Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations® Continues with An American Salute!
January 25, 2007
Acclaimed pianist and host Jeffrey Siegel continues his educational adult classical music series Keyboard Conversations® with the lyrical romance of America’s most beloved composers on Monday, February 5, 2007 at 7:30pm in Perelman Theater. In An American Salute!, Siegel provides insight into the music of Gershwin, Bernstein, Barber and Copland, whom he believes are the "greatest composers of the last century." The program will include the Philadelphia premiere of Bernstein’s unpublished "Meditation on a Wedding," originally written as a wedding gift for friends, and which Siegel describes as "a real love poem in sound." The evening also includes Gershwin's own rare gem, the brilliant but seldom heard solo piano arrangement of "Rhapsody in Blue."
This concert is the second of three Mondays at the Merck Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel scheduled for the 2006/2007 season. The last concert in the series will be The Romantic World of Robert Schumann on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 7:30pm.
Tickets for Keyboard Conversations® are $30, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10pm to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply). For group sales call 215-893-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
An ongoing series for more than twenty-five years in numerous U.S. cities, Jeffrey Siegel's Keyboard Conversations® consistently attract avid classical music lovers who wish to increase their understanding and enjoyment of familiar works, and also reaches out to newcomers to classical music. Siegel presents an informal, accessible and highly entertaining introduction to the vast repertoire of the piano and classical music in his shows. Primarily a concert, Siegel’s shows offer provoking questions behind why, how, where and about what or whom the music was written. "My hope is that the remarks I share will make the music more accessible, the listening experience more focused and meaningful," says Siegel.
Most recently, Random House Audio Publishing Group released an audio book series with four CD recordings of Siegel's Keyboard Conversations®: Mozart and Friends, The Power and Passion of Beethoven, The Romanticism of the Russian Soul and The Romance of the Piano. Twin Cities Public Television, in conjunction with The Schubert Club, also recently produced and broadcast two half-hour Keyboard Conversations® - Mozart & Chopin - available on DVD exclusively at Siegel's concerts. Siegel's recording of Gershwin's complete works for piano and orchestra with Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony continues to be a best-seller.
In addition to entertaining and enriching concert-goers with his Keyboard Conversations®, Siegel has been a soloist with the world's great orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Moscow State Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonic and Philharmonia, Moscow State Symphony, Bayerischer Rundfunk, The Hague Residentie Orkest, Oslo Philharmonic, Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchestra of La Scala and NHK Symphony of Japan. In the United States, engagements include the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Siegel has collaborated with celebrated conductors and has directed several orchestras, both nationally and internationally. He is equally at home in the dual role of conductor/pianist, directing the orchestra from the keyboard.
Kimmel Center Presents' 2006/2007 season is supported by: Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, ARC Wheeler, The Wachovia Foundation, The William Penn Foundation, The Presser Foundation, Philadelphia Music Project and Dance Advance, Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trust administered by The University of the Arts. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com are media sponsors for the Great Orchestras on Tour series.
FREE AT THE KIMMEL events are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program supported by a generous grant from Wachovia Foundation.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
February 5, 2007 | 7:30pm
Perelman Theater
Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel
An American Salute!
GOTTSCHALK: The Union
MACDOWELL: To a Wild Rose
COPLAND: The Cat and the Mouse
BERNSTEIN:
Four Anniversaries
Aaron Copland
Elizabeth B. Ehrmann
Felicia Bernstein
Helen Coates (In Memoriam)
BARBER: Excursion, Op. 20, No. 4
COPLAND: Hoe-down from Rodeo
-Intermission-
BERNSTEIN: Meditation on a Wedding
GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue
Questions and Answers
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UPCOMING FREE AT THE KIMMEL EVENTS:
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 | 6:30pm
Commonwealth Plaza
Pedrick-Smith Guitar Duo
In September 2002 Thomas Smith’s composition "River Rising" was premiered by the Pedrick Hutson guitar duo at the Philly Fringe Festival. Since then, the duo has recorded the piece for their CD Environs, and have extensively performed throughout the United States for guitar societies, concert series, and music festivals. Their music encompasses a variety of styles, including classical, jazz and world sounds. Prior to the ticketed Joshua Bell performance in Verizon Hall.
Saturday, February 10, 2007 | 1pm
Commonwealth Plaza
Svitanya
Svitanya, a female a cappella ensemble, celebrates the timbres, rhythms, and harmonies indigenous to Eastern Europe, and performs a diverse repertoire of traditional Eastern European songs with modern arrangements—ranging from strong and strident-filled working songs to traditional dance tunes to lush and emotive arrangements. Prior to the ticketed Paul Jacobs performance in Verizon Hall.
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