Monday, January 14, 2013

Guest Artist Spotlight: Virtuoso Pianist Michael Lewin

Michael Lewin
Guest Artist, piano
Michael Lewin is internationally applauded as one of America’s most abundantly gifted and charismatic concert pianists, performing to acclaim in more than 30 countries with orchestras, in recital and as a chamber musician. Commanding a repertoire of 40 piano concertos, he has performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue more than 50 times. He has performed with conductors including Carlos Miguel Prieto, Keith Lockhart, Constantine Orbellian, Anton Kersjes, Theo Alcantara,  Sergei Babayan and Hugh Wolff. Mr. Lewin’s discography has received extraordinary critical praise, and reflects the great scope of his musical interests. His recording of Gottschalk’s piano music, “Bamboula!”, earned a Boston Herald “Year’s Top 10 Pick”, while the Boston Globe enthused that “Lewin has the chops and the charm for these pieces.” Deeply committed to guiding and nurturing gifted young pianists, Michael Lewin is one of America’s most sought-after teachers. He is a member of the Piano Faculty at The Boston Conservatory, where he also directs the Piano Masters Series, and at Boston University, where he is Visiting Artist in Piano. A native of New York, he studied at the Juilliard School. His own teachers included Leon Fleisher, Irwin Freundlich, Adele Marcus, and Yvonne Lefébure.

Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in its Original Setting


The Concord Band continues a significant 54th season with its annual Winter Concert, presented at the Performing Arts Center at 51 Walden Street in Concord, on Saturday, March 2, at 8:00 PM. Rhapsody in Blue, features internationally acclaimed pianist Michael Lewin playing two monumental works for piano by American composers: Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin and Célèbre Tarantelle by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. The program (subtitled “Made in America”) consists of works written between 1858 and 1950, all but one by American composers.