Pianist Menahem Pressler will present a master class on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 at 3:00 p.m., at Mannes College of Music, a division of New School University. The master class is part of Mannes’s yearlong festival, “The Flowering of Romanticism.” Mannes master classes are free and open to the public and take place at Mannes College of Music, 150 West 85th Street, NYC. (By subway: Take the #1 train to 86th Street.)
For a complete schedule of “The Flowering of Romanticism” festival, call (212) 580-0210, ext. 222 or visit the Web site at www.mannes.edu. For information on other Mannes College of Music events, call (212) 496-8524.
Menahem Pressler is one of the world’s most distinguished and honored musicians, with a career that spans nearly six decades. Born in Madgeburg, Germany, Pressler received most of his musical training in Israel and began his international musical career when he was awarded first prize at the Debussy International Piano Competition in San Francisco in 1946, followed by his North American concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Ormandy.
He has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, among many others. Pressler frequently appears in recital. He has also been a guest artist with chamber ensembles, including the American, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard and Tokyo String Quartets.
In 1955, Pressler co-founded the Beaux Arts Trio, which has become one of the most enduring and widely acclaimed chamber music ensembles in musical history. The Beaux Arts Trio has made more than 50 recordings on the Philips label and has performed around the globe, winning numerous international honors.
In May 2002, Pressler was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit from the National Society of Arts and Letters. He was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000, and in 1998, he received one of the five Lifetime Achievement Awards granted in the last fifty years by Gramophone magazine. Pressler holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Music at Indiana University, where he has been a faculty member since 1955.
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Mannes College of Music, founded in 1916, is one of the world’s major conservatories of music. A division of New School University, Mannes offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as a Professional Studies Diploma program. Notable alumni from Mannes include soprano Frederica von Stade, pianists Murray Perahia and Richard Goode, and conductors Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, JoAnn Falletta and Julius Rudel. Joel Lester is Dean of the College. For further information on Mannes, call (212) 580-0210 or visit the Web site at www.mannes.edu.