NEIGHBORHOOD CLASSICS Sets 2011-12 Season Schedule

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein, Artistic Director of the Neighborhood Classics concert series at public schools in New York has announced the concert schedule for the 2011-2012 season. The season kicks-off with a performance by celebrated cellist Zuill Bailey at PS 321(180 Seventh Ave., Brooklyn). His program will feature selections from Bach's solo Cello Suites. Bailey, whose sound has been described as "rich, like dark chocolate . . . strong and direct," (San Francisco Classical Voice) recorded Bach's Suites for Telarc in 2010 - the album immediately reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Chart. Simone Dinnerstein will host the concert. All ticket sales will benefit PS 321.

The Neighborhood Classics season continues on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 7pm at PS 142 on Manhattan's Lower East Side (100 Attorney Street, NYC) with an all-Liszt concert by rising-star Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa. On Sunday, December 4 at 2pm, the Kaufman Center's popular teenage new music group Face the Music takes Neighborhood Classics to PS 69Q in Queens (7702 37th Avenue, Jackson Heights) with a program that includes music by Osvaldo Golijov, Steve Martland, Anna Clyne, and Brooklyn's own Robert Honstein. On Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 7pm, back at PS 321 in Brooklyn, Simone Dinnerstein celebrates the release of her newest Sony album, Something Almost Being Said, which features the music of Bach and Schubert. On Friday, March 30 at 7pm at PS 321, master lutenist Paul O'Dette presents one of his signature programs of music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. On Thursday, April 26 at 7pm at PS 142, the elegant San Francisco-based Cypress String Quartet performs music by Haydn, Glazunov, and Dvo?ák. To close the season, Face the Music returns for a performance at PS 321 on Sunday, June 3 at 2pm. Additional concerts at PS 142 will be announced.

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein founded the Neighborhood Classics series at PS 321, the school that her son attends and where her husband teaches, in 2009 and at Manhattan's PS 142 in 2010 in an effort to build relationships at a local level between neighborhoods and musicians. These one-hour, family-friendly performances, which are hosted by Dinnerstein and feature musicians she has admired and collaborated with during her career, are open to the public and raise funds for the schools. The musicians performing donate their time and talent to the program, and the concerts are organized and administered by PTA volunteers and faculty members. Neighborhood Classics has already raised enough funds to bring back the fourth grade band program at PS 142. At PS 321, proceeds benefit the school's PTA, which helps to fund art, chess, band, and chorus programs.

"This concert series is about bringing communities together around music," explains Ms. Dinnerstein. "It is a way for students, parents, teachers and neighbors to gather in a familiar and comfortable setting to listen to great music."

About Zuill Bailey
Zuill Bailey is widely considered one of the premier cellists in the world. His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry as well as his engaging personality has secured his place as one of the most sought after and active cellists today.

A consummate concerto soloist, Bailey has been featured with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, San Francisco, Israel, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Dallas, Louisville, Honolulu, Milwaukee, Nashville, Toronto and Utah, among other leading orchestras around the world. He has collaborated with such conductors as Itzhak Perlman, Alan Gilbert, Andrew Litton, James DePriest and Stanislav Skrowacezewski and has been featured with musical luminaries Leon Fleisher, Jaime Laredo, the Juilliard String Quartet, Lynn Harrell and Janos Starker.

Bailey has appeared at the Kennedy Center, the United Nations, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St. Y and Carnegie Hall, where he made his debut performing the U.S. premiere of Miklos Theodorakis' Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra. In addition, he made his New York recital debut in a sold-out performance of the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

His international appearances include celebrated performances with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in its 50th anniversary tour of Russia, as well as concerts in Australia, the Dominican Republic, France, Israel, Spain, Hong Kong, Jordan, Mexico, South America and the United Kingdom. Festival appearances include Ravinia, the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Manchester Cello Festival (UK), Consonances-St. Nazaire (France), Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Deia Music Festival, Mallorca (Spain), Santa Fe, Caramoor, Chautauqua, Bravo!, Vail Valley, the Maverick Concert Series, and the Music Academy of the West. In addition, he was the featured soloist performing the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Bard Festival in the world premiere of the Doug Varrone Dance Company's performance of Victorious. An accomplished chamber musician and recitalist, Zuill Bailey performs regularly with pianists Navah Perlman and Awadagin Pratt.

Zuill Bailey is an exclusive recording artist on Telarc. His Bach Cello Suites recording immediately soared to the No. 1 spot on the Classical Billboard Charts, and his highly anticipated Brahms CD, with pianist Awadagin Pratt topped the charts and was praised by critics worldwide. Bailey's Russian Masterpieces release featuring the works of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich performed with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra has received widespread critical acclaim. Bailey was awarded the Classical Recording Foundation Award for 2006 and 2007 for the recording of Beethoven's complete works for Cello and Piano. The highly touted two-disc set with pianist Simone Dinnerstein was released on Telarc worldwide. In celebration of his recordings and appearances, Kalmus Music Masters will release "Zuill Bailey Performance Editions," which will encompass the core repertoire of cello literature.

Network television appearances include a recurring role on the HBO series Oz, on the NBC series, Homicide, A&E, NHK TV in Japan, a live broadcast of the Beethoven Triple Concerto performed in Tel Aviv with Itzhak Perlman conducting the Israel Philharmonic, and with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico City. Bailey is also featured in the televised production of the Cuban premiere of Victor Herbert's Cello Concerto No. 2 with the National Orchestra of Cuba. He has been heard on NPR's Morning Edition, Tiny Desk Concert, Performance Today, Saint Paul Sunday, BBC's In Tune, XM Radio's Live from Studio II, Sirius Satellite Radio's Virtuoso Voices, the KDFC Concert Series, Minnesota Public Radio, WFMT and RTHK Radio Hong Kong.

Bailey received his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and the Juilliard School. His primary teachers include Loran Stephenson, Stephen Kates and Joel Krosnick. Zuill Bailey performs on a 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello, formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet. In addition to his extensive touring engagements, Bailey is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro Musica (Texas), Artistic Director of the Sitka Summer Music Festival and Series, (Alaska) and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.