Simone Dinnerstein
Press Release NYC - Following her triumphant New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in November 2005, Simone Dinnerstein has been selected to join the roster of R. Douglas Sheldon with Columbia Artists Management, LLC (CAMI), the world's largest classical music management firm, launching an international career for the 33-year-old American pianist. Highlights of Ms. Dinnerstein’s 2006—2007 schedule includes recital debuts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the renowned Wigmore Hall of London, plus a debut as soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Music Director Leon Botstein.
Senior Vice President R. Douglas Sheldon said, “Ms. Dinnerstein was added to our roster because of her innate musicality and undeniable ability to bring audiences to an intimate understanding of the music during her performances. It is time for her to take the international stage, and we are proud to assist her in doing so.”
After Ms. Dinnerstein’s November performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at Weill Recital Hall, The New York Times described her interpretation as “a thoughtfully conceived, thoroughly modern performance that seemed to take into account the development of Western art music since Bach . . . an individual, compelling performance that so completely evoked the image of a journey that Schubert’s Winterreise kept coming in mind.” The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that Ms. Dinnerstein’s playing “bursts with… emotional and intellectual life.” This performance also led to a feature article by Harris Goldsmith in the March 2006 issue of the American Record Guide, in which he remarked, “… Dinnerstein’s inspired interpretation had many wonderful surprises in store… in variation 25… her harmonic intensity left an indelible mark on this mesmerized listener.”
Ms. Dinnerstein will receive The Classical Recording Foundation Award for 2006, returning to Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall to perform in conjunction with her acceptance on October 10. On October 27 and 28, she will debut as soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra with Leon Botstein conducting, performing two concerti—Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.1 and his Totentanz—on both dates at the Sosnoff Theater Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. On November 19, she will make her recital debut at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the Accolades concert series, performing Aaron Copland’s Piano Variations; J.S. Bach’s French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816; Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen, Op. 15; and concluding with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. Ms. Dinnerstein will repeat the program from her Metropolitan Museum of Art appearance on her recital debut at the Wigmore Hall in London (2007 date soon to be announced).
A charismatic and commanding performer of both solo and chamber music repertoire, noted for her warm and varied tone and for her unusual and persuasive interpretations, Simone Dinnerstein has been called “one of the brightest pianistic talents” by Joel Smirnoff, first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet, “a true artist” by Peter Serkin, and “remarkably musical” by Emanuel Ax.
Simone Dinnerstein has performed extensively throughout the United States, including several recitals at New York City’s 92nd Street Y, and concerto and chamber music performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and at the National Gallery in Washington, DC., the Mann Center in Philadelphia, Bard Music Festival, , the La Jolla Music Society, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Princeton’s Richardson Auditorium, and the Beethoven Society in Washington, DC. She has also performed abroad in Germany, South America and Britain, appearing at London’s Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and also in Oxford and Cambridge.
As a winner of Astral Artistic Services National Auditions, Ms. Dinnerstein has appeared as a concerto soloist at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, as well as in recital after which The Philadelphia Inquirer noted her “gorgeous blend of power and finesse”. She was also featured on the Kimmel Center’s own series Fresh Ink, performing works by George Crumb and Gerald Levinson, and in a live performance of Crumb’s Variations on Round Midnight on WNYC’s New Sounds. For two summers, Ms. Dinnerstein was selected as one of the few pianists invited to be a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center.
Ms. Dinnerstein is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she was a student of Peter Serkin. Among her many scholarships and awards at Juilliard were the William Petschek Piano Scholarship, the Vladimir Horowitz Scholarship and the Chopin Award. She also studied with Solomon Mikowsky and Maria Curcio, the distinguished pupil of Artur Schnabel.
