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Nov. 8: Shriver Hall Concert Series Presents Garrick Ohlsson and Kirill Gerstein in Rare, Two Piano On-Demand Recital
Contact: Katy Salomon | Morahan Arts and Media
katy@morahanartsandmedia.com | 863.660.2214
SHRIVER HALL CONCERT SERIES PRESENTS TWO PIANO
RECITAL BY GARRICK OHLSSON AND KIRILL GERSTEIN
The Artists’ First Ever Collaboration, Recorded at the San
Francisco Conservatory After Observing Strict Quarantines
Baltimore, Maryland (October 20, 2020) — Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — presents world renowned pianists Garrick Ohlsson and Kirill Gerstein in the premiere of a unique two piano recital on Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 5:30pm ET.
Piano powerhouses Ohlsson and Gerstein join forces for the first time for this special collaboration, and Gerstein, a U.S. citizen, will travel from his home in Berlin to the San Francisco Conservatory and observe all necessary quarantines in order to participate in this recital. The program features piano duos including Busoni’s rarely heard Fantasia contrappuntistica; Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Op. 45; and Ravel’s La valse.
Garrick Ohlsson enthuses, “When my brilliant colleague Kirill Gerstein proposed our upcoming adventure for two pianos, how could I refuse? I had played lots of chamber music with other instruments, but very little double piano literature. Here we have re-castings of three important works by each composer, in their own arrangements. The pandemic has altered performance circumstances but not our enthusiasm. We are eager to bring this exciting repertory to you, our audience, now virtually, and hopefully live in the not too distant future.”
Gerstein agrees, “I am thrilled to collaborate with Garrick Ohlsson and to perform three seminal works in the two piano repertoire. I grew up admiring Garrick’s recording of the Busoni piano concerto and his pianism generally. It is a joy to share our musical and personal friendship with the audience of Shriver Hall, overcoming the difficulties of the current pandemic period.”
Concert access is available for three days following the concerts to all ticket holders. All ticket holders are also invited to a post-concert chat with the artists, moderated by Executive Director of Shriver Hall Concert Series, Catherine Cochran.
Concert Information
Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 5:30pm ET
Concert available On-Demand for ticket holders through Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Tickets: $15. Tickets include concert access and on-demand streaming of the concert for three days following, plus access to a post-concert Q&A with artists.
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Kirill Gerstein, piano
BUSONI: Fantasia contrappuntistica
RACHMANINOFF: Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
RAVEL: La valse
Performance to be followed by Artist Q&A
About Garrick Ohlsson
Pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although long regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire ranging over the entire piano literature and he has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. To date he has at his command more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century.
In 2018/19 season he launched an ambitious project spread over two seasons exploring the complete solo piano works of Brahms in four different programs. In concerto repertoire ranging from Mozart and Beethoven to Brahms and Barber, he recently returned to the Nashville, Oregon, Dallas, Detroit and Colorado Symphonies, as well as the Bellingham Festival of Music with all Beethoven concerti. Internationally he can be heard with orchestras in Seoul, Helsinki, Zagreb, Tallinn, Manchester, London and Australia.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Ohlsson has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Tokyo and Takacs string quartets, including most recently Boston Chamber Players on tour in Europe. Together with violinist Jorja Fleezanis and cellist Michael Grebanier, he is a founding member of the San Francisco-based FOG Trio. Passionate about singing and singers, Mr. Ohlsson has appeared in recital with such legendary artists as Magda Olivero, Jessye Norman, and Ewa Podles. Mr. Ohlsson can be heard on the Arabesque, RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel, BMG, Delos, Hänssler, Nonesuch, Telarc, Hyperion and Virgin Classics labels.
A native of White Plains, N.Y., Garrick Ohlsson began his piano studies at the age of 8, at the Westchester Conservatory of Music; at 13 he entered The Juilliard School, in New York City. He has been awarded first prizes in the Busoni and Montreal Piano competitions, the Gold Medal at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw (1970), the Avery Fisher Prize (1994), the University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, MI (1998), the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music (2014), and the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for cultural merit from the Polish Deputy Culture Minister. Learn more at www.garrickohlsson.com.
About Kirill Gerstein
Piaanist Kirill Gerstein’s curiosity and versatility has led to a powerful engagement with a wide range of repertoire and styles. From Bach to Adès, his playing is distinguished by its clarity of expression, discerning intelligence and virtuosity.
Born in the former Soviet Union, Gerstein is an American citizen based in Berlin. His career is similarly international, with solo and concerto engagements taking him across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Highlights of the new season include the launch of Gerstein’s Helsinki Philharmonic Artist-in-Residence season, performances with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and a return to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. In recital, Gerstein will present the 12 études of Debussy and 12 Transcendental Études of Liszt at Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal as well as on tour in Japan, Portugal, and Belgium. The Boston Symphony recently commissioned a concerto specifically for Gerstein from Thomas Ades.
Kirill Gerstein has collaborated with myrios classics since 2010 and recent projects include a recording of Busoni’s monumental Piano Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo, The Gershwin Moment with the St Louis Symphony and David Robertson, Liszt’s Transcendental Études, and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto.
Kirill Gerstein took up the post of Professor of Piano at Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Hochschule in October 2018 following 10 years of leading piano classes at the Stuttgart Musik Hochschule. He is also on the faculty of the Kronberg Academy’s Sir András Schiff Performance Programme for Young Artists. In response to the impact of the global pandemic, Gerstein launched a series of free and open online seminars titled Kirill Gerstein Invites with the Hanns Eisler Academy featuring conversations with leading musicians, musicologists and philosophers.
Brought up studying both classical and jazz piano, Kirill Gerstein was 14 when he moved to the US as the youngest student to attend Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Gerstein furthered his studies with Solomon Mikowsky in New York, Dmitri Bashkirov in Madrid, and Ferenc Rados in Budapest. He won the first of a series of prestigious accolades in 2001: First Prize at the 10th Arthur Rubinstein Competition. In 2002, he won a Gilmore Young Artist Award and in 2010 both an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Gilmore Artist Award. Learn more at www.kirillgerstein.com.
About Shriver Hall Concert Series
Founded in 1966, Shriver Hall Concert Series has been Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists with the mission of making music consonant with the highest aspirations of musical art, creating performances and providing educational training programs at the highest level of excellence for more than 50 years. Presenting its coveted Subscription Series each year, free Discovery Series concerts around the Greater-Baltimore area, and other special events, the Series has featured many of the world’s most renowned soloists and ensembles. The Series has been called “Baltimore’s finest importer of classical music talent” by The Sun and is the five-time recipient of Baltimore Magazine’s distinction “Best Classical Music” in its annual “Best of Baltimore” issue. For more information, visit www.shriverconcerts.org.
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Images (from left to right): Kirill Gerstein by Marco Borggrevve; Garrick Ohlsson by Dario Acosta
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