Donald Berman at Bargemusic Photo by Etienne Frossard

In a program drawn from his critically acclaimed Bargemusic recital in New York City last spring, American pianist Donald Berman will make his first solo appearance at the prestigious Longy School of Music of Bard College, as part of its centennial year concert season. The event, scheduled for Friday, 15 January 2016 at 8pm at Pickman Hall (27 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138), represents Mr. Berman's debut solo recital as a member of the faculty of the Longy School of Music of Bard College, which he joined in September 2015. "I'm particularly thrilled to be bringing this program for my faculty debut, as it focuses on so many of the repertoire areas relevant to my current study, performance and recording activities," says Mr. Berman. Tickets: Berman Recital Tickets.

"I'm starting with a conversation between Luciano Berio and Gabriel Fauré with water as the theme, which segues into seven miniatures by Scott Wheeler. I've chosen the Wheeler pieces for their variety - styles drawing on everything from neoclassic to jazz to rhythmic settings that brush up against modern American musical theater - and for their elegant compatibility with one another. The second half of the program is devoted to Ives, to whom I've happily devoted decades of scholarship and performance" says Mr. Berman.

As General Editor of the 3-volume Complete Short Works for Piano of Charles Ives, Mr. Berman has collaborated with two different publishers to issue a new edition of these important works. The first volume - Shorter Piano Works Volume I (Marches) - was issued in 2014 by Peer Music; Volume II (Studies) is also to be published by Peer Music, in 2016; and Volume III (Miscellaneous Short Works) will appear in 2017 via G.Schirmer / AMP. Selections from all three volumes will be included in January's Pickman Hall program.

Mr. Berman has recorded  the complete solo piano works of Scott Wheeler for Bridge Records. Comprising 25 pieces in all, the CD will be released in the spring of 2016. His CD of piano works by Martin Boykan (Bridge 9434), called a "wonderful recording" by the New York Times, was included on the Boston Globe's "Best of Boston 2014" list. In the summer of 2015, he performed and recorded George Perle's Serenade for Piano & Orchestra with conductor Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, for release on BMOP Sound. In December 2015, he will record Into Thin Air for piano, violin & percussion by Yu-Hui Chang, for a future release to be announced. Upcoming in 2016 is a recording of a piano quintet he premiered in 2013 with the Henschel Quartet at New York's Zankel Hall - At the Still Point by Christopher Theofanidis. 

Mr. Berman is a busy ambassador for new music and in particular American new music. Recent engagements have found him playing the works of Eric Chasalow, John Harbison, Irving Fine, Alexei Haieff, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, and Louise Talma. Upcoming concerts include an evening of the music of Harold Meltzer and Kurt Rohde with Boston's renowned Dinosaur Annex; a recital at New York City's Bargemusic in works of Mozart, Eric Moe, Judith Weir, and Charles Ives; and the world premiere of a piano quintet written for Mr. Berman by Elena Ruehr, to be performed with the Borromeo Quartet at the Rockport Music Festival.

Donald Berman is a pianist of rare gifts - a musician with dazzling chops whose every expressive gesture is supported by the kind of profound stylistic authority which can only come from years of scholarly research and analysis. Starting with his years as the great John Kirkpatrick's last pupil, Mr.Berman's passions as a player have inspired his passions as a scholar, and vice versa. On the strength of the chance discovery of hundreds of forgotten musical manuscripts while snooping through a filing cabinet at the American Academy in Rome, Mr. Berman spent ten years curating an immense project which ultimately resulted in a highly praised series of four concerts of unknown and under-appreciated American music at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and a subsequent 4-CD set, Americans in Rome (Bridge 9271). He has been a Fellow at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, guest lecturer on minimalism at Northeastern University, Director of New England Conservatory's Summer Piano Institute, Advisor to the Boston Jewish Music Festival, General Editor of The Complete Short Works for Piano of Charles Ives, and Vice-president, Treasurer, Chair of Subventions, and Co-Chair of the Editorial Committee of the Charles Ives Society. All while pursuing an active performing career.

Performance highlights in recent years have focused primarily on solo and chamber music repertoire, combining familiar works by such composers as Scarlatti, Fauré, Chopin, Copland, Bloch, Schubert, Poulenc, Rieger, Kagel and Schoenberg with premieres and seldom performed works by Stucky, Wyner, Chang, Theofanidis, Saariaho, McDonald, Boulez, Cage, Schoenfield, Harbison, Zare, Lieberson, Lerdahl and many others. Mr. Berman's recordings can be found on Naxos, ARSIS Audio, Bridge, New World, CRI, Koch, Centaur, Newport Classics, Accurate and Capstone Records.

Concert Program 15 January 2016

Luciano Berio	(1925-2003)	Luftklavier	(1985)
Gabriel Fauré	(1845-1924)	Barcarolle No. 1, op. 26	(1881)
Luciano Berio	(1925-2003)	Wasserklavier	(1965)
Gabriel Fauré	(1845-1924)	Barcarolle No. 5, op. 66	(1894)
Scott Wheeler	(b. 1952)	Morningside	(2007)
		Pseudo-Rag: GS	(1985)
		To His Music	(1999)
		Cowley Meditation	(2009)
		By the Sea	(2013)
		Epithalamion	(2013)
		Study in Concord	(2000)
***		***
Charles Ives	(1874-1954)	Study No. 6	(1909)
		Emerson, from Sonata No. 2: Concord, Mass., 1840-1860	(1912)
		Waltz-Rondo	(1911)
		March No. 5, with Annie Lisle	(1895)

   

  For more information about Donald Berman, call 831-620-1332 

and visit kathrynkingmedia.com and donaldbermanpiano.com

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