Ruth Leon recommends…Virtual piano recitals from Aspen: Maxim Lando and John O’Conor

Virtual piano recitals from Aspen – Maxim Lando and John O’Conor 
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Note that these concerts start at 6pm Mountain Time on March 14 and 15 and are then each available for three days worldwide.  

The Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado, where I have spent my summers for thirty years, have been offering free recitals and concerts by artists who regularly perform at the Festival, throughout the pandemic. This is clever marketing, keeps the Festival alive in the audience’s mind, and gives regulars like me the chance to hear these fine artists in another setting. 

We recent heard lovely performances from Simone Dinnerstein and Colin Davin, and this week we get two more. On Monday, and then viewable for three days thereafter, we can meet the 19-year old pianist Maxim Lando. Recently named Musical America’s  “New Artist of the Month,” Lando plays music by the late jazz pianist Chick Corea, amongst others.On Tuesday, a very different kind of music and performer. Irish pianist John O’Conor, long associated with Aspen Music Festival, plays Beethoven’s “Pathétique” and “Moonlight.” sonatas. O’Conor is a Beethoven specialist. His recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas caused  CD Review to rave, “he should be recognised as the world’s premier Beethoven interpreter” I have heard him play many times in Aspen and wouldn’t miss this one for anything.

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