When Joseph W. Polisi, president emeritus of the Juilliard School and author of The Artist as Citizen, welcomed piano prodigy Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner as a student at the prestigious performing arts conservatory, he also played host to the youngest to ever be admitted - to the Bachelor’s Degree at 14 and the Master’s Degree at 18. He also took in a proactive, concerned humanitarian, a young musician eager to take Polisi's ideology out into the world.
On Sunday, October 21st, at 3:00pm, the Danbury Concert Association, one of the most ambitious presenters of world-class classical music entertainments in Connecticut, will open its 2018/2019 season with Sanchez-Werner. The DCA was so moved by his performance for them in 2016, they've invited him back for a return engagement. The highly anticipated concert will take place at Veronica Hagman Concert Hall in southwest Connecticut’s premier performing arts facility, the state-of-the-art Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPAC) on Western Connecticut State University's Westside Campus in Danbury, CT (43 Lake Avenue Extension).
Fittingly, this recognized as " a gifted virtuoso" (San Francisco Chronicle), Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner received a prestigious Gilmore Young Artist award in 2014, given to the most promising American pianists, when he was a mere 18 years old. Since then his appearances on some of the world’s most noteworthy stages — including a solo performance for President Barack Obama at the White House, and both Lincoln and Kennedy Centers — have earned him critical acclaim. The Chronicle continued to note that "[Sanchez-Werner] ...brought out transparency and emotional intensity with tender aplomb. Finger-busting writing seemed not to daunt him in the slightest.” La Presse Montreal proclaimed him “a premier pianist...[with] exquisite musicality, masterful technique, and a veritable deluge of sonorities.” The 20-something musician has been lauded for performances that have stirred the intellect and humanity of his audiences on five continents: “Poetic,"electrifying,” “mesmerizing," "masterful," "sharing an artistry and extraordinary ability to communicate."
In recognition of his on-going humanitarianism, Sanchez-Werner has received the Atlantic Council's Young Global Citizen Award for his dedication to social action through music in such countries as Iraq, Rwanda, France, Canada, and the United States. On UN World Day for Cultural Diversity 2010, at age 13, he played with the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra in Baghdad, raising funds for the Children’s Cancer Hospital; and in Rwanda, he performed for economic leaders and President Kagame as Rwandans continue rebuilding from the Tutsi genocide. For more about Sanchez-Werner's extraordinary career, and to listen to his work, visit https://llewellynsanchezwerner.com/
Through a grant from the Danbury Cultural Commission, admission for those 18 and under may attend for free, although advance reservations through Eventbrite are required. Subscriptions for the season's four concerts, which include the string & wind nonet, Frisson, on Sunday, November 11, at 3:00pm; the Walden Chamber Players, with a repertoire of strings and bassoon, on Sunday, March 24, 2019, at 3:00pm; and the award-winning Daedalus Quartet on Sunday, May 19, 2019, at 3 p.m. are currently available for $65 and may be ordered online or by mail by going to danburyconcert.org or calling (203) 748-2177. There, you can also get more information, directions, and support the Danbury Concert Association, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. (Artists and dates subject to change.)