Concert Artists Guild to Welcome Pianist Michael Brown to The DiMenna Center, 5/7

Concert Artists Guild presents the versatile pianist and composer Michael Brown, First Prize Winner of the 2010 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition, on its Concerts in New York series on Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Cary Hall at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music.

With variations by Schubert and Beethoven serving as bookends, the program includes the New York premiere of Mr. Brown's own "Folk Variations" (2013). The program also features music by two composition mentors--George Perle and Samuel Adler (whose work is dedicated to Mr. Brown)--as he celebrates the release of his latest recording: George Perle, Eight Pieces (1938-1997) on Bridge Records.

Tickets are $20, $10 for students and can be purchased online at http://www.concertartists.org/concerts-nyc/michael-brown.

The New York Times has declared Michael Brown "a young piano visionary," praising him for "a magnificent performance" and a "powerful technique and a vivid imagination." He is First Prize Winner of the 2010 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition. As winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition, Mr. Brown performed with the Juilliard Orchestra under New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert, and he performed a recital at Alice Tully Hall as winner of Juilliard's 2012 William Petschek Piano Recital Award. Mr. Brown is an equally dedicated composer whose unique artistry is reflected in a creative approach to programming, where he often interweaves the classics with contemporary works and his own compositions. He has appeared on four continents, in such major venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2013 he spent his third summer as a participating artist at Marlboro Music.

Among the highlights of Mr. Brown's 2013-14 season are his Carnegie Hall Isaac Stern Auditorium debut with the New York Youth Symphony; a recital at London's Wigmore Hall with violinist Elena Urioste; a ten-concert European tour with violinist Caroline Goulding, including a performance at the Louvre; an appearance on Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series; a performance at Alice Tully Hall with his duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis; and concerts at the Vancouver Recital Society, New Orleans Friends of Music, Danbury Concerts, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Mr. Brown's recent schedule has also included engagements with the New Haven, Bakersfield, Roswell, and Santa Maria Orchestras; recitals at Dame Myra Hess Concerts in Chicago, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and Gilmore Festival's Rising Stars Series; and performances at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Caramoor, Moab, Mostly Mozart, Music@Menlo, Beijing International, and Kyoto International music festivals.

His compositions have been described as "striking" by The New York Times and as "intriguing" by The Washington Post. He is the recipient of the 2011 Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Award and the 2009 Palmer-Dixon Prize from Juilliard. Recent commissions include a multimedia work for cello, piano, and film premiered in 2013 at New York's Look & Listen Festival; a new four-hand piece for Bargemusic's Here and Now Winter Festival, a set of songs for mezzo-soprano Naomi O'Connell; a new piano piece commissioned by the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation; and Folk Variations for pianist Adam Golka. Constellations and Toccata, written for pianist Orion Weiss, was premiered at the Kennedy Center in January 2012. Mr. Brown's compositions have also been performed at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Olympic Music Festivals, as well as in such New York venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, (Le) Poisson Rouge, SubCulture, and Bargemusic. He is a member of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI).

Mr. Brown's debut solo CD, featuring works by Schubert, Debussy, and Brown, was released on CAG Records in fall 2012. Upcoming CD projects are an all-Schubert disc for Naxos, a recording of solo piano works by George Perle for Bridge Records, and a four-hand album with pianist Jerome Lowenthal for CAG Records.

A native New Yorker, Mr. Brown began his piano studies at six with Herbert Rothgarber and later studied with Adam Kent. He earned dual bachelor's and master's degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald and composers Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. He is a two-time winner of The Juilliard School's Gina Bachauer Piano Competition and received the Raeburn Award for Artist of Special Promise from the 2009 Honens International Piano Competition. He has also worked with violinist Pamela Frank and pianists Mitsuko Uchida, Alfred Brendel, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, and Richard Goode.

CAG provides support to a roster of talented artists during the critical and formative time between completion of formal studies and the achievement of an established career. Artists are selected through a rigorous multi-round annual competition open to traditional and non-traditional instrumentalists, ensembles and singers. CAG offers comprehensive management services including concert bookings and tour management, commissioning and recording opportunities and marketing and publicity support. Competition winners are also presented on the Concerts in New York at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. The New Music/New Places initiative presents CAG artists in non-traditional venues such as bars, clubs and galleries, introducing diverse audiences to concert music. The CAG Records label enables roster musicians to get their music onto disc and into the marketplace. The CAG Commissioning Program ensures that classical music continues to be a living art form by fostering collaborations between performers and composers.