October 2008 Concert Guest Artist: Michael Lewin, Piano
Michael Lewin enjoys a distinguished international reputation as one of America’s most abundantly gifted and charismatic concert pianists, performing to acclaim in 30 countries as orchestral soloist and in recital.
Highlights of Mr. Lewin’s 2008-09 concert season include solo and orchestral engagements throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Greece, Puerto Rico and Mexico. In England, he will make his London recital debut at Wigmore Hall, followed by a recital at Oxford University. Many of his recital programs will feature music spanning three centuries that is inspired by birds, from his upcoming recording “If I Were a Bird.”
Commanding a repertoire of 40 piano concertos, Michael Lewin has appeared as soloist with orchestras worldwide, including the Netherlands Philharmonic, Cairo Symphony, Bucharest ‘Enescu’ Philharmonic, Filharmónica de Guadalajara, the Thessaloniki State Symphony of Greece, the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Symphonies of Phoenix, Indianapolis, Miami, Colorado, Nevada, West Virginia, Puerto Rico, Illinois, North Carolina, Sinfonia da Camera, the Jupiter Symphony, and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. In 2000 he gave the world premiere of the David Kocsis Concerto for the New Millennium. He has performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue over 50 times.
He has concertized in such venues as New York’s Lincoln Center, Boston's Symphony Hall, Pasadena's Ambassador Auditorium, the Library of Congress, the Great Hall in Moscow, Hong Kong's City Hall Theater, Taipei's National Concert Hall, Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall, Wilmington's Grand Opera House, the Athens Megaron, the Opera House of Cairo, Holland’s Muziekcentrum Vredenburg and at the Spoleto Festival. Television appearances include a PBS Television recital hosted by Victor Borge that has been aired often throughout the United States. He has been featured in Clavier and Piano & Keyboard Magazines, and edited piano music of Griffes for C.F.Peters. A Steinway Artist, he was Artistic Director of Steinway’s Gala 150th Anniversary Concert held in 2003 in Boston’s Symphony Hall.
Michael Lewin’s career was launched with victories in the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in the Netherlands, the American Pianists Association Beethoven Fellowship and the William Kapell International Competition. He has also won prestigious career grants from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Aaron Copland Recording Fund. Mr. Lewin made a notable New York recital debut in Lincoln Center in 1984, on which occasion the New York Times wrote that “his immense technique and ability qualify him eminently for success”.
Michael Lewin’s discography has received extraordinary critical praise, and reflects the great scope of his musical interests and personality. Bamboula!, his recording of piano music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk,was chosen as a “Top 10 Pick” by the Boston Herald, while the Boston Globe enthused that “Lewin has the chops and the charm for these pieces.” His Naxos releases include a best-selling collection of Keyboard Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti and the complete piano music of American composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes (in two volumes). Mr. Lewin's recordings on Centaur Records include Michael Lewin plays Liszt and A Russian Piano Recital, featuring music of Scriabin, Glazunov andBalakirev. His recording of the Violin and Piano Sonatas of William Bolcom with violinist Irina Muresanu was released on Centaur in 2007. The Lewin-Muresanu Duo has maintained an active performance schedule since their formation in 2003. His newest compact disc, “If I Were a Bird,” a selection of bird-themed pieces by 19 varied composers, is scheduled for release in early 2009. His next recording project will be Piano Sonatas and Variations by Franz Josef Haydn.
Deeply committed to guiding and nurturing gifted young pianists, Michael Lewin is one of America’s most sought-after teachers. He is on the Piano Faculty of The Boston Conservatory, where he maintains a select studio of prize-winning students and is the Artistic Director of the Piano Masters Series. A native of New York, he studied at the Juilliard School. His teachers included Leon Fleisher, Irwin Freundlich, Adele Marcus, and Yvonne Lefébure. For more information, please visit his website at www.michaellewin.com
Michael Lewin appears by arrangement with Jonathan Wentworth Associates, LtdClick here for more information about Michael Lewin
