BMC Chamber Music Concert Series

Peter Serkin Benefit Concert
Saturday, April 25, 8 pm
Centre Congregational Church, Brattleboro

Recognized as an artist of passion and integrity, distinguished American pianist Peter Serkin is one of the most thoughtful and individualistic musicians appearing before the public today. Throughout his career he has successfully conveyed the essence of five centuries of repertoire and his performances with symphony orchestras, recital appearances, chamber music collaborations and recordings are respected worldwide.

Mr. Serkin’s Brattleboro program includes John Bull’s Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la; Claude Debussy’s Six Épigraphes Antiques; J.S. Bach’s Suite in C minor for Lute cembalo; and Johannes Brahms’ Variations and Fugue in B-flat on a Theme by Handel.                      

Peter Serkin’s rich musical heritage extends back several generations: his grandfather was violinist and composer Adolf Busch and his father pianist Rudolf Serkin. It was at the invitation of fellow émigrés Rudolf Serkin and Adolf Busch that the BMC’s founder Blanche Honeggar Moyse came to Southern Vermont to help establish a music department at Marlboro College and, later, to co-found the world-renowned Marlboro Music Festival.

In 1958, at age eleven, Peter Serkin entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he was a student of Lee Luvisi, Mieczyslaw Horszowski and Rudolf Serkin. He later continued his studies with Ernst Oster, Marcel Moyse and Karl Ulrich Schnabel.

In 1959, Mr. Serkin made his Marlboro Music Festival and New York City debuts with conductor Alexander Schneider and invitations to perform with the Cleveland Orchestra and George Szell in Cleveland and Carnegie Hall and with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy in Philadelphia and Carnegie Hall soon followed. He has since performed with the world’s major symphony orchestras with such eminent conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez, Daniel Barenboim, Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, James Levine, Herbert Blomstedt and Christoph Eschenbach. Also a dedicated chamber musician, Mr. Serkin has collaborated with Alexander Schneider, Pamela Frank, Yo-Yo Ma, and the Budapest, Guarneri and Orion string quartets and TASHI, of which he was a founding member.

An avid proponent of the music of many of the 20th and 21st century’s most important composers, Mr. Serkin has been instrumental in bringing the music of Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Stravinsky, Wolpe, Messiaen, Takemitsu, Henze, Berio, Wuorinen, Goehr, Knussen and Lieberson, among others, to audiences around the world. He has performed many important world premieres, in particular, works by Toru Takemitsu, Peter Lieberson, Oliver Knussen and Alexander Goehr, all of which were written for him.

In May 2001, Peter Serkin was the recipient of an Honorary Doctoral Degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He was also the first pianist to receive the Premio Internazionale Musicale Chigiana in recognition of his outstanding artistic achievements. Mr. Serkin resides in Massachusetts with his wife, Regina, and is the father of five children.

This concert is part of the Brattleboro Music Center’s Chamber Music Series.

PROGRAM:

John Bull    Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la
Claude Debussy    Six Épigraphes Antiques
J.S. Bach    Suite in C minor for Lute cembalo
Johannes Brahms    Variations and Fugue in B-flat on a Theme by Handel

TICKETS: $30, $20, $10 (limited viewing).  Reserve by calling the BMC at 802.257.4523 or purchase on-line at BrattleboroTix. Advance ticket purchase strongly recommended.