Gregg Kallor Performs Solo Concert At Cornelia Street 6/17

Classical Connections presents pianist and composer Gregg Kallor in a solo concert at the Cornelia Street Café on Thursday, June 17th at 6:00 p.m. Mr. Kallor's fresh approach to the solo piano recital seamlessly integrates original music, contemporary pieces, classic repertoire, and improvisation. Admission is $10, plus a one-drink minimum.

The Cornelia Street Café is located at 29 Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village, between Bleecker Street and West 4th Street (corneliastreetcafe.com, 212-989-9319; the closest subway stops are West 4th Street [A,B,C,D,E,F,V] and Christopher Street [#1]).

Classical Connections, a series conceived and developed by Larry Kraman and Cornelia Street Cafe's founder, Robin Hirsch, attempts to connect classical music to other disciplines such as theater, comedy, jazz and pop music in order to attract new audiences.

In March 2007, the Abby Whiteside Foundation presented Gregg Kallor's New York concert debut as pianist and composer in Carnegie Hall's Weill RecitAl Hall. Harris Goldsmith wrote: "It took but a few impeccably shaped phrases to make it plain that Kallor is a formidably well-trained technician and a master of stylish proportion as well...This superb recital debut truly established a new, important voice in our musical annals." After presenting him in another exciting concert at Weill Hall in 2009, the Whiteside Foundation announced that it will present Gregg Kallor at Carnegie Hall again in the spring of 2011.

Exhilaration - Dickinson and Yeats Songs, the acclaimed recording of Gregg Kallor's settings of poems by Emily Dickinson and William Butler Yeats, was released on the composer's own independent label in 2008. The album features mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala, who premiered these song cycles with Mr. Kallor at Carnegie Hall in 2007. Also included on the disc are his setting of Christina Rossetti's poem, Song, and Lullaby (to lyrics by Herschel Garfein). Opera News wrote, "Kallor knows how to make these words sing, and Zabala gives perfect flight to them."

Mr. Kallor created an interactive student workshop that explores the relationship between poetry and music (songsworkshop.com). This program offers students a unique opportunity to hear his songs performed live, and to engage in an open discussion about the poems and the settings with the composer. Jane H. Wald, Executive Director of the Emily Dickinson Museum, stated: "Kallor's approach to making sense of poetry through music...is an important method of drawing out students' creativity and empowering them to understand for themselves the work of one of the world's greatest poets."

Gregg Kallor's first album, There's A Rhythm (2002), features his jazz trio (with bassist Chris Van Voorst Van Beest and drummer Kendrick Scott). The Hartford Courant wrote, "Kallor is a lyrical player whose love for and training in classical music adds depth to his jazz playing and composing. His tone is clear and bright, and he is able to improvise thematically with an overall sense of structure...Kallor can carry a poetic mood right to the edge of sorrow, always sounding lyrical and moving without ever slipping into the lachrymose."

Gregg Kallor was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1978, and raised in West Hartford, Connecticut. From the age of six, he studied classical and jazz piano, and started composing and improvising. In high school, he performed in jazz ensembles and rock bands, appearing at The White House and touring Europe. Mr. Kallor studied with Kenny Barron at Rutgers University, and Fred Hersch at the New England Conservatory of Music. After moving to New York City, he continued to study piano with Sophia Rosoff and composition with Herschel Garfein. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra commissioned and premiered Mr. Kallor's "Fantasy Overture" in 2009; he is currently composing a concerto for piano and orchestra. Among other press notices, The New Orleans Times-Picayune wrote: "Kallor [is] one of those rare musicians who successfully straddles the cultural divide between jazz improvisers and classical players."

Additional information is available on Mr. Kallor's website: www.greggkallor.com.

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