Pianist Anthony de Mare to Celebrate Sondheim in LIAISONS: RE-IMAGINING SONDHEIM FROM THE PIANO, 3/29-30

After performing nationwide in 2012-13 throughout the U.S. and Canada, LIAISONS: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano featuring internationally renowned contemporary pianist Anthony de Mare comes to the Mondavi Center for two nights only March 29 (8:00om) and 30 (2:00pm). Based on the music of the legendary composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, LIAISONS is an intrepid program of new, solo piano works by some of the world's foremost contemporary composers - this marks the first time that Sondheim songs have ever been re-imagined for solo piano. Commissioned purely for this landmark project, composers from the realms of classical, jazz, film, pop, musical theater, opera and avant-garde music have come together to pay homage to Sondheim, whose music has dominated American musical theater for the past four decades. LIAISONS' 2012-13 nationwide tour has made stops in San Francisco, New York City, Fort Worth, and Hudson Opera House, to name a few, and will continue throughout 2014. A full recording of the project is also underway, produced by Judith Sherman, for release in 2015. Tickets are $19-$42. To purchase, contact Mondavi Arts at 530-754-2787 or visit mondaviarts.org.

MAR 29 - William Bolcom - A Little Night Fughetta (based on Anyone Can Whistle and Send in the Clowns) / Ricky Ian Gordon - Every Day A Little Death / Nico Muhly - Color and Light / Mark-Anthony Turnage - Pretty Women / Paul Moravec - I Think About You (based on Losing My Mind) / Steve Reich - Finishing the Hat - Two Pianos / David Shire - Love Is In the Air / Jason Robert Brown - Birds of Victorian England (based on Green Finch and Linnet Bird) / Ethan Iverson - Send in the Clowns / Fred Hersch - No One is Alone / Gabriel Kahane - Being Alive / Jake Heggie - I'm Excited. No, You're Not. (based on A Weekend in the Country)

MAR 30 - Phil Kline - Someone in a Tree (Paraphrase) / Frederic Rzewski - I'm Still Here / Nils Vigeland - Merrily We Roll Along / Duncan Sheik - Johanna... in Space / Mary Ellen Childs - Now (based on Now-Later-Soon) / Thomas Newman - Not While I'm Around / Michael Daugherty - Everybody's Got the Right / Andy Akiho - Into the Woods / David Rakowski - The Ladies Who Lunch / Mason Bates - Very Put Together (based on Putting It Together) / Bernadette Speach - In and Out of Love(based on Liaisons and Send in the Clowns) / Kenji Bunch - The Demon Barber

Creator/performer Anthony de Mare is internationally recognized as one of the foremost champions of contemporary music, drawing praise from leading music critics. He has inspired, commissioned and/or premiered new work by Meredith Monk, John Zorn, Frederic Rzewski and Jerome Kitzke among many others, and made his Carnegie Hall debut at Zankel Hall in 2005 with premieres of new work by Pulitzer Prize winners Paul Moravec and David Del Tredici, jazz legend Fred Hersch and the Tony award-winning Jason Robert Brown. Since receiving his debut under the auspices of Young Concert Artists, de Mare has toured internationally with popular programs including The American Piano, Missing Peace (premiered at the Rubin Museum), and his multi-media solo piano event, Playing with Myself. De Mare is a Yamaha Artist with nearly 20 recordings in his discography and was short-listed in 2005 and 2011 for a Grammy Award. He also serves on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and New York University.