Shriver Hall Concert Series Presents the Baltimore Recital Debut of Pianist Paul Lewis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katy Salomon | Morahan Arts and Media
katy@morahanartsandmedia.com | 863.660.2214

Shriver Hall Concert Series Presents the
Baltimore Recital Debut of Pianist Paul Lewis, December 5

"[Lewis] has clarity, muscle, and steely pride, but also intimacy,
vulnerability and volatility: the combination is magnetic.” —The Guardian

www.shriverconcerts.org | www.paullewispiano.co.uk

Baltimore, Maryland (October 27, 2021) — Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — presents the highly anticipated Baltimore recital debut of acclaimed British pianist Paul Lewis on Sunday, December 5, 2021 at 5:30pm at Shriver Hall.

Lewis’s program features selections from Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words; Mozart’s Sonata in A Major, K. 331; Scriabin’s Five Preludes, Op. 74 ; and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Of Lewis’s playing, Gramophone Magazine writes, “Faced with such excellence, a mere critic can only abandon paper and pencil and listen to this heroic but deeply moving artist with awe and amazement.”

Paul Lewis says, “I’m so looking forward to finally coming to Baltimore to perform a recital. It’s a wonderful program, with some of the most beautiful, lyrical music in the repertoire – Mendelssohn, Mozart, some of the last pieces Scriabin wrote, and undoubtedly one of the great peaks of all piano repertoire, Pictures at an Exhibition. I look forward to seeing you all there!”

Shriver Hall Concert Series’ season resumes in-person live programming, but includes the option for all ticket holders to watch live from home.

Concert Information
Paul Lewis, piano (Baltimore Recital Debut)
Sunday, December 5, 2021 at 5:30pm
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $44 for seated ticket or home livestream.
Link: https://shriverconcerts.org/lewis

MENDELSSOHN: Selections from Songs without Words
     E Major, Op. 19, No. 1
     A minor, Op. 19, No. 2
     G minor, Op. 53, No. 3
     E-flat Major, Op. 53, No. 2
     E Major, Op. 30, No. 3
MOZART: Sonata in A Major, K. 331
SCRIABIN: Five Preludes, Op. 74
MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition

About Paul Lewis
Paul Lewis is one of the foremost interpreters of the Central European piano repertoire, his performances and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert receiving universal critical acclaim. He was awarded CBE for his services to music, and the sincerity and depth of his musical approach have won him fans around the world.

This global popularity is reflected in the world-class orchestras with whom he works, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw and Leipzig Gewandhaus. His close relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra led to his selection as 2020 Koussevitzky Artist at Tanglewood.

Lewis was central to global celebrations of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary year and took part in the BBC’s three-part documentary Being Beethoven. He was due to perform concerto cycles at Tanglewood, Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Palau de la Música Catalana and Palermo’s Teatro Massimo and has performed the cycle all over the world, including with the Melbourne Symphony, São Paulo State Symphony and Royal Flemish Philharmonic, and was the first pianist to play the complete cycle at the BBC Proms in 2010.

Beyond many award-winning Beethoven recordings, his discography with Harmonia Mundi also demonstrates his expertise in Romantic repertoire such as Schumann, Mussorgsky, Brahms and Liszt. He has played at Wigmore Hall more than 100 times, and was one of the artists selected to play their Lunchtime Series at the start of the Coronavirus crisis. He works closely with tenor Mark Padmore in lied recitals around the world – they have recorded three Schubert song cycles together.

Lewis is co-Artistic Director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK. He is a passionate advocate for music education and the festival offers free tickets to local schoolchildren. He also gives masterclasses around the world alongside his concert performances. He himself studied with Joan Havill at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. In 2021, Paul Lewis became an Irish citizen. Learn more at www.paullewispiano.co.uk.

About Shriver Hall Concert Series
For more than 50 years, Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) has been “Baltimore’s finest importer of classical music talent” (The Baltimore Sun) and the area’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists with a mission to craft performances and educational programs at the highest level of excellence. A 5-time recipient of Baltimore Magazine’s distinction “Best Classical Music” in its annual “Best of Baltimore” issue, the coveted subscription series features many of the world’s most renowned soloists and ensembles, presented in The Johns Hopkins University’s Shriver Hall.

Founded in 1966 by Dr. Ernest Bueding, a pharmacologist at The Johns Hopkins University, and a group of similarly dedicated music enthusiasts, SHCS set out to make an important contribution to the vitality of an already vibrant city. When flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal walked onto the stage of Shriver Hall for the first concert, more than 1,100 people witnessed the launch of what is now recognized as a remarkable success story: Shriver Hall Concert Series. In the succeeding years SHCS has presented hundreds of acclaimed and emerging international artists in classical chamber music and recitals and a legacy of important debuts and premieres. In addition, SHCS collaborates with local schools and subsidizes hundreds of student tickets each season.

The list of artists presented by SHCS is remarkable—Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Ewa Podlés, Maurizio Pollini, Jacqueline du Pré, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jordi Savall, András Schiff, Rudolf Serkin, Janos Starker, Daniil Trifonov, Lynn Harrell, Emmanuel Ax, Alban Berg Quartet, Guarneri Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, and Quartetto Italiano, among many others. SHCS also has a history of championing important musicians early in their careers, including Richard Goode, Hilary Hahn, Hélène Grimaud, Dawn Upshaw, Lang Lang, and the Emerson String Quartet. Commissioned composers include Timo Andres, Sebastian Currier, Jonathan Leshnoff, James Lee III, Hannah Lash, and Nina C. Young.

Designed specifically for the community, SHCS offers the Discovery Series, a series of free concerts presented in venues throughout the region focused on artists emerging on the national and international scene. Artists featured include Narek Hakhnazaryan, Colin Currie, Xavier Foley, and the Dover Quartet. SHCS also offers the annual Spring Lecture Series, a series of free talks focused on annual topics related to the intersection of music and society, and a variety of student programs.

For more information, visit www.shriverconcerts.org.

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*Photo of Paul Lewis by Kaupo Kikkas