For Immediate Release November 26, 2012

Contact: Leah Ammon, (408) 961-5814 lammon@montalvoarts.org

Jeffrey Siegel salutes American Composers with Gershwin & Friends

Dynamo performance of beloved masterpieces of American music with captivating commentary and lively Q&A on January 19
Expressive and full of passion...This is an artist who means every note he plays. New York Times [He] has everything: massive technique, musical sensitivity and character, wide tonal resources, immense reserves of power, and the ability to communicate. Los Angeles Times The Leonard Bernstein of the piano Chicago Tribune SARATOGA, Calif. The Montalvo performance series Piano Masters will continue in January with a concert by a true master of the keyboard: pianist Jeffrey Siegel. On Saturday, January 19, at 8pm, Siegel will perform Gershwin & Friends, an iteration of his exceptionally popular series Keyboard Conversations. Tickets start at $47, and may be purchased through the Montalvo Box Office or Ticketmaster.com. The program for Siegels Montalvo concert will showcase Gershwin's beloved classic Rhapsody in Blue in the composer's rarely heard arrangement for the solo piano. It will also feature the local premiere of the unpublished Meditation on a Wedding by Leonard Bernstein, the humorous piece The Cat and the Mouse by Aaron Copland, Scott Joplins ragtime masterpiece The Wall Street Rag, MacDowell's tender To a Wild Rose, and Louis Moreau Gottschalk's spectacular The Union, a virtuoso arrangement of popular American melodies including the Star Spangled Banner and Yankee Doodle. More meaningful, more focused, and more inviting: Keyboard Conversations Inform and Delight Siegel was inspired to develop his Keyboard Conversations by looking to the example of his role model and friend, Leonard Bernstein, who was beloved for his informative, masterful recitals. The winning format of
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Siegels shows include a few minutes of clever and accessible informational remarks to the audience before the pianist performs each piece in full. Siegel takes seriously his charge to inform his audiences, which he believes changes the way in which they listen to and enjoy his playing. I do this hoping that whatever I share about the composition will make the listening experience more meaningful, more focused, more accessible, and more inviting, he says.* These concerts-plus-commentary have been performed to sold-out crowds in London and in cities all over the United States including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Phoenix, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dallas, Washington, D.C. and Denver. Some of these venues have been presenting Keyboard Conversations for more than forty years, much to the delight of Siegels devoted fans. Siegel won additional followers across the nation when Keyboard Conversations Piano Treasures, a one-hour, TV special produced by Time Life for PBS, was broadcast nationwide during PBSs 2011 pledge drives. His wit and erudition delight aficionados and neophytes alike, including more than a few celebrities. Oprah Radios Dr. Oz Show recently featured Siegel as guest of host Dr. Mehmet Oz and popular author and co-host Dr. Michael Roizen. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, too, is a fan of Siegels, praising him for his ability to educate without talking down or dumbing down...[making] listening to the music he plays more accessible and fun for everyone.

A Distinguished Artist: Jeffrey Siegel A renowned pianist and conductor, Jeffrey Siegel has enjoyed an illustrious career. Born into a musical family, he studied with Rudolf Ganz in his native Chicago, with the legendary Rosina Lhvinne at The Juilliard School and, as a Fulbright Scholar, with Ilona Kabos in London. He has performed with some of the finest orchestras in the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, the Moscow State Symphony, and NHK Symphony of Japan to name a few. In the United States, his engagements have included solo performances with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated with many of the pre-eminent conductors of our time: Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Neeme Jrvi, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas and David Zinman, as well as legendary maestros of the past, including Eugene Ormandy, Sir George Solti, William Steinberg, Klaus Tennstedt, and Yevgeny Svetlanov. His discography is likewise prestigious and extensive: Siegel's recording of Gershwin's complete works for piano and orchestra, with Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony, continues to be a best seller on Amazon, along with the four CDs of Keyboard Conversations recorded with and released by Random House
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Audio Publishing Group: Mozart and Friends, The Power and Passion of Beethoven, The Romanticism of the Russian Soul, and The Romance of the Piano. WFMT Chicago has produced the CD Music for the Young and the Young at Heart. Twin Cities Public Television, in conjunction with The Schubert Club, has produced Mozart & Chopin, and WEDU Tampa has released American Pianistic Treasures, both available on DVD exclusively at Mr. Siegel's concerts. Mr. Siegel is a Steinway artist. He and his wife live in New York City and are the parents of two grown children. *Quote by Jeffrey Siegel taken from 10 Questions with Piano Virtuoso Jeffrey Siegel, Stage Pass, November/December 2012, pp. 2-6. Click here to download the full text of the interview.

Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel: Gershwin & Friends What: Performance by piano master Jeffrey Siegel When: Saturday, January 19, at 8pm Where: Carriage House Theatre, Montalvo Arts Center, 15400 Montalvo Road, Saratoga, CA Admission: General: $52/$47 || Members: $47/$42. Tickets available at ticketmaster.com and through the Montalvo Box Office at 408-961-5858, M-F, 10am-4pm.

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Now celebrating its centennial year, Montalvo Arts Center is an oasis of culture and nature whose mission is to create and present arts of all types, nurture artists, and use our historic Villa, buildings, and grounds in innovative ways that engage people in the creative process. Located in Silicon Valley's Saratoga hills, Montalvo occupies a Mediterranean-style Villa, built in 1912 by Senator James Duval Phelan, surrounded by 175 stunning acres, including the campus of our international Lucas Artists Residency Program. Senator Phelan bequeathed the villa and grounds to the people of California for the encouragement of art, music, literature and architecture, a mandate that Montalvo has carried forward ever since its founding. For more information, call (408) 961-5800 or visit www.montalvoarts.org.

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