April 11, 2003
Contact: Sarah Ray
802-443-5794
sray@middlebury.edu
Posted: April 11, 2003
MIDDLEBURY,
VT
- Pianist
Arnaldo Cohen, a favorite of Middlebury College audiences, returns for
the grand finale to this season’s performing arts series with a
concert at 8 p.m., Friday, April 25, in the Center for the Arts Concert
Hall on South Main Street (Route 30).
His
program for the evening will include pieces by Liszt and Chopin along
with selections from a group of Brazilian piano pieces he has recorded.
Born
in Brazil to Russian parents, Cohen began his musical studies at age five.
He graduated from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro with degrees
in piano, violin and engineering. He started his career as a violinist
with the Rio de Janeiro Opera House Orchestra but was encouraged to pursue
piano. He continued his studies in Vienna and went on in 1972 to win first
prize in the Busoni International Piano Competition.
In
the 30 years since, Cohen, who now lives in London, has become a fixture
on the European and South American concert stage. His schedule includes
solo recitals, appearances with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic
and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome, and performances with smaller
ensembles such as the Amadeus Piano Trio and the Lindsay Quartet.
Relatively
obscure to American audiences until the late 1990s, Cohen has since thrilled
music lovers with performances in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia
and Atlanta as well as smaller towns such as Middlebury.
Concertgoers
appreciate Cohen’s maturity onstage and the depth of his expression
at the keyboard. “This is a fabulous talent,” wrote the San
Francisco Chronicle in 2001, describing Cohen’s “sweeping,
if not infallible, technique, his energetic attack, his sheer impetuosity
and his gift for mining contrasts at their most extreme and most revealing.”
During
the same year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution declared, “He is
debonair at the keyboard, and he is wise. … Cohen appeared to be
having fun, as if he were composing the music himself right on the spot.”
After a recital of Bach, Chopin and Liszt, the New York Post noted that
the audience “cheered itself hoarse.”
In
2001, Cohen recorded “Three Centuries of Brazilian Music”
with the Swedish label Bis Records. His other recordings include works
by Liszt, Schumann and Brahms.
The
upcoming concert is sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts
Series.
Reserved
seating tickets are $10 for general admission and $8 for seniors. A pre-performance
dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Rehearsals Cafe in the Center for the
Arts. Reservations are required. For tickets or dinner reservations, contact
the College Box Office at 802-443-6433. Online tickets and information
are available at www.middlebury.edu/cfa.