Donna Weng Friedman's 'Five Composers and a Pianist' Concert Will Be Performed Next Month

Experience the magic of BargeMusic, New York City's floating concert hall, on Sunday, November 12 from 4pm -5pm, with pianist Donna Weng Friedman as she shares her latest thought-provoking program that she calls “Five Composers and a Pianist”.  Come hear Weng Friedman perform a few of her favorite pieces by five composers who will be listening and sitting right next to you in the audience.  The program includes the highly anticipated world premiere of Microvids by Stefania de Kenessey for solo piano, with poetry recitation by Diana Solomon-Glover (rhyming couplets written by the composer herself) and will conclude with the toe-tapping, hum-inducing virtuosic Wizard of Oz Fantasy for Four Hands, performed with the composer himself- William Hirtz- as the other pair of very capable piano playing hands.

Why the curious title? Weng Friedman explains: “There are really two reasons for the Five Composers and a Pianist title.  The first is, I have so much respect and admiration for these composers that I honestly feel they deserve to get top billing.  I've never been able to compose anything original myself, and what these composers do- how they fill my heart with joy or move me to tears- is such an extraordinary gift. And the second reason is, this is my first solo piano recital since before the pandemic, and I don't like feeling alone on stage, so the title reminds me that I am never truly alone.  I should add that I do collaborate with reciter Diana Solomon-Glover as well as composer William Hirtz in this concert, but you get the general idea.”

When asked if performing new music with the composers in attendance was at all intimidating, Weng Friedman said quite emphatically “YES!  It is scary – imagine playing a Beethoven sonata for the great composer himself! I love the music on this program with all my heart, and I want to do right by these amazing musicians. Thankfully, they are my friends and colleagues and are all very supportive of my work, my playing and my interpretation of their music, so I am very excited for this concert– but, to be honest, a tad nervous!  Who wouldn't be?”

The program also features music from the award-winning recordings and music videos featuring Weng Friedman's performances of Prelude by Beata Moon and Quiet Poems and Four Moods by Kim D. Sherman. So how do the composers react to hearing their music performed by Donna in concert? In an earlier interview,  Sherman remarked that “Donna's performance of my music is deeply spiritual, something that goes beyond mere interpretation”. And, this from a recent post by composer Stefania de Kenessey: “Special thanks to Donna's amazing pianistic abilities. I still don't quite know how she manages to coax such a variety of subtle sounds out of that enormous, ungainly instrument....”

Weng Friedman will also perform HbearT by Niloufar Nourbackhsh, a piece composed for piano and electronics. “I never played a piece with set electronics before, and since I am sort of a tech idiot, I relied on Niloufar for a lot of technical guidance!  But what a spectacular piece this is! And it just goes to show, you can teach an old dog new tricks!”

You are cordially invited to pianist Donna Weng Friedman's Five Composers and a Pianist, as part of BargeMusic's Here and Now Series, Sunday, November 12, at 4pm. https://www.bargemusic.org/concert/here-and-now-series-five-composers-and-a-pianist-beata-moon-stefania-de-kenessey-niloufar-nourbakhsh-kim-d-sherman-william-hirtz-donna-weng-friedman-with-william-hirtz-piano-and-diana-solom/

A second concert featuring Donna Weng Friedman's Five Composers and a Pianist will be presented by New York Women Composers at Steinway Hall, Nov. 14, at 10:30am  https://newyorkwomencomposers.org/

https://www.steinwayhall.com/news/five-composers-and-a-pianist

For more info about the pianist: https://www.donnawengfriedman.com/