The Gilmore Announces 2020–21 Virtual Concert Season

Gilmore Director Pierre van der Westhuizen today announced plans for The Gilmore's 2020-21 virtual concert season, webcast from September 20 to May 16.

The season includes three series of live-streamed concerts: Piano Masters, featuring established, world-class artists in recital; Jazz Club, a series of concerts led by top keyboard artists on the jazz scene; and Rising Stars, spotlighting some of today's most outstanding young pianists.

The latter two series are live-streamed from Kalamazoo's Wellspring Theater. E-tickets will be available from thegilmore.org on a pay-what-you-can basis. Free, pre-recorded webcasts are also scheduled as special events.

Mr. van der Westhuizen said:

"As arts organizations around the world have adapted to a new normal, I have been working with the staff and Board at The Gilmore to find ways to continue to bring exceptional musical experiences to our audiences. I'm thrilled to be able to share these plans, and by employing state-of-the-art broadcasting technology you can expect the same Gilmore performance quality you have always enjoyed, comfortably and safely at home."

One of today's most celebrated interpreters of 20th- and 21st-century piano music, Pierre-Laurent Aimard performs a solo recital of works by Messiaen and Stockhausen-interspersed with two of Beethoven's best-known sonatas, the "Moonlight" and "Appassionata"-from Berlin's Teldex Studio on Saturday, November 8 at 2:00 p.m. ET. He performs selections from Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux, which was composed for pianist Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen's second wife and Mr. Aimard's former teacher. The featured movements are L'alouette lulu ("The Woodlark") and La chouette hulotte ("The Tawny Owl"). Mr. Aimard's recording of the complete suite was released by PENTATONE in 2018. The program closes with Klavierstück IX by Stockhausen, another composer that Mr. Aimard has championed throughout his career. Mr. Aimard gave the world premiere of Stockhausen's Klavierstück XIV in 1985.

From New York's Steinway Hall, Yefim Bronfman performs two Beethoven sonatas-Op. 10, No. 3 in D major and the "Appassionata"-and Debussy's Suite bergamasque on Sunday, December 6 at 2:00 p.m. ET. With this recital, the Grammy Award-winning pianist continues his season-long celebration of Beethoven's 250th birthday, which has also included performances of the composer's concertos with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Boston and National Symphonies, and the New York Philharmonic. Suite by Debussy is a regular part of Mr. Bronfman's recital repertoire, and his performances of the work have earned consistent acclaim ("wonderful clarity and evenness, with perfectly judged glissandi and a wide palette of keyboard colors" -The Seattle Times).

Piano Masters recitals are pay-what-you-can. Pierre-Laurent Aimard's performance may be viewed on-demand for 24 hours after airing live, and the recital by Yefim Bronfman may be accessed for one week following the initial webcast.

A fixture of the bi-annual Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the Jazz Club series will for the first time be presented as part of the annual, fall-to-spring Gilmore season. Guest artists during the 2020-21 season are Emmet Cohen and Aaron Diehl, who lead live-streamed performances with their respective trios at Kalamazoo's Wellspring Theater.

The Emmet Cohen Trio takes the stage on Sunday, January 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The most recent winner of the prestigious Cole Porter Fellowship, Mr. Cohen has performed at major jazz festivals around the world, as well as at such venues as the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Birdland, Jazz Standard, London's Ronnie Scott's, Jazzhaus Montmartre in Copenhagen, Lincoln Center's Rose Hall, the Cotton Club in Tokyo, and Washington DC's Kennedy Center.

The Jazz Club series continues with the Aaron Diehl Trio on Friday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Originally trained in the classical tradition, Mr. Diehl has become known as a leading interpreter of the Great American Songbook, and during the 2014-15 season he was Music Director for Jazz at Lincoln Center's New Orleans Songbook series. A 2011 Cole Porter Fellow, he is active on both the jazz circuit and in the traditional concert hall-having gotten his start touring Europe with Wynton Marsalis's septet, and having since performed the music of Gershwin with orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic.

Jazz Club concerts are pay-what-you-can. The performance by the Emmet Cohen Trio may be viewed on-demand for 30 days after airing live. The Aaron Diehl Trio's concert may be accessed until 24 hours after the performance.

The Gilmore's 2020-21 Rising Stars series, in which emerging classical and jazz pianists give live-streamed performances from Kalamazoo's Wellspring Theater, commences with a recital by Mackenzie Melemed on Sunday, September 20 at 4:00 p.m. ET. Winner of The Juilliard School's 2019 Leo B. Ruiz Carnegie Hall Recital Prize and 2018 Arthur Rubinstein Piano Prize, Mr. Melemed performs a varied program ranging from the Baroque to the 20th century, featuring works by Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, Debussy, Sibelius, Stravinsky, and Florence Price.

The Rising Stars series continues with a recital by Chaeyoung Park on Sunday, October 18 at 4:00 p.m. ET. She performs Brahms's Sonata No. 3, Debussy's Pour le piano, Unsuk Chin's Etude No. 5 ("Toccata"), and selections from Ligeti's Musica Ricercata, the latter of which she performed on WQXR in fall 2019 (listen here) in advance of her debut at Carnegie's Weill Hall.

On Sunday, November 29 at 4:00 p.m. ET, Concert Artists Guild (CAG) Competition winner Dominic Cheli pairs Beethoven's monumental "Hammerklavier" Sonata with two contemporary works-Carl Vine's Piano Sonata No. 1 and H. Leslie Adams's Etude No. 2 from Piano Etudes, Book 2. Since winning the CAG Competition in 2017, Mr. Cheli has made his debuts at Carnegie's Weill Hall and at Disney Hall with the Colburn Orchestra under Valery Gergiev. He also recently completed the recording sessions for his Liszt/Schubert album, which will mark his second release on Naxos.

On the jazz front, Isaiah J. Thompson, winner of the 2018 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, leads his quartet on Sunday, February 7 at 4:00 p.m. ET. He has performed with major jazz artists, including Christian McBride, Steve Turre, John Pizzarelli, Joe Farnsworth, and Buster Williams. He also made his recording debut alongside Wynton Marsalis.

Among this season's Rising Stars are two top prize winners of the 2020 National Chopin Competition, including second-prize winner Evren Ozel. On Sunday, March 14 at 4:00 p.m. ET, he performs Chopin's Polonaise-fantaisie and Sonata No. 2, as well as Bach's Partita No. 5, Beethoven's Op. 109 sonata, and George Walker's Piano Sonata No. 5. A student at the New England Conservatory, Mr. Ozel has performed with ensembles including the Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras and has also made multiple appearances on NPR's From the Top. Mr. Ozel will compete at the next International Chopin Competition in Warsaw.

Jazz artist Glenn Zaleski, "an excellent young pianist notable both for his harmonic insight and his rhythmic composure" (The New York Times), leads his trio on Sunday, May 2 at 4:00 p.m. ET. He is an active presence on the New York City jazz scene and has recorded three albums for the legendary NYC-based jazz label Sunnyside Records, including a new recording released last month, titled The Question.

The Gilmore season concludes with a recital by Avery Gagliano, first-prize winner of the 2020 National Chopin Competition, on Sunday, May 16 at 4:00 p.m. ET. She performs Chopin's Mazurkas, Op. 56; Waltz in F major, Op. 34, No. 3; and Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, as well as Bach's English Suite No. 2 in A minor; Beethoven's "Quasi una fantasia" Sonata, Op. 27, No. 1; and Robert Nathaniel Dett's Magnolias, from his Magnolia Suite. Ms. Gagliano studies with Gary Graffman and Jonathan Biss at the Curtis Institute of Music. Like her fellow Rising Star Evren Ozel, she will compete at the next International Chopin Competition in Warsaw.

Rising Stars concerts are pay-what-you-can and
may be viewed on-demand for 30 days after airing live.

Gilmore Director Pierre van der Westhuizen hosts a live Q&A via Vimeo and
AnywhereSeat with each Rising Stars artist following their performance.

Renowned Bach interpreter Angela Hewitt is featured on Sunday, March 28 at 4:00 p.m. ET in a recital webcast of the composer's Toccata in C minor, BWV 911; French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816; Italian Concerto, BWV 971; and Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903. This performance, recorded in advance, builds on Ms. Hewitt's decades-long engagement with Bach's keyboard music, including a multi-year recital series, "A Bach Odyssey," that encompasses this complete repertoire, and a cycle of recordings for Hyperion of all of the major keyboard works.

On Sunday, February 21 at 4:00 p.m. ET, The Gilmore webcasts 2008 Gilmore Young Artist Rachel Naomi Kudo performing the world premiere of pianist-composer Marc-André Hamelin's Suite à l'ancienne (Suite in the old style), a work Ms. Kudo commissioned using funds from her Gilmore Young Artist Award. The premiere, pre-recorded by Ms. Kudo, will be preceded on the broadcast by a new episode of Zsolt Bognár's interview series Living the Classical Life, featuring Mr. Hamelin as the episode's guest. The event will conclude with a live Q&A with Ms. Kudo, Mr. Hamelin, and Mr. Bognár, hosted by Gilmore Director Pierre van der Westhuizen via YouTube, Facebook, and thegilmore.org.

Special events are free to watch and may be viewed live or
on-demand for 30 days following their initial airing.

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