Piano

Grammy-winning pianist Gloria Cheng, described by the New York Times as “an invaluable new-music advocate,”

Thursday July 25 3:00 PM Preston Hall Schwab plays "gorgeously spare piano" (The Boston Globe) yet "sounds as if she has an orchestra at her fingertips" (Sing Out). She was chosen by Ken Burns to play for numerous public television documentaries, including the Grammy award-winning Civil War and the Emmy award-winning Baseball. iPad/iPhone/Safari Users Click ...

Featured wines at this performanceAudience favorite Stephen Prutsman will play the Mozart Piano Concerto in C minor in the opening Festival concert. “Conga” by Marquez will have you dancing in your seats. Conductor/composer Allan Pollack will present his piece “A Summer Evening at the Boonville Fair,” that musically evokes the many festive aspects of the ...

Pianist Robert Schwartz is returning to the Festival to play Mozart Sonata in Bb Major K. 570, Mendelssohn Songs Without Words (Selected) and Brahms Sonata in F Minor Op. 5. Schwartz is an active performer and teacher, with international credits.  He is often soloist with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and ...

The Piano Series regulars always welcome Paul Hersh’s lecture recitals. This season Hersh will bring his son, violinist Stefan Hersh, to explore Beethoven’s last violin and piano sonatas. iPad/iPhone/Safari Users Click for Ticketing

Paul Hersh returns with his violinist son Stefan. They’ll play Op. 30, No. 3, an effervescent piece from Beethoven’s middle years.  Paul Hersh will also perform the delicate sonata Op. 109, one of Beethoven’s final compositions.  Come hear Beethoven chamber music as it was meant to be played, in a small, intimate setting with friends ...

Acclaimed worldwide for her “dazzling technique and deeply probing musicality,” Ching-Yun Hu has won many international competitions and has performed on tour with the Israel Philharmonic. This is a great opportunity to hear a rising new star at the beginning of her career. Scriabin Sonata No. 2 in g-sharp minor, Op. 19, "Sonata-Fantasie" (12') Schubert ...

Spencer Myer’s devoted fans will hear a radiant, diverse concert of Mozart Sonata K. 283, the Schumann Fantasie, the Ravel Sonatine, Chopin’s Polonaise-fantaisie, Op. 61, and three Bolcom Rags. Come enjoy this afternoon salon, which will be a rare chance to interact with and learn from this engaging and articulate artist. BUY TICKETS

Tonight we celebrate instrumental masters: Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. There will be energy and passion in the tent, opening with the final movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony—an Allegro with great Brio. Then brilliant pianist Stephen Prutsman plays Beethoven’s 3rd piano concerto, a work immediately familiar and joyful, “turning the concert stage into a platform for the ...

Montage: Great Film Composers and the Piano The six film composers represented on this program have among them amassed 73 Oscar nominations and eight wins. “But,” ponders the introductory essay to Gloria Cheng's recent CD, “what melodies, harmonies, what cadences haunt their private dreams?” Hear selections from pieces written expressly for her by John Williams ...

Enjoy the fascinating programming and gorgeous pianism of this charming young pianist from Georgia. In addition to Haydn and Brahms, you will hear a rarely heard work by Lili Boulanger, sister of the great French pedagogue, Nadia Boulanger, who was a major figure in twentieth century music. Both women studied with Faure before Lili’s early ...

Praised for his interpretive vision and power, Atzinger's program includes his signature performance of the monumental Barber Sonata.  Mozart Piano Sonata No. 17 in B flat Major, K. 570; Brahms Sechs Klavierstücke, Op. 118; Pierre Jalbert Toccata; Chopin Fantasie in F minor, Op. 49; Barber Sonata for Piano, Op. 26. BUY TICKETS

“A commanding presence at the keyboard” and an accomplished composer, John Novacek will perform the Beethoven Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10, No. 2; Schumann Carnaval, Op. 9; Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, No. 1 in C Major & No. 15 in D-flat Major; Ginastera Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2; and Novacek 3 Concert ...

When you sit two acclaimed soloists at one piano, “you get something energetic and electrifying… out of this world.”  Eva-Maria Zimmerman and Keisuke Nakagoshi have electrified audiences from Carnegie Hall to Tokyo with their dazzling artistry and outside-the-box thematic programming for piano-four-hands, blazing a bold new path for four-hands groups by focusing on 20th and ...

With a “refined kind of virtuosity,” Molly Morkoski will perform Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (Moonlight); John Adams’ Phrygian Gates; and Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52. "...a refined kind of virtuosity.” Allan Kozinn for the NY Times "Outstanding!" Richard Dyer for the Boston Globe ...

Festival Orchestra with pianist John Novacek Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D minor and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major. Ticket price includes pre-concert lecture at 6:30 CHOOSE SEATS AND BUY

An enthusiast of the "Progressive" or "Art Rock" genre, and a performer in a couple of "Prog Rock" bands in the late 70s, Stephen Prutsman has been drawn to create solo piano (and fiendishly difficult) transcriptions of several Prog classics. For this short recital he's chosen "Sound Chaser" by YES and GENESIS' "Supper’s Ready." These ...

The Washington Post called Gloria Cheng “one of the most adventurous interpreters of contemporary music around." Among the pieces she will play this year are “32 Garlands for Steven Stucky,” tributes by a number of composers to their colleague and much-beloved professor/composer, who died unexpectedly in 2016. Stephen Andrew Taylor’s “Seven Memorials” was inspired by ...

The Washington Post called Gloria Cheng “one of the most adventurous interpreters of contemporary music around." Among the pieces she will play this year are “32 Garlands for Steven Stucky,” tributes by a number of composers to their colleague and much-beloved professor/composer, who died unexpectedly in 2016. Stephen Andrew Taylor’s “Seven Memorials” was inspired by ...

American pianist Rachel Breen’s performances have been described as “truly show-stopping” (Gramophone UK) and having “a beautiful piano sound and original detail.” She has enjoyed an active and successful competition career and has performed and taught masterclasses around the world. In this concert Breen will perform Beethoven’s Bagatelles, Opus 126; a “Suite of Miniatures” she ...

An active performer and teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory, Robert Schwartz has recently performed at the Beijing Conservatory, the Vienna International Pianists series, in master classes at the Chautauqua Institution, and at Portland Piano International. Recent performances in the Bay Area have included Mozart and Shostakovich concertos with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and ...

Each one a solo artist of distinction, Van Raat and Pinkham join up to make beautiful music together. They will play two-piano pieces by a range of composers: Chick Corea’s “Duet for Two Pianos in Three Parts,” George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm Variations,” Vanessa Lann’s “Second Nature,” Frederic Rzewski’s “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues,” and William ...