Pianist Michael Stephen Brown To Participate In The La Musica Festival

American pianist Michael Stephen Brown, hailed by The New York Times as "one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers," will return to the La Musica Festival for three concerts in Sarasota, FL, April 10-16, 2024.

In the first concert on April 10, Mr. Brown will perform Mendelssohn's Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. On April 13, Mr. Brown will perform Mozart's classic Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414, as well as Six Children's Pieces for Piano Four Hands, Op. 34 by Anton Arensky. On April 16, Mr. Brown will collaborate with long-time collaborator cellist Nicholas Canellakis for three pieces for cello and piano: a Bulgarian traditional piece Gankino, Don Ellis' Bulgarian Bulge, and Capriccio for Cello and Piano by Lucas Foss; as well as Bed?ich Smetana's Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 15.

For the three concerts, Mr. Brown will be joined by violinist Julian Rhee, violinist James Thompson, violinist Danbi Um, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, cellist David Finckel, and pianist Wu Han.

Mendelssohn, Brahms, & Haydn | Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 7:30 p.m.

Sarasota Opera House (61 N Pineapple Ave, Sarasota, FL 34236)

Joseph Haydn Piano Trio in A Major, Hob. XV:18

Allegro moderato

Andante

Allegro

Wu Han, Rhee, Finckel

Felix Mendelssohn Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 1

Allegro vivace

Adagio Scherzo: Presto

Allegro moderato

Brown, Thompson, Neubauer, Canellakis

~Intermission~

Johannes Brahms Sextet No. 2 in G Major for Two Violins, Two Violas, and Two Cellos, Op. 36

Allegro non troppo

Scherzo: Allegro non troppo

Poco adagio

Poco allegro

Um, Rhee, Neubauer, Thompson, Canellakis, Finckel

Mozart, Kodály, & Arensky | Saturday, April 13, 2024, 5:00 p.m.

Sarasota Opera House (61 N Pineapple Ave, Sarasota, FL 34236)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414

Allegro

Andante

Allegretto

Brown, Thompson, Um, Neubauer, Finckel

Zoltán Kodály Serenade for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 12

Allegramente-Sostenuto, ma non troppo

Lento, ma non troppo

Vivo

Um, Rhee, Neubauer

~Intermission~

Anton Arensky Six Children's Pieces for Piano Four Hands, Op. 34

Conte

Le coucou

Les larmes

Valse

Berceuse

Fugue sur un thème russe

Wu Han, Brown

Anton Arensky Quartet No. 2 in A Minor for Violin, Viola, and Two Cellos, Op. 35

Moderato

Variations on a theme of Tchaikovsky: Moderato

Finale: Andante sostenuto-Allegro moderato

Rhee, Neubauer, Canellakis, Finckel

Schumann, Smetana, & More | Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 7:30 p.m.

Sarasota Opera House (61 N Pineapple Ave, Sarasota, FL 34236)

Antonín Dvo?ák Miniatures for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 75a

Cavatina: Moderato

Capriccio: Poco allegro

Romanza: Allegro

Elegia: Larghetto

Rhee, Um, Neubauer

Bulgarian Traditional Gankino Horo for Cello and Piano (arr. Canellakis)

Canellakis, Brown

Don Ellis Bulgarian Bulge for Cello and Piano (arr. Canellakis)

Canellakis, Brown

Bed?ich Smetana Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 15

Moderato assai

Allegro, ma non agitator

Finale: Presto

Brown, Um, Canellakis

~Intermission~

Lukas Foss Capriccio for Cello and Piano

Canellakis, Brown

Robert Schumann Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44

Allegro brillante

In modo d'una marcia, un poco largamente

Scherzo: Molto vivace

Allegro ma non troppo

Wu Han, Thompson, Rhee, Neubauer, Canellakis

General admissions of $60 are available online on La Musica Festival's website. For more information please visit pianist Michael Stephen Brown's website.

Praised for his "fearless performances," by The New York Times and "exceptionally beautiful" compositions by The Washington Post, pianist and composer Michael Stephen Brown has performed as soloist 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 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.

A 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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