Piano Dedication Recital Launches 2015-16 Season

September 3, 2015

Thanks to a generous gift from Janet and John Nine, Purdue University now owns a brand new Steinway D grand piano. A Piano Dedication Recital will commence the 2015-16 Convos season at 8 p.m. on Sept. 11 in Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse. It takes special talent to have mastery of this intricately built machine, and this special performance will feature two American Pianists Association (APA) Fellows for its inauguration.

A 9-foot Steinway concert grand piano – known as the model D- is the global gold standard for concert pianos. They are hand-built machines with 12,000 parts.

This season-opening performance will feature 2013 American Pianists Association Classical Fellowship laureate Eric Zuber and 2013 APA DeHaan Classical Fellow Sean Chen.

Ticket holders are invited to attend a preshow discussion of the program with Joel Harrison, the President/CEO and Artistic Director of the APA, at 7 p.m. in Stewart Center, Room 310.

Eric Zuber

Eric Zuber at the piano

Making his orchestral debut at age 12 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Zuber has performed with orchestras in Cleveland, Israel, Minnesota, Calgary, South Korea and Ireland. He has also performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Sydney Opera House and Severance Hall. Zuber holds a bachelor’s degree from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree from the Juilliard School.

Sean Chen

Sean Chen performing with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra

Chen was America’s first pianist to reach the finals of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in nearly 20 years. Chen was a prize-winning pianist long before earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Juilliard, where he also took first prize in the 2008 Juilliard Concerto Competition. He went on to receive his Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music in 2014. Chen’s performance repertoire includes symphony engagements in Philadelphia, Indianapolis and South Korea, as well as an international roster of recitals.

Tickets for Piano Dedication Recital

Buy Tickets
$28 for adults
$22 for children 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students

Tickets are available at the Stewart Center box office at 765-494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW. Group tickets are also available to groups of 10 more. Call 765-496-1977 for more details or visit Group Sales for more information.

PROGRAM NOTES

Read the Piano Dedication Recital program

Encore performed by Sean Chen and Eric Zuber

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Marches Militaires
For piano, 4 hands D. 733, Op. 51, No. 2

2015-16 PERFORMANCES INCLUDING THE NEW STEINWAY D CONCERT GRAND PIANO:

SEPT 11 / Piano Dedication Recital with Sean Chen and Eric Zuber
SEPT 18 / Rising Stars of Metropolitan Opera
OCT 22 / Cécile McLorin Salvant
NOV 13 / In Mo Yang, violin
JAN 22 / DIVA Jazz Orchestra (Purdue Jazz Festival)
FEB 20 / Philip Glass: The Complete Piano Etudes
APR 7 / SFJAZZ Collective: The Michael Jackson Project
APR 16 / Les Violons du Roy with Alexandre Tharaud, piano