Music Academy Celebrates LOWENTHAL'S LEGEND, March 9

The internationally acclaimed American pianists Ursula Oppens and Jerome Lowenthal will perform in an Music Academy concert on Thursday evening, March 9, 2023, at 7 PM, PST, at Music Academy's Hahn Hall (1070 Fairway Road Santa Barbara, CA 93108). This concert, entitled "Lowenthal's Legend," honors and celebrates the extraordinary pianist and preeminent pedagogue Jerome Lowenthal, who has served as a Music Academy teaching artist for half a century.

The program, curated by Mr. Lowenthal, will feature works by both classical and contemporary composers; and will include a world premiere of Harold Melzer's Dribble, performed by pianist Nadia Shpachenko.

Full program follows:

Gabriel Fauré Dolly Suite, Op. 56, Carmel Lowenthal, Jerome Lowenthal

Louis Couperin Sarabande in D Minor, G. 51, Evan Shinners

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach Polonaise in D Minor, Fk. 12, No. 4, Evan Shinners

Louis Couperin Allemande de la Paix in E Minor, G. 63, Evan Shinners
Johann Sebastian Bach Fugue in A Minor, BWV 959, Evan Shinners

Louis Couperin Unmeasured Prelude in E Minor, G. 14, Evan Shinners

Franz Liszt Mephisto Waltz, No. 1, S. 514, Vassily Primakov

Franz Liszt Valse oubliée, No. 1, S. 215, Vassily Primakov

Felix Mendelssohn Nocturne and Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream

for Piano Four Hands, Jerome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens

Harold Meltzer Dribble, Nadia Shpachenko

Lewis Spratlan Six Rags, Nadia Shpachenko

Frédéric Chopin Impromptu in A-flat Major, Op. 29, Jerome Lowenthal
Frédéric Chopin Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp Minor, Op. 66, Jerome Lowenthal

For tickets and more information please visit the event website: https://musicacademy.org/big-shows/lowenthals-legend/.

Ursula Oppens, a legend among American pianists, is widely admired particularly for her original and perceptive readings of new music, but also for her knowing interpretations of the standard repertoire. No other artist alive today has commissioned and premiered more new works for the piano that have entered the permanent repertoire.

"Titan of the contemporary keyboard, Ursula Oppens is a rarity among artists living today," wrote Adam Sherkin in The Whole Note, September 21, 2021. " She is the stalwart bearer of a mid-century musical torch that apparently burns eternal. How fortunate we are to have such musicians as Oppens still making music with fortitude, passion and tireless faith."

A prolific and critically acclaimed recording artist with five Grammy nominations to her credit, Ms. Oppens is renowned for her cult classic The People United Will Never Be Defeated by the late iconoclastic composer Frederic Rzewski. That 1979 release, for the Vanguard label, marked her first Grammy nomination. In 2016 she put out a new recording of The People United Will Never Be Defeated, also nominated for a Grammy, and earlier Grammy nominations were for Winging It: Piano Music of John Corigliano; Oppens Plays Carter; a recording of the complete piano works of Elliott Carter for Cedille Records (also named a "Best of the Year" selection by The New York Times long-time music critic Allan Kozinn); and Piano Music of Our Time featuring compositions by John Adams, Elliott Carter, Julius Hemphill, and Conlon Nancarrow for the Music and Arts label. Ms. Oppens recently added to her extensive discography by releasing Fantasy: Oppens plays Kaminsky in 2021 for the Cedille label. She also recorded Piano Songs, a collaboration with Meredith Monk, as well as a two-piano CD for Cedille Records devoted to Visions de l'Amen of Oliver Messiaen and Debussy's En blanc et noir performed with pianist Jerome Lowenthal.

During the pandemic, Ms. Oppens has concertized both live and online. In May 2021 she was chosen to re-open the New York City Bargemusic series in person. Performing works by Chopin, Carter, and a newly composed piece entitled Friendship, by Frederic Rzewski, prompted Harry Rolnick of concertonet to review in glowing terms:

[in] her extraordinary one-hour concert last night...her fingers danced over the difficulties of Carter's Caténaires with the same effortless elegance as she played five Chopin Nocturnes. And she gives her music the oomph, the bravado, the vivacity which they deserve...Her virtuosity goes hand in hand-literally-with her understanding. And yes, her attitude, her beatific smile after each work, her nuances that we in the audience are the important visitors, make a concert a thing of joy. But most important for this listener is that she can take the most supposedly recondite algorithmic composition and make it absolutely logical. Not logical philosophically or structurally, but with a logic of understanding.

As possibly the world's most accomplished extant of Frederic Rzewski, I am certain her performance of Rzewski's Friendship was authoritative...Ms. Oppens creates the universe of great artists without judgments, only the obligation to offer her frequently ineffable artistry.

-May 22, 2021

In early 2019, Ms. Oppens performed a recital at Merkin Concert Hall for a celebration of her 75th birthday, inaugurating the Kaufman Music Center's newest series, Only at Merkin with Terrance McKnight. Her program showcased all works written for her by Elliott Carter and John Corigliano, and gave the world premiere of a piano quintet by Laura Kaminsky-commissioned by the pianist for the occasion with production support from the Newburgh Institute for The Arts & Ideas-alongside the Cassatt String Quartet and Tobias Picker's Ursula for solo piano, a birthday present for his dear friend and collaborator.

Of Ms. Oppens' Merkin Hall concert, David Wright of New York Classical Review wrote on February 3, 2019:

Merkin Concert Hall was packed Saturday night...for a celebration of the pianist's 75th birthday on its exact date. Here one was especially aware of the quality of Oppens' tone-full and projected even in the softest pianissimo, and capable of producing tremendous impact in forte chords without sounding pinched or banged. Her pedaling was unusually subtle for new-music interpretation, managing resonances and overlapping tones like an expert Chopin player.

Over the years, Ms. Oppens has premiered works by such leading composers as John Adams, Luciano Berio, William Bolcom, Anthony Braxton, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Anthony Davis, John Harbison, Julius Hemphill, David Hertzberg, Laura Kaminsky, Tania Leon, György Ligeti, Erik Lundborg, Witold Lutoslawski, Harold Meltzer, Meredith Monk, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Bernard Rands, Frederic Rzewski, Allen Shawn, Alvin Singleton, Joan Tower, Lois V Vierk, Amy Williams, Christian Wolff, Amnon Wolman, and Charles Wuorinen.

As an orchestral guest soloist, Ms. Oppens has performed with virtually all of the world's major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), and the orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Milwaukee. Abroad, she has appeared with such ensembles as the Berlin Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Deutsche Symphonie, the Scottish BBC, and the London Philharmonic Orchestras. Ms. Oppens is also an avid chamber musician and has performed with the Arditti, Cassatt, JACK, Juilliard, and Pacifica quartets, among other chamber ensembles.

Ursula Oppens is a Distinguished Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City; she also joined the faculty of Mannes College, The New School, in fall 2017. In 2019, Ms. Oppens was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The New England Conservatory. From 1994 through the end of the 2007-08 academic year she served as John Evans Distinguished Professor of Music at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. In addition, Ms. Oppens has served as a juror for many international competitions, such as the Bachauer, Busoni, Concert Artists Guild, Young Concert Artists, Young Pianists Foundation (Amsterdam), and Cincinnati Piano World Competition. Ms. Oppens lives in New York City.

Born in 1932, pianist Jerome Lowenthal continues to fascinate audiences with his combination of youthful intensity and eloquence born of life-experience. He is a virtuoso of the fingers and emotions.

Mr. Lowenthal made his New York Philharmonic debut in 1963, playing Bartok's Second Piano Concerto. Since then, he has performed virtually everywhere, from the Aleutians to Zagreb. He has appeared as soloist with celebrated conductors including Barenboim, Ozawa, Tilson Thomas, Temirkanov, and Slatkin, and with such giants of the past as Bernstein, Ormandy, Monteux, and Stokowski. Mr. Lowenthal has played sonatas with Itzhak Perlman; piano duos with Ronit Amir (his late wife), Carmel Lowenthal (his daughter), and Ursula Oppens; and quintets with the Lark, Avalon, and Brentano Quartets. He has recorded Two-Piano Music of Messiaen and Debussy with Oppens and Liszt's complete Annés De Pélerinage on a 3-CD set. Other recordings include concertos by Tchaikovsky and Liszt, solo works by Sinding and Bartók, and chamber music by Arensky and Taneyev.

Mr. Lowenthal studied in his native Philadelphia with Olga Samaroff-Stokowski, in New York with William Kapell and Edward Steuermann, and in Paris with Alfred Cortot, meanwhile traveling annually to Los Angeles for coaching with Artur Rubinstein. After winning prizes in three international competitions (Bolzano, Darmstadt, and Brussels), he moved to Jerusalem where he played, taught, and lectured for three years.

Teaching is an important part of Mr. Lowenthal's musical life, including 20years at the Juilliard School and 42 summers at the Music Academy of the West. Mr. Lowenthal has worked with an extraordinary number of gifted pianists, whom he encourages to understand the music they play in a wide aesthetic and cultural perspective - and to project it with the freedom which that perspective allows.

Pianist Carmel Lowenthal leads an active musical life as performer and teacher. Highlights of recent seasons include concerto appearances at the Skaneateles Festival and Steinway Hall and chamber music collaborations at the SUNY Performing Arts Center in Purchase, Olin Hall at Bard College, Hahn Hall in California, and Bargemusic Festival in Brooklyn. She has performed at Avery Fisher Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan and has given concerts with members of the Brentano and Colorado string quartets and with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Lowenthal has extensively toured the south eastern states with the Galliard Ensemble giving concerts and master classes. She has collaborated with many distinguished artists, including violinist Eugene Drucker and flutist Eugenia Zuckerman. She performs duo piano concerts with Jerome Lowenthal, her father, with whom she recorded Liszt's Weihnachtsbaum for Bridge Records.

Born and raised on the upper West Side of Manhattan, Ms. Lowenthal began studying the piano with her parents, Ronit Amir and Jerome Lowenthal. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Ann Schein, and received her Master of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music, where she had lessons with Diane Walsh. Other piano teachers were Susan Starr and Rosetta Goodkind. Ms. Lowenthal spent her summers studying at the Aspen Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West, and the Banff Centre for the Arts.

Passionate about teaching as well as performing, Ms. Lowenthal is deeply dedicated to her work with young musicians and has been teaching for over twenty years. She has given numerous college and precollege master classes, including recently at the Peabody Institute Preparatory of Johns Hopkins. She has adjudicated for the Juilliard School Precollege and the Manhattan School of Music Precollege as well as for various other musical organizations and programs.

Ms. Lowenthal has been the Manhattan School of Music Precollege faculty since 2000.

In recent years, Vassily Primakov has been hailed as a pianist of world class importance. Gramophone wrote that "Primakov's empathy with Chopin's spirit could hardly be more complete," and the American Record Guide stated: "Since Gilels, how many pianists have the right touch? In Chopin, no one currently playing sounds as good as this! This is a great Chopin pianist." Music Web-International called Primakov's Chopin concertos CD "one of the great Chopin recordings of recent times. These are performances of extraordinary power and beauty." In 1999, as a teen-aged prizewinner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Primakov was praised by Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "How many pianists can make a line sing as the Moscow native did on this occasion? Every poignant phrase took ethereal wing. Elsewhere the music soared with all of the turbulence and poetic vibrancy it possesses. We will be hearing much from this remarkable musician."

His first piano studies were with his mother, Marina Primakova. He entered Moscow's Central Special Music School at the age of eleven as a pupil of Vera Gornostaeva, and at 17 came to New York to pursue studies at the Juilliard School with the noted pianist, Jerome Lowenthal. At Juilliard Mr. Primakov won the William Petschek Piano Recital Award, which presented his debut recital at Alice Tully Hall, and while at Juilliard, aided by a Susan W. Rose Career Grant, he won both the Silver Medal and the Audience Prize in the 2002 Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition. Later that year Primakov won First Prize in the 2002 Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions. In 2007 he was named the Classical Recording Foundation's "Young Artist of the Year." In 2009, Primakov's Chopin Mazurkas recording was named "Best of the Year" by National Public Radio and that same year he began recording the 27 Mozart piano concertos in Denmark. BBC Music Magazine (November, 2010) praised the first volume of Primakov's Mozart concertos: "The piano playing is of exceptional quality: refined, multi-coloured, elegant of phrase and immaculately balanced, both in itself and in relation to the effortlessly stylish orchestra. The rhythm is both shapely and dynamic, the articulation a model of subtlety. By almost every objective criterion, Vassily Primakov is a Mozartian to the manner born, fit to stand as a role model to a new generation."

Vassily Primakov has released numerous recordings for Bridge Records that include works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Chopin, Dvorak, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Philip Glass, Arlene Sierra and Poul Ruders.

In 2011, Mr. Primakov, along with his duo partner, Natalia Lavrova established a new and vibrant record company, L.P. Classics, Inc. Their first release was Anton Arensky: Four Suites for Two Pianos. Most recently, they released Primakov's Live in Concert Album that includes works by Medtner, Schumann, Brahms' Handel Variations and Ravel's La Valse.

In March 2012 Vassily Primakov became a Yamaha Artist.

Founder of 'The Bach Store' and host of 'The WTF Bach Podcast,' Evan Shinners began his musical studies at age 9 and made his orchestral debut at age 12. Mr. Shinners grew up in the tradition of European sacred music, receiving lessons in singing and choral conducting from a young age. He attended The Juilliard School in New York where he studied piano with Jerome Lowenthal. Mr. Shinners holds two degrees from the institution (BM'08, MM '10.)

Since 2010, Evan has devoted himself almost exclusively to the study and performance of the works of J.S. Bach. In 2011 he began studying the clavichord, and in 2018 began his ongoing harpsichord studies with harpsichordist Béatrice Martin. In 2012 Evan began a campaign to 'Bach-upy America,' to perform Bach in non-traditional venues in 48 states. The tour was featured on national television.

Mr. Shinners became a Yamaha artist in 2015 and began experimenting with Disklavier technology. Using the Disklavier, he was able to record Bach's 'organ sonatas' on piano- the first of its kind. He also commenced on a massive recording project of Bach's complete solo keyboard music on Bösendorfer instruments. In 2018 Mr. Shinners founded a non-profit organization with the goal of 'bringing Bach to the masses in non-typical venues'. Using funds awarded by the Music Academy, in November of 2018, Evan opened 'The Bach Store' in a 5,000 sq. ft. former bank on 56th and Broadway in Manhattan. There, he performed Bach for five hours, every day, for 37 consecutive days. In the evenings, Mr. Shinners hosted different guest artists every night, seeing nearly 70 different musicians perform Bach in the space during the run. His efforts landed him on the front page of the New York Times Arts. He was interviewed by German Public Radio and other international news sources.

In 2019, Mr. Shinners launched a second Bach Store around the corner from the New York Stock Exchange. Between the two installations, the repertoire that was covered - in free nightly concerts was impressive: the complete works for solo keyboard, violin, cello and flute, complete cycles of violin and harpsichord works, the flute and harpsichord works, motets for acappella chorus, three of the Brandenburg Concertos, and more. Both installations were visited by some 10,000 people. He is scheduled to open a third Bach Store in Germany in 2022.

Mr. Shinners hosts 'The WTF Bach Podcast' which seeks to explain the beauty and structure of 'The Art of Fugue' to someone with no previous musical knowledge. Fugues are dissected, played with voices isolated into different speakers, even played backwards or upside-down. Even with such daunting subject matter, the podcast has 20,000 listeners in over 50 countries. The guests interviewed are among the most important in current Bach thought: jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, harpsichordist Robert Hill, mandolinist Chris Thile and former director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, Christoph Wolff.

Since 2015 Mr. Shinners has performed nearly all of the solo keyboard works of J.S. Bach from memory.

A "gifted and versatile pianist" (San Francisco Chronicle) and GRAMMY Award winner Nadia Shpachenko enjoys bringing into the world things that are outside the box-powerful pieces that often possess unusual sonic qualities or instrumentation. Nadia's concert highlights include recitals at Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, on the Piano Spheres and Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella and Chamber Music Series, and with numerous orchestras in Europe and the Americas. An enthusiastic promoter of contemporary music, Shpachenko premiered more than 100 works by Armando Bayolo, Elliott Carter, Christopher Cerrone, Paul Chihara, George Crumb, Ian Dicke, Daniel Felsenfeld, Tom Flaherty, Annie Gosfield, Yuri Ishchenko, Vera Ivanova, Dana Kaufman, Leon Kirchner, Amy Beth Kirsten, Hannah Lash, James Matheson, Missy Mazzoli, Harold Meltzer, David Sanford, Isaac Schankler, Alexander Shchetynsky, Adam Schoenberg, Lewis Spratlan, Evan Ware, Gernot Wolfgang, Iannis Xenakis, Peter Yates, Pamela Z, Jack Van Zandt, and many others.

Described as "The outstanding contemporary-music disc of the year" (Fanfare Magazine), Nadia's 2022 Reference Recordings album "Invasion: Music and Art for Ukraine" (with 100% of proceeds being donated to Ukraine humanitarian aid) features world premiere recordings of music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis Spratlan and art by numerous Ukrainian artists. Nadia's 2019 Reference Recordings album "The Poetry of Places," featuring world premieres of architecture-inspired works, won the Best Classical Compendium GRAMMY Award. She can be heard on seven other internationally released albums of world premieres.

Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, she is a Steinway Artist, Schoenhut Toy Piano Artist, and professor of music at Cal Poly Pomona University.