Acclaimed Pianist Jonathan Biss to Perform at Doudna Fine Arts Center
Mar-26-2009
Internationally acclaimed pianist Jonathan Biss is to demonstrate his remarkable technique and versatility in an upcoming performance at Eastern Illinois University's Doudna Fine Arts Center.
Biss is to perform works by Mozart, Kurtág, Schubert and Chopin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9, in the Dvorak Concert Hall. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and EIU employees, and $5 for students; seating is reserved.
After the performance, Biss will be available for a meet-and-greet. He will have CDs available for purchase.
"There are few headier thrills in the music world than the arrival of a major new performing artist," stated a 2005 review in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Pianist Jonathan Biss ... is just such a discovery.”
At 28, Biss enjoys a flourishing international career with orchestral, recital, chamber music and festival performances throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. He is noted for his prodigious technique, intriguing programs and artistic maturity in performances of a diverse repertoire.
Biss recently returned from two European tours, the first with the London Philharmonic in England and Spain; and the second with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in nine cities in Italy, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Slovenia.
Upcoming performances include his Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Melbourne Symphony debuts, as well as his NHK Orchestra debut in a tour of Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuyama. In May, he will be a resident artist in the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Schumann/Mendelssohn Festival.
Biss’ first commercial recording, featuring works by Beethoven and Schumann, was released in 2004. The San Francisco Chronicle called it a “brilliant debut release;” the Los Angeles Times called Mr. Biss “a serious, accomplished artist who puts the composer before the player;” and the Cleveland Plain Dealer remarked that this “recording is a clear signal that a master is emerging.”
Biss' albums have won numerous awards, including an Edison Award for his Beethoven recital CD and a Diapason d'Or Award for his Schumann recital album for EMI Classics. His most recent recording on the label is of Mozart Piano Concertos 21 and 22 with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Biss, who was raised in Bloomington, Ind., comes from a family of professional musicians. His grandmother Raya Garbousova was one of the first well-known female cellists; and his parents are violinist Miriam Fried and violist/violinist Paul Biss.
He studied at Indiana University with Evelyne Brancart and then, at age 17, at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Leon Fleisher. Biss recently took part in Fleisher's 80th birthday celebrations and was featured in the tribute to him on the CBS Kennedy Center Honors telecast.
Biss blogs about his life as a musician at http://www.jonathanbiss.com.
The concert is sponsored by the Doudna Fine Arts Center New and Emerging Artists Series and is presented in cooperation with the EIU Department of Music.
For reservations, or to arrange accommodations for people with special needs, contact Doudna Fine Arts Patron Services (217-581-3110 or doudnatix@eiu.edu) or visit the Doudna Fine Arts Center Box Office, which is open 2-6 p.m. weekdays and an hour prior to the performance.
The Doudna is located one block west of Ninth Street at Garfield Avenue on the EIU campus. Free parking is available in the any of the university lots at the corner of Ninth and Garfield and immediately south of the center.
The Doudna Fine Arts Center is a division of the EIU College of Arts and Humanities. For more information, please see http://www.eiu.edu/doudna.
