Billboard Top 200 Pianist to Perform in Geneva

American Landmark Festivals and The Smith Opera House present Billboard Top 200 recording artist pianist SIMONE DINNERSTEIN in concert on Friday, April 15, 2011 at 7:30PM at The Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca Street, Geneva, NY. Ms. Dinnerstein, recently featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning and National Public Radio, has three No. 1 classical albums to her credit, including a recently-authored release on Sony Classics, Bach: A Strange Beauty, which debuted at #1 on the Traditional Classical Chart and was the only Traditional Classical album in the Billboard Top 200.Time credits her with “arresting freshness and subtlety”, while The New Yorker says Ms. Dinnerstein plays with “lean, knowing and unpretentious elegance” and The Washington Post attributes “personality, verve and thoughtfulness” to her interpretations. The New York Times calls her “an utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.” She is also the subject of a feature in The Wall Street Journal this past Wednesday, March 16. In the acoustically acclaimed Smith Opera House, Ms. Dinnerstein’s program will feature Bach’s English Suite No 3 in G Minor, BWV 808, three Bach chorale preludes transcribed for piano by Busoni, Kempff and Myra Hess, Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 and Schubert’s Impromptu, Op. 90, all to be performed on the Smith’s recently restored Steinway Grand Concert D piano.Ms. Dinnerstein gained an international following because of the remarkable success of her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which she recorded with borrowed funds while still unsigned by either record label or manager. Released by Telarc in 2007, it was named to many “Best of 2007” lists including those of The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker. Her follow-up album, The Berlin Concert, also gained the No. 1 spot on the classical charts.She has since signed an exclusive agreement with Sony, and her first album on that label–Bach: A Strange Beauty–was released in January 2011. The disc includes the three chorale preludes and the English Suite that Dinnerstein will perform at the upcoming concert at The Smith, and also Bach’s keyboard concerti in D and F minor recorded with the Kammerorchester Staatskapelle Berlin as well. The San Francisco Chronicle called Bach—A Strange Beauty “unadorned but profound bliss,” and The Washington Post raved: “Dinnerstein’s reading may be said to plumb these works’ genuine depths… poised, elegant, wonderfully played.”This event will be Ms. Dinnerstein’s exclusive upstate New York performance this season. She has recently or will soon perform at many of the world’s major venues, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Vienna Konzerthaus, London’s Wigmore Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, the Aspen and Ravinia festivals. She has appeared with the New York Philharmonic,. The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra and the Atlanta and Baltimore Symphonies. Ms. Dinnerstein has also played concerts throughout the United States for the Piatigorsky Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing classical music to non-traditional venues. Amongst the places she has played are nursing homes, schools and community centers – and even correctional centers. In addition, she founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series open to the public and hosted by New York City public schools. The concerts, which feature musicians Ms. Dinnerstein has admired and collaborated with during her career, raise funds for the schools’ Parent Teacher Associations.She is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she was a student of Peter Serkin, was a winner of the Astral Artist National Auditions, and has twice received the Classical Recording Foundation Award. She also studied with Solomon Mikowksy at the Manhattan School of Music and in London with Maria Curcio. Ms. Dinnerstein lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son.Further information and tickets to the concert are available by calling (315) 781-5483 or (866) 355-LIVE, or on the web at www.thesmith.org. General admission seats are $20, $15 for seniors over 62 and students with ID. American Landmark Festivals was founded by pianist Francis Heilbut for the presentation of cultural and performing arts events in landmark venues. Since 1973 it has presented outstanding soloists, symphony orchestras, operas, chamber music, film, Tantric monks, and poetry readings in New York City, Boston, Vienna, and Geneva, NY. For further information contact American Landmark Festivals, 26 Wall St., NY, NY 10005, 212-866-2086, [email protected], or visit www.AmericanLandmarkFestivals.org.