Pianist/Composer Michael Stephen Brown to Perform at Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival

The internationally lauded American pianist/composer Michael Stephen Brown, hailed by The New York Times as "one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers," will be presented by the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival in a concert on Saturday, December 7, 5 pm at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church.

The program, entitled "Baroque Bounty," will feature Mr. Brown performing on the harpsichord. Fellow colleagues who appear in this concert include Marya Martin, flute; Brandon Patrick George, flute; Kevin Zhu, violin; and James Baik, cello. The full program follows:

Johann Sebastian Bach Quintet for Two Flutes, Violin, and Continuo in D Major

Johann Sebastian Bach Flute Sonata in A major, BWV 1032

Antonio Vivaldi Concerto for Two Flute, Cello, and Continuo in G minor, RV 103

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber Violin Sonata No. 5 in E minor, C142

Georg Phillip Telemann Tafelmusik in D minor, for Two Flutes, Violin, and Continuo, TWV 43:d1

Reviewing Mr. Brown's performance of Haydn's Concerto in C major for Violin, Strings, and Harpsichord at Chamber Music Society's 2024/25 season opening concert, music critic Jon Sobel commented on Blogcritics: "Plucked strings and Brown's deft harpsichord fingering supported Zukerman in a sweet and homey Adagio that boasted wonderful balance and lightness. The finale sounded strong, celebratory, with superb dynamics." (October 15, 2024)

Praised for his "fearless performances," and called "one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers" by The New York Times, pianist and composer Michael Stephen Brown has also been singled out for his "exceptionally beautiful" compositions by The Washington Post.

A frequent performer of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mr. Brown, whose artistry is shaped by his creative voice as a pianist and composer, was featured by the Society this season with a solo recital at Alice Tully Hall. The excitement of the evening was reflected in George Grella's March 20, 2024 article for the New York Classical Review:

Precise articulation in fluid phrasing, a sense of forward motion, and just the right amount of time lingering on the most colorful sonorities, all served the intellect and charm in the music... He finished the first half with a fantastic performance of Miroirs. Playing fleetly but with every note presented precisely, his pedaling and balance between percussive and legato articulations were perfect; one was enveloped in the sheer sound and mysteries of this wonderful piece. "Une barque sur l'océan" was deeply evocative, and "Alborada del gracioso" brought many to their feet in a premature ovation. Brown recaptured the atmosphere of the performance with a mesmerizing "La vallée des cloches.

As a guest soloist, Mr. Brown has performed with the Seattle Symphony, the National Philharmonic, and the Grand Rapids, North Carolina, Wichita, New Haven, and Albany Symphonies. He has appeared in recital at Carnegie Hall, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Lincoln Center. He regularly collaborates with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and has been featured at numerous festivals including Tanglewood, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Gilmore, Ravinia, Saratoga, Bridgehampton, Caramoor, Music in the Vineyards, Bard, Sedona, Moab, and Tippet Rise.

Mr. Brown performed at the 2023 Bard Festival and was singled out by Times critic David Allen: "Young artists excelled in all these concerts, not least the pianist Michael Stephen Brown, whose poised refinement made an early student piece by Smyth, her Sarabande in D minor, sound like a mature masterpiece." - The New York Times, August 8, 2023

Mr. Brown recently toured his own Concerto for Piano and Strings (2020) throughout the United States and Poland with several orchestras. He has received commissions from the Gilmore Piano Festival; the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra; the New Haven and Maryland Symphony Orchestras; Concert Artists Guild; Chamber Music Sedona; Music in the Vineyards; Shriver Hall; Osmo Vänskä, pianists Jerome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens, Orion Weiss, Adam Golka, and Roman Rabinovich.

A prolific recording artist, his latest album Noctuelles, featuring Ravel's Miroirs and newly discovered movements by Medtner was called "a glowing presentation" by BBC Music Magazine. He can be heard as soloist with the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot in the music of Messiaen, and as soloist with the Brandenburg State Symphony in music by Samuel Adler. Other albums include Beethoven's Eroica Variations; all-George Perle; and collaborative albums each with pianist Jerome Lowenthal, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and violinist Elena Urioste. He is now embarking on a multi-year project to record the complete piano music by Felix Mendelssohn including world premiere recordings of music by one of Mendelssohn's muses, Delphine von Schauroth.

Recipient of many awards, Mr. Brown was the winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant. Other awards include the First Prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the Bowers Residency from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (formerly CMS Two), and the Juilliard Petschek Award. Mr. Brown is a Steinway Artist.

Mr. Brown 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. Additional mentors have included András Schiff and Richard Goode as well as his early teachers, Herbert Rothgarber and Adam Kent. A native New Yorker, he lives there with his two 19th-century Steinway D's, Octavia and Daria.

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