Thursday, Sep 7, 2017
Pianist Paul Barnes will present a recital titled “Philip Glass at 80: A Retrospective” Friday, September 9 at 8 p.m. in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton. Admission is free.
Paul Barnes has collaborated with composer Philip Glass for more than 20 years. His Philip Glass Retrospective, in celebration of this collaboration and Glass’s 80th birthday, features Barnes’s transcriptions from the Trilogy Sonata and Orphée Suite for Piano, as well as Piano Concerto No. 2 (After Lewis and Clark), which Barnes commissioned and premiered. Barnes will also perform several of Glass’s new Etudes, which are featured on his latest recording, New Generations. Barnes will be joined by Westminster piano faculty member Phyllis Alpert Lehrer to perform Glass’s Four Movements for Two Pianos.
Praised by The New York Times for his “Lisztian thunder and deft fluidity,” and the San Francisco Chronicle as “ferociously virtuosic,” pianist Paul Barnes has electrified audiences with his intensely expressive playing and cutting-edge programming. He has been featured four times on APM’s Performance Today, on the cover of Clavier magazine, and his recordings are broadcast worldwide. He has performed in England, China, Korea, Taiwan, Austria, Russia, Greece, Italy, Serbia, Hungary, and in all major cities throughout the United States.
Deeply inspired by the aesthetic vision of minimalism, Barnes commissioned and gave the world premiere of Philip Glass’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (After Lewis and Clark). The Omaha World Herald praised Barnes playing for his “driving intensity and exhilaration.” Nebraska Educational Telecommunications' production "The Lewis and Clark Concerto," a documentary/performance of the concerto featuring Barnes, won an Emmy for Best Performance Production. Additional performances of the work included collaborations with conductor Marin Alsop at the prestigious Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and also the Northwest Chamber Orchestra (NWCO) where the Seattle Times called Barnes' performance "an impressive feat." The world-premiere recording with the NWCO was released by Glass’s label Orange Mountain Music. Gramophone magazine remarked that this recording is "certainly one of the most enjoyable recent releases of Glass's music...Paul Barnes is a shining soloist."
Phyllis Alpert Lehrer is known internationally as a performer, teacher, clinician, author and adjudicator. She has given master classes, workshops and enjoyed an active concert career as a soloist and collaborative artist in the United States, Canada, Central America, Asia and Europe. Her performances have met with much critical acclaim: “Warmth and vibrancy at its best,” The Times (London); “An able warmhearted pianist…Impressive musicianly qualities,” Daily Telegraph (London); “an admirable musicality …” (The New York Times).