MEDIA CONTACT: Judy Moore at (847) 491-4819 or jkm229@northwestern.edu

February 3, 2004

Piano Festival Features Distinguished Artists

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Northwestern University School of Music will present the piano festival “From Vienna to Harlem” April 3 to 10 at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, and Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place, on the Evanston campus.

The festival will comprise 19 events during seven days, featuring the piano in a broad range of repertoire from classical to jazz. Programming will include recitals and chamber music with artists Leon Fleisher, Menahem Pressler, Sergei Babayan and Margo Garrett; two jazz evenings with Jean-Michel Pilc and the Marcus Roberts Trio; a “monster” piano concert; and educational events consisting of master classes and a children’s concert.

The centerpiece of the “From Vienna to Harlem” piano festival will be concerts by four of today’s most noted pianists. Fleisher’s April 3 recital, with works by Bach, Brahms, Schubert, Kirchner, Koston and Sessions, will include a rare-two handed performance. Pressler will collaborate April 4 with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Brahms’ Piano Quintet in

F Minor, Op. 34 and also will perform as a soloist. The “Goldberg Variations” by Bach will be featured during Babayan’s April 6 solo recital. Pilc on April 7 will perform his original compositions and improvisations on works by Chopin, Ellington, Gershwin and Edith Piaf. Each program, except for that of Pilc, will be preceded by a mini-concert of piano preludes performed by Northwestern School of Music students.

Other festival highlights include an April 8 “monster concert” featuring eight pianos and repertoire for up to 16 hands; the April 10 Marcus Roberts Jazz Trio in “New Orleans Meets Harlem” with music by and improvisations on Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, and others; and an April 10 Kids Fare concert “All Keyed Up,” hosted by pianist/harmonica player Howard Levy.

Artists for the April 8 “monster concert” will be School of Music faculty members Marcia Bosits, Elizabeth Buccheri, Alan Chow, James Giles, School of Music Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery, Ursula Oppens and Sylvia Wang, with guest performers to be announced at a later date.

Several special events, all of which are free and open to the public, will be offered in conjunction with the piano festival. Master classes, with students of the School of Music, will be presented by each of the four featured pianists and by noted pedagogue Marvin Blickenstaff and collaborative pianist Margo Garrett. A program of chamber music will feature Garrett, horn player Gail Williams, and violinist Joseph Genualdi. Piano students of the Interlochen Arts Academy, a performing arts high school in Interlochen, Mich., will be featured in a recital.

“We are very proud to present a festival of this caliber and breadth,” said School of Music Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery. “The Winter Chamber Music Festival and the new piano festival offer students and the community access to some of today’s finest musicians.”

Founded in 1895, the Northwestern University School of Music is one of the oldest degree-granting music schools in the United States, combining the resources of a world-class private research university with conservatory-level musical training.

Located just north of the cultural center of Chicago, the School is home to 550 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-renowned faculty of more than 125, many of whom are members of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera of Chicago orchestras. Students may participate in 16 major ensembles that perform a wide variety of repertoire. School of Music alumni are found in major arts and academic institutions worldwide in performance, music administration and teaching.

“From Vienna to Harlem” is made possible, in part, by the generous support from Betty A. Van Gorkom, the Schroeder Foundation, and the Dorothy Fox Johnson Visiting Artists Fund.

Festival concert tickets ($10 to $25) and Kids Fare tickets ($3 to $5) are available at the Pick-Staiger Box Office or by calling (847) 467-4000. Educational events are free and open to the public.