Tuesday, Mar 19, 2013
March 24 recital celebrates 30 years of duo-piano collaboration.
by Anne Sears
The Westminster Conservatory Faculty Recital Series will continue with “The Barton - Lehrer Duo: A Celebration” on Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 3 p.m. in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Rider University’s Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. Admission is free.
The Barton - Lehrer Duo, composed of pianists Ena Bronstein Barton and Phyllis Alpert Lehrer, performs this concert to celebrate 30 years of collaboration with music for two pianos. The program includes Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Haydn for Two Pianos and Stravinsky's Concerto for Two Solo Pianos. The program will conclude with Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes for Piano Duet and Vocal Quartet, featuring guest artists Tracey Chebra, soprano; Amy Zorn, alto; Eric Rieger, tenor; and Elem Eley, bass.
The Barton - Lehrer Duo has performed regularly throughout the United States since 1984. Their repertoire includes music for piano duet, two pianos, two pianos and chamber ensemble, and two pianos and orchestra. Appearances have included recitals and master classes at summer music festivals, national conferences, universities and community music schools. They have recorded music by Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Laurie Altman, and Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee.
Born in Santiago, Chile, pianist Ena Bronstein Barton began her career in South America, touring her native continent. After winning a national piano competition she traveled to New York to study with Claudio Arrau and Rafael de Silva. Her New York debut at Town Hall was received with critical acclaim. Since then, Ms. Barton’s career has taken her across the United States, back to South America, to Europe, the Near and Far East, Australia and New Zealand. Among her engagements abroad was an extended tour of Israel and Europe, highlighted by performances as soloist with orchestras in Jerusalem, Luxembourg and Rome. She is also head of the piano department at the Westminster Conservatory and a member of the piano faculty of Westminster Choir College of Rider University.
Phyllis Alpert Lehrer is known internationally as a performer, teacher, clinician, author and adjudicator. She has enjoyed an active career as a soloist, collaborative artist and clinician in the United States, Belgium, Canada, United Kingdom, El Salvador, Taiwan, Japan, Sweden, Russia, Tajikistan, Brazil and the Republic of Georgia. Ms. Lehrer is professor of piano and director of graduate piano pedagogy at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. A founding member of the International Society for the Study of Tension in Performance, she contributes regularly to the Music Teachers National Association, the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy and the World Piano Pedagogy Conference. In March of 2007 she was honored as a Music Teachers National Association Fellow, a program that “honors deserving individuals who have made significant contributions to the music world and the music teaching profession.” Ms. Lehrer holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music and a Master of Science in Piano from the Juilliard School of Music. She is currently professor of piano at Westminster Choir College.