The Friends of Chamber of Music have established a piano-recital series, expanding the scope of the volunteer-run organization’s offerings and giving area audiences the possibility to hear more of the world’s top keyboard artists.
“It’s very exciting,” said Myra Rich, the organization’s president. “There are so many wonderful pianists around, and we haven’t had the opportunity to have as many of them as we would have liked, and this is giving it to us.”
The new series, which is funded in part by a grant from the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, will showcase three renowned pianists – Angela Hewitt, Sept. 30; Krystian Zimerman, Oct. 24; and Marc-André Hamelin, May 14, 2008.
These additional performances increase the Friends total offerings to 10 in 2007-08 – three more than it presented in 2006-07 and two more than the maximum it has ever presented in one season.
In an audience survey, respondents expressed interest in more piano recitals, and the idea of a separate series gained momentum when the opportunity arose to book Hewitt’s two-concert presentation of “The Well-Tempered Clavier.”
The first of Hewitt’s two performances will inaugurate the piano series and the second will be part of the organization’s main series.
Rich noted that other chamber-music presenters across the country, including those in Kansas City, Mo., and Detroit, have successful series devoted to piano recitals.
The Friends have sold about 700 season tickets to the piano series, which, like all the organization’s concerts, will take place in the 977-seat Gates Concert Hall in the University of Denver’s Newman Center for the Performing Arts.
“We’ve had a great response – an unbelievable response,” Rich said.
Some of the group’s previous subscribers have switched to the piano series, and some people on a waiting list for season tickets for the Friends’ main series have subscribed to the piano lineup instead. But many of the subscribers to the new series are people who don’t normally attend Friends concerts.
“It has expanded our audience,” Rich said. “We really have had a lot of new people.”
