Miller Theatre To Presents 3-Part Bach Concert Series Curated By Simone Dinnerstein

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts will present a series of three BACH concerts with pianist/curator Simone Dinnerstein: Bach Collection on Thursday, March 28, 8PM, Bach Suites and Concertos on Thursday, April 11, 8PM, and Bach Sinfonias on Thursday, April 25, 8PM.

Concerts will take place at Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street) Tickets starting at $30; Students with valid ID starting at $10. 

Thursday, March 28, 8PM

Bach Collection

The brilliant and expressive pianist Simone Dinnerstein returns to Miller for three uplifting Bach concerts. The series opens with this collection of varied works in which the boundless creativity of J.S. Bach is on full display. The program is anchored by two Bach masterpieces—his Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, where violas get their chance to shine, and his breathtaking sacred cantata Vergnügte Ruh', beliebte Seelenlust (Delightful repose, cherished pleasure of the soul).

PROGRAM:
J.S. Bach              Trio Sonata No. 5 in C major, BWV 529 (c. 1730)
J.S. Bach              Cantata in D major Vergnügte Ruh', beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170 (1726)
J.S. Bach              Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major, BWV 1051 (1718)
J.S. Bach              Violin Sonata in C minor, BWV 1017 (1717-23)
with continuo realizations for Simone Dinnerstein by Philip Lasser

ARTISTS:
Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo soprano
Peggy Pearson, oboe
Rebecca Fischer, violin
Ensemble Baroklyn
Simone Dinnerstein, piano and artistic director

Thursday, April 11, 8PM

Bach Suites and Concertos

Two of Bach's lively and virtuosic Orchestral Suites, his treasured Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, and his beloved Keyboard Concerto No. 6 are performed together for an incredible evening of music-making, featuring virtuosic flutists Christina Jennings and Ilaria Loisa Hawley as soloists.

PROGRAM:
J.S. Bach         Keyboard Concerto No. 6 in F major, BWV 1057 (1738)
J.S. Bach         Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 (c. 1738-39)
J.S. Bach         Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 (c. 1731)
J.S. Bach         Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050 (c. 1720-21)
with continuo realizations for Simone Dinnerstein by Philip Lasser

ARTISTS:
Christina Jennings, flute
Ilaria Loisa Hawley, flute
Ensemble Baroklyn
Simone Dinnerstein, piano and artistic director

Thursday, April 25, 8PM

Bach Sinfonias

Even though J.S. Bach's 15 Sinfonias were written as technical exercises for his students, they are ingenious and brilliant masterpieces of beautiful complexity. Acclaimed pianist Simone Dinnerstein offers her expressive interpretation of this collection, alongside works by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Keith Jarrett, and Philip Lasser.

PROGRAM:
Philip Lasser                          Twelve Variations on a Chorale by J.S. Bach (2002)
Keith Jarrett                          Encore from Tokyo (1978)
Jean-Philippe Rameau        Gavotte et 6 doubles (c. 1729-30)
J.S. Bach 15                            Sinfonias BWV 787-801 (1720-23)

ARTISTS:
Simone Dinnerstein, piano

About the Artists

Simone Dinnerstein, piano

American pianist Simone Dinnerstein is known as “an artist of strikingly original ideas and irrefutable integrity” (The Washington Post). Her self-produced recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations in 2007 brought her considerable attention, with The New York Times calling her “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.” She has made thirteen albums, all of which topped the Billboard classical charts, with repertoire ranging from Couperin to Glass. Her most recent album, Undersong, was released in January 2022 on Orange Mountain Music.

The New York-based pianist's schedule has taken her around the world, playing with orchestras ranging from the New York Philharmonic and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra to the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Rai, and the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, which she brought from Cuba to tour the United States for the very first time. She has also played in venues from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center to the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Seoul Arts Center, and the Sydney Opera House. 

Performance highlights include Piano Concerto No. 3, a composition by Philip Glass for her that was co-commissioned by twelve American and Canadian orchestras; the premiere of André Previn and Tom Stoppard's Penelope at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Aspen music festivals and Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Cleveland Orchestra, working with Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet; the premiere of Richard Danielpour's An American Mosaic, a tribute to those affected by the pandemic; and the world premiere of The Eye Is the First Circle at Montclair State University, the first multi-media production she conceived, created, and directed, which uses as source materials her father Simon Dinnerstein's painting The Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives's Piano Sonata No. 2. For the 2023-24 season, she joined Awadagin Pratt for a four-hand piano program presented by Washington Performing Arts at The Kennedy Center, and was the featured soloist for the Chamber Orchestra of New York's performance at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall. She also presents two series anchored by Bach at Miller Theatre at Columbia University and at the Gogue Center for the Performing Arts at Auburn University, featuring her string ensemble, Baroklyn, which she founded and directs.

Dedicated to her community in Brooklyn, Dinnerstein founded Neighborhood Classics in 2009, a concert series that raises funds for music education programs in New York City schools, and Bachpacking, a music program for elementary schools. A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, Dinnerstein is on the faculty of the Mannes School of Music and is a guest host/producer of WQXR's Young Artists Showcase.

Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo soprano

A naturally gifted singer known for her commanding stage presence and profound artistry, Jennifer Johnson Cano has garnered critical acclaim for committed performances of both new and standard repertoire. In response to her performance as Virginia Woolf in The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera News praised her “impressive tone and dead-on pitch throughout a wide range, and a fierce command of words,” calling her “a matchless interpreter of contemporary opera.” The New York Times noted her “mellow sobriety — and, in Woolf's darkest moments, stricken intensity.” As Offred in Poul Ruders's The Handmaid's Tale she was lauded by the Times as “towering…restless, powerful, profound, she is as formidable as this astonishingly demanding role deserves." With more than 100 performances on the stage at The Metropolitan Opera, her most recent roles have included Nicklausse, Emilia, Hansel, and Meg Page. Her debut recital recording with pianist Christopher Cano, Unaffected: Live from the Savannah Voice Festival, was recorded live and unedited. Recent recordings include a live performance of Beethoven 9 with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony as well as Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 "Jeremiah" with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Cano joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera after winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and made her Met debut during the 2009-10 season. Among her honors are Winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, a Sara Tucker Study Grant, a Richard Tucker Career Grant, and a George London Award.  

Rebecca Fischer, violin

Violinist Rebecca Fischer is sought after as a highly expressive, intuitive performer. She was the first violinist of the Chiara Quartet for eighteen years until the group's final season in 2018. She is currently the concertmaster of Baroklyn, an ensemble run by pianist Simone Dinnerstein, and a member of The Afield, a multidisciplinary collaboration with visual artist/writer Anthony Hawley. Fischer has premiered major new works by composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Philip Glass, Lisa Bielawa, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Mathew Fuerst, Augusta Read Thomas, Byron Au Yong, and Pierre Jalbert, among others. Performance highlights include the complete Bartók Quartets at Chicago's Ravinia Festival, several complete Beethoven quartet cycles, U.S. tours of clubs and bars of “Chamber Music in Any Chamber,” and collaborations with The Juilliard and Saint Lawrence Quartets, Simone Dinnerstein, Roger Tapping, Robert Levin, and the electronic duo Matmos. Recent solo engagements include Miller Theatre at Columbia University, The Stone, and the University of Oregon.

Fischer is the Executive Director and Director of Senior Camp at Greenwood Music Camp. She is on the faculty of Mannes School of Music, where she serves as co-chair of the string department. Fischer received her B.A. from Columbia University and M.M. and A.D. from The Juilliard School and has held residencies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harvard University. Her writing on artistry and creativity is published regularly in Strings, and her book of personal essays The Sound of Memory: Themes from a Violinist's Life (Mad Creek Books, the Ohio University State Press) was released in April of 2022.

Ilaria Loisa Hawley, flute

Born in 2009, Ilaria Loisa Hawley is the recipient of a 2019 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award and the inaugural recipient of Claire Chase's Pnea Foundation Young Flutist Award. Hawley's music has been performed by the New York Philharmonic and Face the Music. She is a composition student of Mathew Fuerst and a flute student of Zara Lawler. In 2020, Hawley garnered a First Commission from Composers Now for her work Quando L'acqua riflette (When the Water Reflects), performed by Kaufman Music Center's Face the Music. The world premiere of Quando L'acqua was given at the Composers Now Festival Opening Event. Hawley attends PS 314 Muscota New School in New York City.

Christina Jennings, flute

Christina Jennings is Principal Flute with the Arizona Musicfest's Festival Orchestra and has performed frequently with Orchestra 2001. Previously, she was the principal flute with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (Houston) for ten years. As a concerto soloist, Jennings has appeared with over fifty orchestras including the Utah and Houston Symphonies. She has worked with a diverse group of artists including Jethro Tull, David Parsons Dance Company, and members of Pilobolus. Chamber music partners have included the Ensō String Quartet, Takács Quartet, the Brasil Guitar Duo, Lucy Shelton, Simone Dinnerstein, Jonathan Leathwood, and Bridget Kibbey. Jennings is the winner of numerous competitions including the Concert Artists Guild, Houston Symphony's Ima Hogg, and The National Flute Association's Young Artist. She can be heard on CDs by Alec Wilder alongside jazz artist Marian McPartland, and recordings by Laura Elise Schwendinger. Her most recent recording is of flute music by the American composer George Rochberg. Jennings is currently Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Colorado Boulder and is on the summer faculty of Greenwood Music Camp and ARIA. She is also the director of the Panoramic Flutist Seminar and the Once a Flutist Festival in Boulder. Jennings received her bachelor's and master's degrees at The Juilliard School.

Peggy Pearson, oboe

Oboist Peggy Pearson is a winner of the Pope Foundation Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Music. She has performed solo, chamber, and orchestral music throughout the U.S. and abroad, including touring internationally and recording with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She has appeared as principal oboe with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Music from Marlboro. A member of the Bach Aria Group, she is also solo oboist with the Emmanuel Chamber Orchestra. She is founding director emerita of, and oboist with, Winsor Music, Inc., and a founding member of the chamber music group La Fenice. An advocate for contemporary music, Pearson was a fellow of the Radcliffe Institute in contemporary music and she commissioned and premiered over 30 works as artistic director of Winsor Music. She has been on the faculty at SongFest, Tanglewood Music Center, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Wellesley College, and the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Pearson has been on the faculties at Boston Conservatory, MIT (Emerson Scholars Program), Songfest, The Tanglewood Music Center (Bach Institute), the Conservatory of Music (University of Cincinnati), Wellesley College, the Composers Conference at Wellesley College and the Longy School of Music.

Miller Theatre

Miller Theatre at Columbia University is an acclaimed New York City music venue and concert producer. Founded in 1988, Miller's mission is to develop new audiences; foster enthusiasm for the arts by pioneering new programming approaches; educate the public by presenting specialized programs to a broad audience; discover diverse repertoire and commission new works; and share the University's intellectual riches with the public. A four-time recipient of the ASCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming, Miller Theatre produces innovative programs, supports the development of new work, and connects creative artists with enquiring audiences.