Pianist Jeffrey Siegel Opens New Season at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church

(SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) – As part of Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts’ 2008-09 “Detour” Season, American pianist Jeffrey Siegel will open a new series of Keyboard Conversations at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church with a recital of Beethoven’s works on Nov. 6.

Single tickets are available for $38 online at http://www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org/ or through the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts box office at (480) 994-ARTS (2787).

Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations are a unique, concert-plus-commentary format in which he speaks to the audience about the music before performing each work. New listeners have greeted these programs with enormous enthusiasm because they present an informal, accessible and highly entertaining introduction to the vast repertoire of the piano and to classical music in general. Seasoned music-lovers have been enriched by Siegel’s erudition and delighted by his wit. Ongoing series flourish in numerous American cities, among them New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Scottsdale/Phoenix, San Francisco, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Denver. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts has been presenting Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations since 1979, a testament to Siegel’s superb artistry, innovative format and loyal following.

Siegel’s Basking in Beethoven program will feature the German composer’s Fur Elise (Who was she, and why did Beethoven write this composition for her?), the Moonlight Sonata, the hilarious Rage Over a Lost Penny and the Farewell Sonata (Who was leaving, and why was Beethoven so deeply affected?).

2008-09 KEYBOARD CONVERSATIONS

• Basking in Beethoven – November 6, 2008 @ Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, Scottsdale.
• Haydn and Mozart: Humor and Heartache – January 15, 2009 @ Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, Scottsdale.
• The Longevity of the Short Piece – March 12, 2009 @ Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, Scottsdale.
• Musical Pictures – April 23, 2009 @ Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, Scottsdale.

JEFFREY SIEGEL
Jeffrey Siegel has been a soloist with the world’s great orchestras. Abroad, these include the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, Philharmonic and Philharmonia, Moscow State Symphony, Bayerischer Rundfunk, The Hague Residentie Orkest, Oslo Philharmonic, Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchestra of La Scala and NHK Symphony of Japan. In the United States, engagements include the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Siegel has collaborated with many of the pre-eminent conductors of our time: Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Neeme Järvi, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas and David Zinman, as well as legendary maestros of the past, including Eugene Ormandy, Sir George Solti, William Steinberg, Klaus Tennstedt and Yevgeny Svetlanov.

As a conductor, Siegel has appeared with the Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestras, The Minnesota Orchestra and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as orchestras in France, Scandinavia and South America. He is equally at home in the dual role of conductor/pianist, directing the orchestra from the keyboard. For 13 years, Siegel served as music director and conductor of the Mainly Mozart Festival in Arizona.

In 2006, Random House Audio Publishing Group released an audiobook series of four CDs of Keyboard Conversations: Mozart and Friends, The Power and Passion of Beethoven, The Romanticism of the Russian Soul and The Romance of the Piano. They are available at www.randomhousecom/audio, for download at iTunes and Audible and at booksellers across the country. Twin Cities Public Television, in conjunction with The Schubert Club, recently produced and broadcast two half-hour Keyboard Conversations – Mozart & Chopin – available on DVD exclusively at Siegel’s concerts. His recording of Gershwin’s complete works for piano and orchestra with Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony continues to be a best-seller and is available as a VoxBox, 2-CD set (CDX 5007).

Born into a musical family, Jeffrey Siegel studied with Rudolf Ganz in his native Chicago, with the legendary Rosina Lhévinne at The Juilliard School and, as a Fulbright Scholar, with Ilona Kabos in London. Siegel and his wife live in New York City and are the parents of two grown children.

Jeffrey Siegel is a Steinway artist.

LOCATION AND PARKING
Pinnacle Presbyterian Church is located in Scottsdale at 25150 N. Pima Rd. at the East Happy Valley Road intersection. Free parking is available at the church.

ACCESSIBILITY
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts offers performance accommodations to enhance audience members’ experience, including: American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation or live audio description with two weeks advance notice. Assisted listening devices and wheelchair seating are always available. Visit the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts’ Web site at http://www.scottsdaleperformingartsorg/ or contact the box office at (480) 994-ARTS [TDD: (480) 874-4694] for further details. Please inquire about services when ordering tickets.

GROUP DISCOUNTS
A $3 discount per ticket is available for groups of 15 or more (subject to restriction and limitation). Call (480) 874-4690 for more information.

STUDENT DISCOUNTS
Students with valid student identification may purchase half-price tickets (subject to availability; limit one per student) 72 hours before any performance at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts box office. Tickets must be purchased in-person; phone orders are not accepted.

SCOTTSDALE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Opened in 1975, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts presents a dynamic, culturally diverse season of dance, jazz, classical and world music, theater and satire. Approximately 1,000 performances, educational programs, festivals and other events are showcased annually serving more than 300,000 people and contributing substantially to Scottsdale’s high quality of life and vibrant arts scene. Performances take place in the Center’s 838-seat Virginia G. Piper Theater (closed for renovation during the 2008-09 season) and 136-seat Stage 2 as well as the 2,200-seat amphitheater on the grounds of the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall and the 326-seat Theater 4301 in the Galleria Corporate Centre. The Center’s youth education and outreach programs reach more than 40,000 school children each year, and its free programs are available to the entire public. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts also produces the popular Scottsdale Arts Festival every March; Sunday A’Fair, a series of free outdoor music festivals held on Sunday afternoons from January to April; and Native Trails, a collaboration with the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau that features free demonstrations of Native American arts and culture from January to April. Open daily and during performances, The Store @ Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts offers hand-crafted jewelry, accessories for the home, toys for imaginative young minds, recordings, books, greeting cards and more.

The Scottsdale Cultural Council, a private nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is contracted by the City of Scottsdale, Arizona, to administer certain City arts and cultural projects and to manage the City-owned Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and Scottsdale Public Art Program. The programs of the Scottsdale Cultural Council are made possible, in part, by the support of members and donors and grants received from the Arizona Commission on the Arts through appropriations from the Arizona State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

HOW TO REACH US
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
7380 East Second Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Box Office: (480) 994-ARTS (2787)
TDD: (480) 874-4694
Web: http://www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org/
E-mail: info@sccarts.org
Fax: (480) 874-4699