OPENING NIGHT:
AMERICAN CLASSICS BY GERSHWIN
With Pianist Kirill Gerstein and Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks

Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 7:30pm
92Y - Kaufmann Concert Hall 

92nd Street Y’s 2015/16 season opens with internationally renowned pianist and Gilmore Artist Award recipient Kirill Gerstein, who returns to his jazz roots to collaborate with the 1920s style big band and Grammy award winners Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks. Together, they present two of George Gershwin’s most famous works—Rhapsody in Blue and Piano Concerto in F—in their original jazz band arrangements from the 1920s. The rarely-heard 1928 jazz band version of Piano Concerto in F, arranged by Ferde Grofé for Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, has been conceived as a newly reconstructed score by Vince Giordiano and Maurice Peress. Maurice Peress, who worked with Leonard Bernstein and Duke Ellington, conducts these original arrangements which provide a glimpse into the past and allow audiences to hear these works in what was originally considered an unconventional instrumentation.

Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks
Kirill Gerstein, piano
Maurice Peress, conductor

GERSHWIN Overture to “Strike Up the Band” (arr. by Maurice Peress)
GERSWHIN Piano Concerto in F (Ferde Grofé version, reconstructed and arr. by Vince Giordano and Maurice Peress)
GERSHWIN “That Certain Feeling” – “I Got Rhythm” (trans. by Vince Giordano)
GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue (arr. by Ferde Grofé)

Tickets from $70
Artist Websites: Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks, Kirill Gerstein

“BRIDGE TO BEETHOVEN”, Part I:
Jennifer Koh and Shai Wosner’s Season Long Four-Concert Residency Begins 

Monday, October 26, 2015 at 8:30pm
92Y - Buttenwieser Hall 

Over 180 years after his death, Beethoven remains one of the most frequently performed composers in classical music concerts across the globe. It is no surprise that his music has continued to influence and inspire generations of composers and musicians, including the leading composers of today. Violinist Jennifer Koh, a longtime 92Y collaborator and one of today’s most innovative musicians, illustrates the composer’s lasting influence with her four-concert residency “Bridge to Beethoven,” in which she and pianist Shai Wosner perform all of Beethoven’s violin sonatas, along with new works by contemporary composers from a variety of cultural and stylistic backgrounds. Ms. Koh asked composers Vijay Iyer, Andrew Norman, and Anthony Cheung, all of whom she has worked with before, to write new pieces that would serve as companions to Beethoven’s existing violin sonatas.

In Ms. Koh’s words, “I wanted to create a project that explores diversity in a compelling way, where people can engage with different cultural voices in a musical conversation. This project is about including a wide range of voices that takes all of us on a journey that illustrates the evolving nature of classical music.”

Ms. Koh and Mr. Wosner’s residency includes the New York premieres of new works by Vijay Iyer (October 26), Anthony Cheung (March 21), and Andrew Norman (April 7), along with Jörg Widmann’s Sommersonate (December 7). 

Jennifer Koh, violin
Shai Wosner, piano

BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 12, No. 1
VIJAY IYER Bridgetower Fantasy (New York premiere)
BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata in A major, Op. 12, No. 2
BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata in A major, Op. 47, "Kreutzer"

Tickets from $25
Artist Websites: Jennifer Koh, Shai Wosner

Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at 7:30pm
92Y - Kaufmann Concert Hall

Angela Hewitt, whose musicianship was described by The New York Times as "an instant link from head and heart to fingertips," is one of the world's foremost performers and interpreters of Bach's keyboard works. In 2012/13, after performing Bach’s The Art of Fugue in its entirety at the Royal Festival Hall in London as part of the International Piano Series, Ms. Hewitt began a project to perform this monumental work over the course of two programs in major halls across the globe. She brings this project to 92Y, performing The Art of Fugue in its entirety in just one evening.

"The pianist’s eloquent exposition of The Art of Fugue, the result of a lifetime’s immersion in Bach’s music, could hardly be bettered." –The Financial Times

Angela Hewitt, piano (92Y solo recital debut)

BACH The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080

Tickets from $35
Artist Website: Angela Hewitt

Tickets are available at www.92Y.org/concerts or 212-415-5500.
Ticket prices subject to change.

For additional press inquiries, please contact Kirshbaum Associates: 
212-222-4843 | info@kirshbaumassociates.com

ABOUT 92Y

92nd Street Y is a world-class, nonprofit cultural and community center that fosters the mental, physical and spiritual health of people throughout their lives, offering: wide-ranging conversations with the world’s best minds; outstanding programming in the performing, visual and literary arts; fitness and sports programs; and activities for children and families. 92Y is the home of #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving launched in 2012. More than 300,000 people visit 92Y annually; millions more participate in 92Y’s digital and online initiatives. A proudly Jewish organization since its founding in 1874, 92Y embraces its heritage and welcomes people of all backgrounds and perspectives.

For more information, visit www.92Y.org.