New Canaan Chamber Music Audiences are in for an exciting February surprise! They can again “Anticipate the Unexpected” when, for the first time, the program will showcase classical guitar along with George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” and more favorite composers including Johann Sebastian Bach and Gabriel Fauré.
The concert will be held on Thursday, February 6 at 3 pm and Friday, February 7 at 7:30 pm at the First Presbyterian Church in New Canaan at 173 Oenoke Ridge. Tickets are available at www.newcanaanchambermusic.org
Andrew Armstrong, virtuoso pianist and Artistic Director of New Canaan Chamber Music, will be joined by Orion Weiss, acclaimed world-class pianist performing two electrifying “four hands’ works. They will perform the Gershwin arrangement exploring the expressive and virtuosic possibilities offered by two fantastic pianists playing together on one piano. They will also perform Fauré’s “Dolly Suite.
Orion Weiss will solo with The Transcendental Étude by Sergei Lyapunov — a showcase of virtuosity that demands great technical skill, with rapid passages and intricate fingerwork and performed by only the most advanced pianist.
One of the most famous and beloved pieces in the classical guitar repertoire, Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” will be performed by Mak Grgić, a gifted young guitarist and two-time Grammy nominee.
Armstrong, praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, has delighted audiences worldwide, performing at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw’s National Philharmonic. This season, he will perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the Waterbury (CT) Symphony.
Weiss, one of the most sought- after soloists and chamber music collaborators, is widely regarded as a “brilliant pianist” (The New York Times) with “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post). He has performed with dozens of orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, and at Carnegie Hall, and New York’s 92nd Street Y.He performed with New Canaan Chamber Music in 2022.
In constant demand, Grgić, averages eighty-five performances a year — nearly two bookings per week. Highlights of the 24-25 season include appearances with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Pacific Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and others.
In just four years, New Canaan Chamber Music has become a thriving new addition to the concert scene. It also provides growing and inclusive programs of outreach with the Children’s Concerts and programs during the year that bring great music to seniors, youth orchestras, and local schools in New Canaan, Stamford, and Norwalk. NCCM is a 501c3 non-profit organization.
The Program
“Americans in Paris”
February 6, 3:00 pm | February 7, at 7:30 pm
Orion Weiss, piano
Andrew Armstrong, piano
Mak Grgić, guitar
