Pianist Martin Berkofsky Performs at the Custom House Maritime Museum Tonight

New London Maritime Society is pleased to present virtuoso pianist Martin Berkofsky in concert at the Custom House Maritime Museum at 7 PM tonight, July 6, 2013. In a concert entitled Lighthouses as Beacons of Light & Hope, Mr. Berkofsky will perform two sonatas by Ludwig Von Beethoven and and a number of short works by Franz Liszt. The concert is a benefit; Mr Bekofsky is donating all monies from the performance to both the New London Maritime Society Lighthouse Fund and Amistad America, Inc. TheAmistad ship will be docked in New London that weekend as a part of the Society'sSentinels on the Sound - Lighthouse Saturdays, 10 Saturdays of waterfront activities in New London across the summer from July 6 through September 7, 2013. The concert will take place at the Custom House Maritime Museum, 150 Bank Street, New London, Connecticut. Seating is limited to 45. Tickets are $35, $25 for NLMS members. Call 860-447-2501 to reserve your seat.

American pianist Martin Berkofsky was born in Washington, D.C. in 1943. Of Belarussian ancestry, he began giving public performances and making recordings at the age of 8. During his early years he began traveling frequently to Europe to perform and record with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra and Berlin Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Mieczys?aw Munz (pupil of Busoni), Konrad Wolff (a student of Artur Schnabel), Walter Hautzig and with Hans Kann in Vienna.
Berkofsky is known also for his work in the field of musicology. He helped to research and to restore the long-lost Concerto for two pianos and orchestra by Max Bruch. Berkofsky also did a similar restoration of Duo Concertante for two pianos and orchestra composed jointly by Felix Mendelssohn and Ignaz Moscheles. In addition, he rediscovered and recorded unpublished works by Franz Liszt, Nicolae Bretan and Alan Hovhaness.

Since recovering from a serious motorcycle accident which took place in Iceland in 1982, Berkofsky has donated proceeds from his performances to various charitable causes. He later founded the Cristofori Foundation to facilitate this purpose. (Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco--May 4, 1655 - January 27, 1731---was an Italianmaker of musical instruments, generally regarded as the inventor of the piano.) In April, 2013, Mr. Berkofsky commented on the Maritime Society's facebook page that he had lived for two years in Iceland, in a lighthouse, and NLMS director Susan Tamulevich invited him to perform in New London. Several emails later, the plan was set.

Writes Martin Berkofsky: "Two of the most spectacular years of my life were spent living at the Gardskagi Lighthouse on Iceland's Southwest coast. To be certain, I must always seek out houses far away from neighbors: I am a noisy fellow, practicing piano all hours of day and night!

Gardskagi was a revelation: it sits on the North Atlantic, some 25 miles from the entrance to Iceland's Reylkavik harbour. The lighthouse is said to be the tallest in Iceland. Across the water sits the Snaefells Glacier, which according to Jules Verne was the entrance to the "Center of the Earth." Winds blow at Gardskagi-so fast and strong that one must hang on to the building to keep standing. Spectacular Aurora Borealis brilliantly illuminates the winter sky at Gardskagi. In in the summer, one almost sees the midnight sun!

But most important, the symbolism of lighthouses: built by men to care and protect others-to protect and to save lives...what a powerful symbol and what a spectacular, powerful, and moving influence this had upon me and my music those unforgettable two years!"

The New London Maritime Society, too, appreciates lighthouses a beacons of hope, and is pleased to share this event with the newly-reconstituted Amistad America, under the leadership of Hanifa Washington and working in partnership with Love 146, an organization dedicated to ending child trafficking and exploitation.

The program is as follows:
Ludwig van Beethoven:
Sonata Op. 10, No. 2 in F Major
Sonata Op. 27 No. 2 in C# minor

Franz Liszt:
Pater Noster
Miserere d'aprés Palestrina
Légende: St. François d'Assise: La Prédication aux oiseaux,
Légende: St. St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots

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