PREformances with Allison Charney to Conclude Season with Concert Featuring Rupei Yeh Carol Wincenc, Reiko Uchida & Pam Goldberg

PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY brings its inaugural season at Merkin Concert Hall, Kaufman Music Center to a close with a concert befitting a sonnet on William Shakespeare's Birthday, Monday April 23rd at 1PM.

The season grand finale concert will feature special guests artists New York Philharmonic cellist Rupei Yeh, the "Queen of the Flute" Carol Wincenc and solo pianists Reiko Uchida and Pam Goldberg. Together with PREformances host, Allison Charney and collaborative pianist Craig Ketter these preeminent musicians will conclude PREformances remarkable 2017-18 concert series which presented foremost musicians: pianists Joel Fan, Navah Perlman, Reiko Uchida, Blair McMillen, Julia Zilberquit, Donna Weng and Pam Goldberg: violinists Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Areta Zhulla and Laura Goldberg; flutists Carol Wincenc and Elizabeth Mann; cellists Rupei Yeh, Kajsa William-Olsson, Jia Kim and violist Daniel Panner.

PREformances' April 23rd concert will feature works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Peter Schubert and Franz Liszt; arias by Francesco Cilea, Claude Debussy and Richard Georg Strauss, as well as compositions by Clara Schumann and the rarely-heard contemporary of Brahms, Swedish violinist and composer, Amanda Maier.

Tickets are on sale now and can be secured online or by calling 212 501 3330 or visiting the Merkin Concert Hall Box Office at KAUFMAN MUSIC CENTER, 129 West 67th Street, New York,

ABOUT PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY

Now in its 9th year, the innovative classical concert series PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY invites audiences to experience celebrated classical musicians in "PREformances" anticipating their upcoming engagements on the world's most prestigious stages. Acclaimed opera singer Allison Charney hosts a behind-the-scenes glimpse into top-level artists' practices and performance, deliberately blurring the traditional barriers which exist between classical musicians and the audience in concerts. Ms. Charney promises a complete concert experience that provides entertainment and insight providing audiences with classical music knowledge that she promises "is simply not Googleable."

Throughout its previous eight seasons, PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY has presented over 95 of the preeminent musicians of our time. Notable appearances include those by New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert, Metropolitan Opera stars William Burden and Maria Zifchak, flutist Carol Wincenc, violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins, pianists Joel Fan and Navah Perlman, just to name a few. In addition, the series has presented new classical works by composers Michael Ching, Moshe Knoll, Kim D. Sherman and Dina Pruzhansky. Together with Craig Ketter, PREFORMANCES' noted collaborative pianist, soprano Allison Charney, performs on every concert. Concerts typically run an hour and a half, with no intermission.

To commemorate PREFORMANCES' move to Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center renown visual artist, designer and director Doug Fitch has created original artwork for Season Nine. Mr. Fitch's recent work include several projects conducted by Alan Gilbert for the New York Philharmonic, including Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre (cited as the top opera of 2010 by The New York Times, New York Magazine, and Time Out New York), Janác?ek's The Cunning Little Vixen (2011, New York Magazine's "Best Classical Event of the Year"), A Dancer's Dream: Two Works by Stravinsky (2013, later screened in movie theaters worldwide); and HK Gruber's Gloria - A Pig Tale (2014, with forces from The Juilliard School as part of the New York Philharmonic's Biennial). Mr. Fitch was the inaugural WBFO visiting artist at SUNY, where he created an opera of images, How Did We...? Most recently Mr. Fitch provided the art direction and edible design for "The Opera Party"- a new WQXR series in The Greene Space.

PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY owes a debt of gratitude to Rabbi Joy Levitt, Executive Director of the JCC Manhattan and Megan Whitman, Director of The Lambert Center for Arts + Ideas where the series was originally incubated and evolved from proof of concept into a featured programming component of the JCC Manhattan's cultural offerings on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY looks forward to welcoming both audiences and featured guest artists to its new concert space and home at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center on October 16 at 1PM. Widely regarded as having near-perfect acoustics, the 450-seat Merkin Concert Hall is both intimate and stately, with its 2007 renovation designed by noted American architect and native New Yorker, Robert A. M. Stern. The state of the art facilities fully anticipate the ease of audience utilizing wheel chairs or who have hearing impairments. The Kaufman Music Center's location at Lincoln Square is easily accessible by public transportation and positions PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY within the world-renowned epicenter of classical music - the concert halls and academic centers that are home to of many of PREFORMANCES' featured guests.

PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY maintains a charitable relationship with the Basser Center for BRCA at the University of Pennsylvania - contributing to its research efforts and by promoting awareness of the Basser Center's mission of advancing the care of individuals living with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY is supported in part through the generosity of its patron group - Friends of PREFORMANCES - donors who believe in the series mission and vision and whose partnership enables the development of new works in addition to educational community outreach efforts, offering free tickets to aspiring young professional musicians as well as students without regular access to high quality classical music programming.

PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY

Featuring cellist Rupei Yeh, flutist Carol Wincenc; solo pianists Reiko Uchida and Pam Goldberg together with soprano Allison Charney and collaborative pianist Craig Ketter

April 23, 2018 at 1PM

Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center

129 West 67th Street, New York,

Tickets $30