Celebrated Trans Classical Pianist Sara Davis Buechner Premieres Her New One Woman Show OF PIGS AND PIANOS

Beginning December 17th at 7:30 PM, pianist Sara Davis Buechner (www.saradavisbuechner.com) premieres Of Pigs and Pianos - the new one-woman show of her extraordinary life story in music and words. This theatrical and musical evening consists of excerpts from her recently-completed autobiography, illustrated with luminous piano performances, visual imagery and dramatic narration.

Ms. Buechner is one of America's most well-known classical pianists, as well as one of the first transgender women to transition mid-career (in the 1990s). She now shares her own tale of courage and integrity in the face of overwhelming personal and professional obstacles, to LGBTQA+ groups around the world, and opens that story in a delightful and absorbing new way with this unique showcase for her astounding talents.

Featuring piano music of Haydn, Mozart, Chopin, Ferruccio Busoni, Federico Longás, Yukiko Nishimura, Péter Wolf, and Sara Davis Buechner herself.

Held on the 3rd floor of Manhattan's TheaterLab, 357 Wescorit 36th Street (between 8th-9th Avenues), the show runs 1'15", and will be presented four times without intermission: December 17th (7:30 PM); December 18th (two shows: 2 PM and 7:30 PM); and December 19th (5:00 PM with a post-show reception).

Tickets are $30 general admission; $15 for students, seniors, and members of the LGBTQAI+ community, and are available at www.theaterlabnyc.com. Please contact TheaterLab at (212) 929-2545, theaterlab36@gmail.com for more information.


"Of Pigs and Pianos" starring Sara Davis Buechner, is written by Ms. Buechner with Sal Trapani; directed by Sal Trapani; designed by Phillip Baldwin; and produced by Ms. Buechner in association with Orietta Crispino of TheaterLab and Yamaha Artist Services New York under the direction of Bonnie Barrett.

SARA DAVIS BUECHNER (saradavisbuechner.com) is one of the leading concert pianists of our time, a musician of "intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess" (New York Times), with "sovereign command of the keyboard" (Los Angeles Times). Japan's InTune Magazine says: "When it comes to clarity, flawless tempo selection, phrasing and precise control of timbre, Buechner has no superior." She was the Gold Medalist of the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and a Bronze Medalist in the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.

With an active repertoire of more than 100 piano concertos ranging from A (Albeníz) to Z (Zimbalist) - possibly the largest of any living concert pianist - she has been soloist with many of the world's prominent orchestras, and given recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl. Ms. Buechner enjoys wide success throughout Asia where she tours annually.

Sara Davis Buechner is the most prominent transgender musician appearing on the classical concert stage today, and has been lauded as a champion of LGBTQ+ rights. She received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award of Brandeis University, and is a member of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Dr. Buechner is a Professor of Music at Temple University, has taught and given master classes at prominent music institutions worldwide, and has edited important piano collections for Dover Publications. Her own compositions are published by Muse Press of Tokyo. In 2022, she will mark her 35th year as a dedicated Yamaha artist.

Sal Trapani is a director, writer, and composer whose work has been seen at many New York, regional and international venues including the Minetta Lane (Raft of the Medusa), Lucille Lortel, Circle Rep, Westside Theatre, Circle in the Square, Kaufman Theatre, Irish Arts Center, Merkin Concert Hall, La Mama ETC, Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, The New York Theatre Workshop, Hudson Guild, 52nd St. Project, INTAR, EST, New Dramatists, Yale Rep, Long Wharf, the John Drew Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, the Powerhouse (LA), the Bay Area Playwrights Festival (Associate Artistic Director), Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and the Holland Festival.

Trapani has worked on several musicals, and is the co-author (with Gerrit van der Meer) and composer of FOOD - A Sixteen Course Musical, which was performed at the Westbank Café before traveling to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His adaptation of Twelfth Night - The 1960's San Francisco Psychedelic Musical, performed in Guayaquil, Ecuador as part of a cultural exchange project co-sponsored by the U.S. Consulate and Teatro Centro. Most recently, he has completed two musical reworkings of Greek tales: Orpheus - Journey to Light and the first two parts of the Oresteia, a hip-hop reworking of the only surviving Greek trilogy.

Trapani holds an MFA from the University of Southern California, and is a full-time professor at Western Connecticut State University. As an actor, Trapani has appeared on stage, film and TV, such as Law & Order and One Life to Live. He is a member of Circle East Theatre Company and Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC) and SAG-AFTRA.