Press contact (Dinnerstein): Christina Jensen PR
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Google Hangout on Air with Simone Dinnerstein
Counterpoint in Music, Art, and Life
Wednesday, February 12, 2014 from 1-2pm EST
Hosted by WQXR from The Greene Space in New York
Moderated by WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon
Watch on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SimoneHangoutYouTube
Watch & Join the Q&A on Google+: http://bit.ly/SimoneHangout
TWEET it: Chat w/ Simone Dinnerstein about #BachInventions & more #GoogleHangout 2/12 1-2pm EST at @WQXR @TheGreeneSpace http://bit.ly/SimoneHangout
Featuring Performances of Bach’s Inventions by Simone Dinnerstein, plus special guests:
Paul Elie, writer and author of Reinventing Bach
Thomas Moore, author of A Religion of One’s Own and Care of the Soul
Nico Muhly, composer
Dan Tepfer, pianist, composer and jazz musician
www.simonedinnerstein.com | www.wqxr.org | www.thegreenespace.org
New York, NY — On Wednesday, February 12, 2014 from 1-2pm EST, WQXR, the nation’s most listened-to classical radio station, will host a Google Hangout on Air with classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein, moderated by WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon from the station’s event venue, The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in New York. The Hangout can be watched live from anywhere in the world on YouTube (http://bit.ly/SimoneHangoutYouTube) or on Simone Dinnerstein’s Google Plus page (http://bit.ly/SimoneHangout). The Google Plus page will also feature a Q&A app through which viewers can submit their questions and comments to Dinnerstein during the Hangout.
During the Hangout, Simone Dinnerstein will perform selected Inventions by J.S. Bach from her latest Sony Classical album, J.S. Bach: Inventions and Sinfonias, which recently debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Chart after release on January 21. She and special guests including Paul Elie, writer and author of Reinventing Bach; Thomas Moore, author of A Religion of One’s Own and Care of the Soul (www.careofthesoul.net); Nico Muhly, composer (www.nicomuhly.com); and Dan Tepfer, pianist, composer and jazz musician (www.dantepfer.com) will have a discussion centered around the music of Bach. They will explore the concept of counterpoint in music and in life, as well as the ways and reasons why Bach’s timeless music has influenced not only many musicians (classical and non-classical alike) but non-musicians too. Viewers watching from anywhere in the world will have the opportunity to submit their own questions and comments to Dinnerstein and the special guests, throughout the Hangout.
“I want to be able to connect directly with listeners about the music of Bach and to have a dialogue with them about it, particularly his Inventions which so many people everywhere – whether or not they went on to become professional pianists – studied as piano students when they were young or as adult amateur pianists,” Dinnerstein says. “I’m looking forward to being able to do this with people around the world through my very first Google Hangout.”
J.S. Bach’s Two-Part Inventions, written in 1723 as musical guide for keyboard players, are a core part of the piano repertoire for students, amateurs, and professional musicians alike, but are rarely performed in concert. The works are commonly thought of as training pieces, but Dinnerstein has chosen to showcase them. She says, “An instrumental training is as much a training in how to listen as in how to play. In the text that accompanies the Inventions, Bach calls them ‘an honest guide.’ His Inventions and Sinfonias are marvels in demonstrating just how potent counterpoint is as an aid to expression, and how powerful a cantabile voice can be when surrounded by contradiction and elaboration. These small masterpieces have snippets of dances in them, laments and celebrations, simplicity and complexity.”
Dinnerstein is performing Bach’s Inventions in concerts in New York, NY (January 23); Oakland, CA (January 31); Washington, DC (February 9); Munich, Germany (February 15); Esslingen, Germany (February 16); Houston, TX (February 25); West Lafayette, IN (February 27); Worcester, MA (February 28); Fairfield, CT (March 16); Auburn, NY (April 6); and Pittsburgh, PA (April 13). For her complete tour schedule, visit http://bit.ly/SimoneConcerts.
About Simone Dinnerstein: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein is a searching and inventive artist who is motivated by a desire to find the musical core of every work she approaches. The Independent praises the “majestic originality of her vision” and NPR reports, “She compels the listener to follow her in a journey of discovery filled with unscheduled detours . . . She’s actively listening to every note she plays, and the result is a wonderfully expressive interpretation.”
Upcoming and recent highlights include Dinnerstein’s debuts in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; her debuts in Leipzig at the Gewandhaus and in Toulouse as part of the Piano aux Jacobins festival; the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s You Can’t Get There From Here at Symphony Hall in Boston; her third return engagement at the Berlin Philharmonie; and world premiere performances of Philip Lasser’s The Circle and The Child with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
The New York-based pianist gained an international following because of the remarkable success of her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which she raised the funds to record. Released in 2007 on Telarc, it ranked No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Classical Chart in its first week of sales and was named to many “Best of 2007” lists including those of The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker. The four solo albums Dinnerstein has released since then – The Berlin Concert (Telarc), Bach: A Strange Beauty (Sony), Something Almost Being Said (Sony), and J.S. Bach: Inventions & Sinfonias (Sony) – have also topped the classical charts. In spring 2013, Simone Dinnerstein and singer-songwriter Tift Merritt released an album together on Sony called Night, a unique collaboration uniting classical, folk, and rock worlds, exploring common terrain and uncovering new musical landscapes.
Dinnerstein’s performance schedule has taken her around the world since her triumphant New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2005 to venues including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and London’s Wigmore Hall; festivals that include the Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival, the Aspen, Verbier, and Ravinia festivals, and the Stuttgart Bach Festival; and performances with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Kristjan Järvi’s Absolute Ensemble, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Symphony.
Dinnerstein is interested in exploring ways to subtly change the traditional concert experience, and has created a new program with thereminist Pamelia Kurstin and actor Alvin Epstein that combines classical music and avant-garde cabaret, and weaves together poetry, music, improvisation, and narration. The program debuted at New York’s popular West Village club, Le Poisson Rouge, in 2012. Committed to bringing music by living composers to today’s audiences, Dinnerstein frequently performs pieces written for her by Philip Lasser and Daniel Felsenfeld. In addition to performing the new work written for her by Nico Muhly and the premiere of Lasser’s piano concerto this season, she will be premiering a piano quintet by Grammy-nominated composer Jefferson Friedman in 2014.
Dinnerstein has played concerts throughout the United States for the Piatigorsky Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing classical music to non-traditional venues. Notably, she gave the first classical music performance in the Louisiana state prison system when she played at the Avoyelles Correctional Center. She also performed at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, in a concert organized by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to coincide with her BSO debut.
Dedicated to her community, in 2009 Dinnerstein founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series open to the public hosted by New York City public schools. The series features musicians Dinnerstein has met throughout her career, and raises funds for the schools. The musicians performing donate their time and talent to the program. Neighborhood Classics began at PS 321, the Brooklyn public elementary school that her son attended and where her husband teaches fourth grade. Artists who have performed on the series include Richard Stoltzman, Maya Beiser, Pablo Ziegler, Paul O’Dette and many more. In addition, Dinnerstein has staged two all-school “happenings” at PS 321 – a Bach Invasion and a Renaissance Revolution – which immersed the school in music, with dozens of musicians performing in all of the school’s classrooms throughout the day.
Dinnerstein is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she was a student of Peter Serkin. She was a winner of the Astral Artist National Auditions, and has received the National Museum of Women in the Arts Award and the Classical Recording Foundation Award. She also studied with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music and in London with Maria Curcio. Simone Dinnerstein (pronounced See-MOHN-uh DIN-ner-steen) lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and son. She is managed by Tanja Dorn at IMG Artists and is a Sony Classical artist.
About New York Public Radio: New York Public Radio is New York’s premier public radio franchise, comprising WNYC, WQXR, The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, and New Jersey Public Radio, as well as www.wnyc.org, www.wqxr.org, www.thegreenespace.org and www.njpublicradio.org. As America’s most listened-to AM/FM news and talk public radio stations, reaching 1.1 million listeners every week, WNYC extends New York City’s cultural riches to the entire country on-air and online, and presents the best national offerings from networks National Public Radio, Public Radio International, American Public Media, and the British Broadcasting Company. WQXR is New York City’s sole 24-hour classical music station, presenting new and landmark classical recordings as well as live concerts from the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, among other New York City venues, immersing listeners in the city’s rich musical life. In addition to its audio content, WNYC and WQXR produce content for live, radio and web audiences from The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station’s street-level multipurpose, multiplatform broadcast studio and performance space. New Jersey Public Radio extends WNYC reach and service more deeply into New Jersey. For more information about New York Public Radio, visit www.nypublicradio.org.
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