December 22, 2000
“The questioning, conviction and
feeling in his playing invariably reminds us of the deep reasons why
music is important to us, why we listen to it, why we care so much
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Pianist Max Levinson to
Perform Jan. 12
MIDDLEBURY, Vt.—The young American
pianist Max Levinson will give a recital on Friday, Jan. 12 at 7:30
p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Center for the Arts at Middlebury
College on South Main Street (Route 30). Levinson will play Robert
Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Diabelli
Variations. The performance is free and open to the public.
Born in the Netherlands and raised
in Los Angeles, Levinson began his piano studies at the age of five.
He graduated from Harvard University cum laude with a degree in
English literature, and did graduate study at the New England
Conservatory where he received an Artist Diploma and won the Gunther
Schuller Medal, the conservatory’s award for its top graduate
student.
Levinson has performed as a soloist
with an impressive array of orchestras both in this country and
abroad, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New World
Symphony, the Boston Pops, the San Antonio Symphony, and the National
Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. He has appeared in recitals in such
prestigious series as the Washington Performing Arts Society’s
“Kreeger String and Hayes Piano Series” at the Kennedy Center,
Lincoln Center’s “What Makes it Great?,” and the Fleet Bank of
Boston’s “Emerging Artists Series.”
Levinson’s debut recitals in 1998 at
Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall as the
Guardian Competition winner won critical acclaim and received
standing ovations. Of the New York recital, The New York Times
declared that Levinson’s “quietly eloquent conceptions, formidable
technique and lovely touch left little else to be desired.” Of his
recordings, the BBC Music Magazine exclaimed, “Max Levinson is a
master in the making. This young American offers playing of supreme
sensitivity and intelligence, beauty of tone and fantasy.”
The Jan. 12 concert is the fourth in
the Brainerd Commons Presents! Series, which is organized by Paul
Nelson, co-faculty head of Brainerd Commons and director of the
Middlebury College Concert Series. Brainerd Commons is part of the
Middlebury College commons system, which divides the campus into five
groups of residence halls. The series receives generous support from
the Christian A. Johnson Foundation.
For more information, Jennifer
Nelson, co-faculty head of Brainerd Commons, at
802-443-3321.