Rubin Museum of Art Presents Pianists Misha and Cipa Dichter, 10/16

The Rubin Museum of Art presents pianists Misha and Cipa Dichter in recital on Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 4:00 pm as part of WQXR's Sunday evening classical music series, Resonating Light. Elliott Forrest, the award-winning broadcaster and producer of WQXR, hosts the series, now in its second season, which examines thematic connections between music and visual art inspired by the museum's extensive Himalayan art collection.

Tickets priced at $25.00 ($22.50 for members) are available at the Rubin Museum at 150 West 17 Street, New York, online at www.rmanyc.org or by calling 212-620-5000 ext. 344.

For their performance, the Dichters have chosen a program inspired by the exhibit "Pilgrimage and Faith" which explores the important spiritual journeys in three of the world's largest religious traditions: Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, on view at the Rubin Museum through October 24. Reflecting on the musician's own spiritual journey and its similarities to religious quests undertaken by so many, the program includes an all Mozart first half with Fantasy for Musical Clockwork arranged by Busoni, Sonata in C Major arranged by Grieg and the Sonata in D Major for Two Pianos. The second half begins with Shostakovich's Concertino and continues with Liszt's "Les Preludes" (transcribed by the composer for two pianos) and "Concerto Pathetique" for two pianos.
Misha and Cipa Dichter met at The Juilliard School as students of the Rosina Lhevinne and made their first joint appearance performing Mozart's E-flat double concerto at the Hollywood Bowl in 1972, four years after their marriage. Since then they have performed recitals in major cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, made appearances with the symphonies of Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and have performed abroad in the music capitals of France, Germany, Holland, Spain, and Switzerland. The Dichters have become well known for bringing new and previously neglected works of the two-piano and piano four-hand repertoire to the concert stage. Their recording of the complete piano works for four hands by Mozart and four-hand arrangements of Mozart works by Busoni and Grieg, released on the Nimbus label, was named "Recording of the Year" by Music Web International in 2005.

Born in 1945 in Shanghai, where his Polish parents had fled at the outbreak of World War II, Misha Dichter came to Los Angeles with his family at the age of two and began his piano studies a few years later. While still a student at Juilliard, he launched his international career with a stunning triumph at the 1966 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

Cipa Dichter was born in Brazil of Polish-Russian parents and had her first piano lessons at the age of six. She made her professional debut at 16 with the Symphony Orchestra of Brazil and came to the United States to study at The Juilliard School shortly thereafter.

The Rubin Museum holds one of the world's most important collections of Himalayan art. Paintings, pictorial textiles, and sculpture are drawn from cultures that touch upon the arc of mountains that extends from Afghanistan in the northwest to Myanmar (Burma) in the southeast and includes Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, and Bhutan. The Rubin Museum has a history of commissioning new music works, most often from jazz composers but also contemporary composers Huang Ruo and Sir John Tavener, whose Towards Silence was given its world premiere last spring. The concert will take place in the museum's theater, praised for its exceptional acoustics and intimate atmosphere.

The Rubin Museum of Art is located at 150 West 17 Street, New York

The program is as follows:

Mozart Fantasy for Musical Clockwork (transcription by Busoni)
Mozart Sonata in C Major (with added part by Edvard Grieg)
Mozart Sonata in D Major for Two Pianos
Shostakovich Concertino
Liszt "Les Preludes" (transcribed by the composer for two pianos)

Liszt "Concerto Pathetique" for two pianos