the University of Illinois in Nutrition and Medical Dietetics, Karen trained at The Claret Center of Hyde Park, IL, as a spiritual director.  Articles, excerpts and news stories of Karen’s first book have been featured on WGN-TV Chicago morning news, on Bialystok TV news, German and local cable and radio shows, THe New Yorker, THe Bronx Times, The Chicago Jewish News, Chicago JUF NEws, THe SKokie Review, Deerfield Review, THe Highland Park Landmark and more. Karen has developed a feature-length screenplay based on her memoir that was selected for The Hemingway Award at the Los ANgeles Live Film Festival in November 2021 and selected for the Eastern European Festival in Warsaw in December 2020. Karen is determined to bring this story to the big screens.

In.Live’s mission is to empower artists and their fans to create immersive moments together through the power of live digital experiences. Artists can leverage the best of live streaming technology to create captivating shared moments through the power of live music, in real-time. The team at In.Live is led by veteran entrepreneurs and technologists, who above all else love music and the creative process and who have held senior leadership roles at companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Ticket Master and Yahoo! The CTO and Founder, Eswar Priyadarshan, is one of Silicon-Valley’s most respected entrepreneurs and developers who has leveraged his love of music into a company that benefits not just musicians, but all performing arts organization and media producers from radio stations to film studios, to educational institutions and more.

Sheridan Music Studio LLC is the newest performing arts venue and teaching studio of Artistic Directors and Steinway Artists Susan Merdinger and Svetlana Belsky. Sheridan Music Studio offers premium private instruction, serves as a recording and performance venue. They also host an Annual Young Artist Competition and Festival, three Concert Series- Music with a View?, Blue Skies Concerts? and SummerMusic?, as well as two Livestream Talk Shows, Merdinger’s Musings? and Steinway Sundays with Susan and Svetlana?, making them one of the most comprehensive and active music studios in the Chicago area. 

Tickets for Halloween Haunting in Music and Literature livestream are available on IN.LIVE. 

The IN.LIVE Livestream will be free to all Musi with a View Series subscribers, while there will be a livestream purchase ($15) required for non-subscribers. Subscriptions to the Music with a View Series are available at www.sheridanmusicstudio.com/events-purchase-tickets.

There will be three showings per day from October 29th through November 1st, at 1pm, 4pm and 7pm. www.sheridanmusicstudio.in.live.