Southport, CT – Fairfield resident and award-winning pianist Alex Beyer performs Thursday, August 7 at 7:30pm in Pequot Library's renowned Auditorium/Concert Hall, with locally-known pianist Alan Murchie. The performance benefits Pequot Library.
The crescendo of the Summer Soirées benefiting Pequot Library culminates with, Titans of Tragedy, the passionate four hand work of Brahms and Rachmaninoff on duo piano.
Beyer comments on the training and enthusiasm leading up to this performance, "Alan and I will perform a program we have waited so long to share. It will be based on two massive works - in sound, structure, emotional toil, and every other facet. First, the Brahms 'Sonata for Two Pianos' will expose fantasy worlds of romance and demise. Then the first Rachmaninoff 'Suite for Two Pianos' will test mind, body, and spirit: based on the poetry of Tyutchev, Lermontov, and Khomyakov, it is a mercurial journey through the polarities of the human experience."
Beyer has been heralded as a "sensation" with "formidable technique" by the Hartford Courant; Beyer has acquired an impressive array of prestigious concert appearances nationally and internationally. He has been a guest soloist with the Milwaukee, Charlotte, Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury, and Bridgeport Symphony Orchestras, among others. First prize awards came in the Renee Fischer Competition and MTNA State and Regional Competitions. Beyer was a finalist in the 2012 Gina Bachauer International Competition, a 2011 MTNA national finalist and prizewinner in the 2010 PianoArts Competition. He was a 2012 US Presidential Scholar in the Arts.
Beyer has studied with Yoshie Akimoto, Dr. Matti Raekallio, and Melvin Chen. He is currently a rising sophomore in the Harvard/NEC dual degree program, studying with Russell Sherman and Wha Kyung Byun. He has recently played in master classes for John Perry, Jeremy Denk, Menahem Pressler, and Kirill Gerstein.
In the summer months he has attended the Killington Music Festival, Vianden Music Festival in Luxembourg, the Saarburg Festival in Germany, and most recently, the Taos Music Festival where he worked with Robert McDonald and Thomas Sauer.
Alan Murchie is a versatile musician whose performance schedule includes regular appearances as a solo pianist, organist, conductor, chamber musician, and lecturer. Recent concert performances include piano and organ concerti with The Knights, a live recital on WGBH Boston with BSO cellist Owen Young, and appearances at summer festivals including Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, New York. As a solo pianist, Alan has toured Morocco and has performed in Vienna, Berlin, Edinburgh, Venice, and Florence. As organist, Alan's New York recital venues have included the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola and Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue.
Murchie's musical career began at age ten, when he joined the renowned Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys. He later attended Yale College, where he was named "most promising and gifted composer" and his Paean for brass and woodwinds was chosen to open a concert dedicating the new Yale School of Music campus.
Save $5 per ticket by ordering online. $20/online; $25/at the door. Tickets are available online at www.pequotlibrary.org. $20/adult; $10/student.
Please visit www.pequotlibrary.org to learn more about this vibrant library, educational, arts and cultural institution. All classes and programs are open to everyone. For information: (203) 259-0346 ext. 15.