Pianist Simone Dinnerstein performs at Fairfield University's Quick Center for the Arts February 27 | Press Releases

"elegant and assured" - The New Yorker

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein will perform a recital at Fairfield University's Quick Center for the Arts on Friday, Feb. 27 at 8:00 p.m. Ticket-holders are invited to a pre-concert discussion from 7-7:40 p.m. with Howard Kissel, New York Daily News chief drama critic and "Cultural Tourist" columnist.

Dinnerstein has fast been gaining international attention as a commanding and charismatic artist, and as one of the most compelling women pianists performing today. At this recital she will play American composer Philip Lasser's "Twelve Variations on a Chorale" by J. S. Bach; Bach's "French Suite No. 5 in G Major, BWV 816"; Webern's "Variations for Piano, Opus 27"; and Schumann's "Kreisleriana, Opus 16.

Her second solo album, "The Berlin Concert," was recently released worldwide and earned the No. 1 spot on the US Billboard Classical Chart in its first week of sales. The Telarc disc is a live recording of Dinnerstein's recital debut at the Kammermusiksaal of the Philharmonie in Berlin and features the Bach and Lasser works she will perform at the Quick Center. Of the CD, which was chosen as one of the best of 2008 by iTunes and Amazon.com, Gramophone reported, this "CD of a Berlin recital provides ample evidence of gifts above and beyond the ordinary." The Washington Post wrote, "Lasser ... uses his command of harmony to build moments of steely percussion and misty impressionism far removed from Bach's generally courtly sound. Dinnerstein makes this evolution feel natural as the sound fabric expands and grows more diffuse, culminating in moments of grandeur and poetry."

Dinnerstein chose the repertoire for her recent recording because of how the pieces speak to each other, and because of their relationship to the music of Bach. She explains, "My hope with this concert was to program a group of pieces that would contrast with and relate to each other, despite being separated by hundreds of years."

Tickets are $35 and are available at fairfield.edu/quick or by calling the Box Office at (203) 254-4010. The toll free number is 1-877-ARTS-396. Sign up at fairfield.edu/quick to receive emails for special offers and discounts for Quick Center shows.