Pianist Simone Dinnerstein Coming to Walton Arts Center

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS, December 23, 2015 – Walton Arts Center is excited to announce American Pianist Simone Dinnerstein will take the stage Friday, Jan. 8 at 8 pm in Baum Walker Hall. This show is on the 10x10 Arts Series lineup and all tickets are $10.

Tickets are available now and can be purchased by calling Walton Arts Center's Box Office at 479.443.5600 or by visiting waltonartscenter.org.

American pianist Simone Dinnerstein is a searching and inventive artist who is motivated by a desire to find the musical core of every work she approaches. 

The Independent praises the "majestic originality of her vision" and NPR reports, "She compels the listener to follow her in a journey of discovery filled with unscheduled detours . . . She's actively listening to every note she plays, and the result is a wonderfully expressive interpretation." 

The New York-based pianist gained an international following because of the remarkable success of her recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which she raised the funds to record.

Released in 2007, it ranked #1 on the U.S. Billboard Classical Chart in its first week of sales and was named to many "Best of 2007" lists, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The New Yorker. In 2011, Dinnerstein was the best-selling instrumentalist on the U.S. Billboard Classical Chart and was included in NPR's list of 100 Favorite Songs from all genres. 

Dinnerstein is interested in exploring ways to subtly change the traditional concert experience and has created a new program with thereminist Pamelia Kurstin and actor Alvin Epstein, which combines classical music and avant-garde cabaret and weaves together poetry, music, improvisation and narration.

Dinnerstein has played concerts throughout the United States for the Piatigorsky Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing classical music to non-traditional venues. Notably, she gave the first classical music performance in the Louisiana state prison system when she played at the Avoyelles Correctional Center. She also performed at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, in a concert organized by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to coincide with her BSO debut. 

Dedicated to her community, in 2009 Dinnerstein founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series open to the public hosted by New York City public schools. This series features musicians Dinnerstein has met throughout her career and raises funds for local schools. The musicians performing donate their time and talent to the program. In addition, Dinnerstein has staged two all-school happenings at PS 321 – a Bach Invasion and a Renaissance Revolution – that immersed the school in music with dozens of musicians performing in school's classrooms throughout the day.

Dinnerstein is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she was a student of Peter Serkin. She was a winner of the Astral Artist National Auditions and has received the National Museum of Women in the Arts Award and the Classical Recording Foundation Award. She also studied with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music and in London with Maria Curcio.

Simone Dinnerstein lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and son. She is managed by Tanja Dorn at IMG Artists, represented worldwide by Andrea Troolin (Ekonomisk Mgmt) and is a Sony Classical artist. For more information, visit www.simonedinnerstein.com.

10x10 Arts Series support provided by Hershey & Denise Garner with media support from KUAF and the NWA Business Journal. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Gayly - 12/24/2015 @ 12:36 p.m. CST