September 29, 2010
Contact: Sara R. Leonard
Concert and Production Manager
413/542-2195
AMHERST, Mass. – The 2010-2011 Music at Amherst Chamber Series continues with a residency and concert with pianist Christopher Taylor Friday, Nov. 5, and Saturday, Nov. 6. The concert is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m. in Buckley Recital Hall in the Arms Music Center at Amherst College and requires tickets; seats may be reserved by calling 413/542-2195 or emailing concerts@amherst.edu.
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Taylor, a Van Cliburn Competition Finalist and Avery Fisher Career Grant winner, will perform all thirty of J. S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations on the unique Steinway-Moór dual-manual Concert Grand, which features a bi-level keyboard and 164 keys. The piano was built by Steinway for Werner von Siemens of Berlin and sold to him in 1929. The piano was purchased by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1961 and restored in the early 2000s. Since the completion of the rebuilding project in 2007, the piano has been used at its home in Madison and for selected tour dates.
Taylor’s residency will begin on Nov. 5 with a public lecture and instrument demonstration at 5 p.m. A casual buffet supper will follow at 6 p.m., and the evening will conclude with a panel discussion at 7 p.m. about Bach and transcription featuring Taylor, Amherst College philosophy professor Joe Moore; early music specialist Bob Eisenstein; Dartmouth College music lecturer and harpsichord instructor Greg Hayes ’73; and Juilliard-trained pianist Alissa Leiser. These events are free and open to the public with advanced reservations through the concert office.
The box office for the Nov. 6 concert opens on Oct. 25. Ticket prices for that event are $28 for the general public, $22 for senior citizens, $12 for students and $7 for Amherst College students. Amherst College students can also request free student rush tickets at the door beginning at 7 p.m. on the evening of the performance.
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