“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

about it.”

—The Boston Globe

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.