For the 2024-2025 season, the Bulgarian Consulate General in in New York is hosting a series of classical performances, nearly all featuring a prominent piano presence. The series is presented by the organization Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York. Each performance features a Bulgarian spirit in either composer or performer. Each performance is free but a donation is requested. So this season, make plans to get to the Bulgarian consulate and enjoy beautiful Bulgarian-infused classical performances at a price of your choice!
In the week of September 23-27, La Maison Française of NYU presents a goldmine of musical events with four evenings celebrating the centenary of the passing of the stellar but underappreciated French composer Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). From the official site:
“2024 marks the hundredth anniversary of the death of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). This French composer was one of the most important European musical figures of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Author of an immense body of works for piano and symphony, he was also a genius of French melody and choral singing. His Requiem is still renown across the world. Yet, to a certain extent, Fauré remains a discreet and marginal figure who deserves more sustained attention.”
La Maison Française of NYU is proud to be in partnership with Duke University, Princeton University, École Normale de Musique de Paris and the Conservetoire de Bologne-Billancourt to shine a light on this extraordinary artist through a series of events and performances that will bring joy to longtime Fauré fans and introduce his work to new audiences.
We may wish that the calendars of the great musical institutions in the New York City could be equally active year-round. In summer, let’s be honest, there is less to choose from piano-wise than during the other seasons. But summer also affords its own distinct calendar of inviting piano events, especially so if you are willing to travel outside the city. And the piano events in the city deserve focus by being less numerous. Here are some summertime music events that are ongoing and upcoming. Enjoy!
In 2011 and 2012, during a time when she spent many long days out, arriving home late at night Yoojung Kim would seek comfort and renewal by expressing her emotions through improvisation at the piano, recording her improvisations with the voice memo app on her phone. The gloomier her mood, the more inspired she would be. “It was like writing a journal, with my fingers writing sounds through my songs.” At the time, these recorded improvisations remained secret. But more recently, on the Artist Faculty in Piano Studies at NYU Steinhardt, she has felt an increasing desire to share them. On Thursday, bearing the title Midnight Monologues, their premiere will be the foundation of her recital at the Tenri Cultural Institute. Interleaving between the Monologues, Professor Kim will play works by Scriabin and Debussy.
There are several more distinctive aspects to make this recital a very special event for concertgoers. First, attendees (of legal age) are invited to a pre-concert wine reception. During the concert, on the large white wall in the performance space will be projected original photographs by Professor Kim along with her original poems, and moving-image artwork by Matthew David Wachsman. Those desiring an even fuller sensory experience will be invited to sample their complimentary fragrance from strangelove. An evening full of sensory rewards!
