The Legacy of Eminent American Pianist/Composer Robert Helps is Recognized on the 10th Anniversary of his Death, as “A Celebration of the Life and Music of Robert Helps" is Held at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall
November 3rd Event is a Production of Well Found Music Presents
Helps' colleagues from the University of South Florida's School of Music will perform published and unpublished selections from the celebrated composer's solo piano, piano/string chamber music and more
On November 3rd at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the legacy of eminent American pianist/composer Robert Helps will be recognized on the tenth anniversary of his death, with “A Celebration of the Life and Music of Robert Helps."
Joan Tower, Grammy Award-winning composer said: “When I met Bob, it was like a force of nature had walked into my life. He was a huge presence-both personally and musically and I will never forget him. I still miss him. This 10th Anniversary concert to his memory is a testament to the power of his life and music."
Proceeds from the upcoming concert, a production of Well Found Music Presents, will go toward the publishing of Help's unpublished works and the preservation of his analog recordings.
Helps' colleagues from the University of South Florida's School of Music (where he taught and performed) will present published and unpublished selections from the composer's solo piano and piano/string chamber music. Performers include: Svetozar Ivanov, piano; Scott Kluksdahl, cello; Carolyn Stuart, violin and Dharshini Tambiah, piano. The evening will feature an all-Helps program focusing on both Piano trios, the unpublished 'Fantasy' for violin and piano, the unpublished 'Postcards,' Helps' well-known and loved 'Hommage a Faure,' 'Saccade' and 'Eventually the Carousel Begins' for piano four hands, and the unpublished 'Duo' for cello and piano.
Thursday November 3rd, 8pm
Well Found Music Presents 'A Celebration of the Life and Music of Robert Helps.' Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, 154 West 57th Street, New York. Tickets on sale now: at $28-$48, available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or via Carnegie Charge at 212-247-7800.
Performers at the 11/3 Event in New York
Svetozar Ivanov, piano:
Svetozar Ivanov's numerous appearances as recitalist and orchestral soloist include performances at Salle Gaveau and Association Philomuses in Paris, The Bethaninklooster in Amsterdam, Walled City Music Festival in Northern Ireland, Royal Academy of Music in Denmark, Incontro sulla Tastiera in Italy, Royal Irish Academy of Music, “Salon des Arts" and “Sofia Music Weeks" in Bulgaria, Zurich Conservatory in Switzerland, Vicenza Conservatory in Italy, Festival “Peter the Great" in the Netherlands, Robert Helps International Festival at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Chautauqua Music Festival in New York, Killington Music Festival in Vermont and Sequoia Concerts in San Francisco. Ivanov's two recent solo CDs, 'Naked Tango' and 'Vers la Flamme' were praised by All Music Guide for being “superbly original, quite moving, personal and musically absorbing" and for performances which were “filled with sensual longing, anguished yearning, anxious dread and provocative energy." Svetozar Ivanov is the head of the Piano Department at the University of South Florida's School of Music.
Scott Kluksdahl, cello:
Scott Kluksdahl is Professor of Violoncello at the University of South Florida's School of Music, and has appeared as a recitalist and chamber musician in major metropolitan centers throughout the United States, Europe, Israel, and Latin America. He has appeared as orchestral soloist with numerous ensembles including The San Francisco Symphony, the Asheville, Marin, Omaha, Richmond (Indiana), and Tampa Bay orchestras, Bulgaria's Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, and Colombia's Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota. Scott is a highly regarded interpreter of 20th and 21st Century music, and has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works from contemporary composers including Elliott Carter, Robert Helps, Bernard Rands, Augusta Read Thomas, David del Tredici, and Richard Wernick.
Carolyn Stuart, violin:
Carolyn Stuart is heard regularly in prominent North American and European centers, including recent appearances at Merkin Concert Hall in New York, Association Philomuses in Paris, Salon des Artes in Sofia, and concerts in Washington DC, Toronto, Athens, Vicenza, and Zurich. She has performed on national radio and television broadcasts in the Netherlands and Bulgaria, as well as NPR stations throughout the US. She is a member of the acclaimed new music group Quorum and the Stuart-Ivanov Duo and has recorded for Gega New, Albany, Capstone, and Blue Griffin labels. Stuart avidly collaborates with current composers and has performed for the Robert Helps International Festival, Cleveland Composers' Guild, the American New Arts Music Festival, and the International Alliance of Women in Music. Carolyn Stuart is Associate Professor of Violin at the University of South Florida's School of Music.
Dharshini Tambiah, piano:
This is pianist Dharshini Tambiah's third appearance at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall; her previous solo recitals at Weill included music by Robert Helps as well as the World Premiere of 'Ballade,' a solo work which she commissioned from eminent American composer, Augusta Read Thomas. Tambiah has performed in major concert venues across Europe and the US, including St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London; the Philomuse Association in Paris, France; the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria as part of the 2009 International Haydn Festival; and Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center in New York. Dharshini is a Visiting Professor of Piano at the University of South Florida's School of Music.
Quotes about Robert Helps
“Robert Helps is not only the pianist's pianist and the composer's composer, but he is the composer's pianist and the pianist's composer, for, since his teen-age performance of music that was deemed unperformable, he has played incomparably: compositions which other pianists could not or would not perform. The singular pianistic mastery which he brought to these performances moulds his own writing for piano, from which pianists have discovered resources of nuance, rhythmic subtlety, dynamic control, and sound which endow their own playing with a new sensitivity and sensibility. His chamber and orchestral compositions are not pianistic transcriptions but the fresh realization of the same awareness in these non-pianistic media. He long has been a legend in his own time, and he deserves it." —Milton Babbitt in 1996
“Robert Helps...is legendary. The extraordinary musical impulse that infuses both his piano playing and his musical compositions inspired me personally from an early age. His effortless-seeming mastery of all aspects of music, laced with uproarious humor and unquenchable zest for life makes him the man that is so loved and admired by all." —David del Tredici, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer
“Composer, pianist, teacher, friend—Bob Helps has excelled in all these roles so well and for so long that by now, we can no longer imagine the world of music without his generous nature and adventurous spirit." —Garrick Ohlsson, Avery Fisher Prize and Grammy Award- winning pianist
“When I met Bob, it was like a force of nature had walked into my life. He was a huge presence-both personally and musically and I will never forget him. I still miss him. This 10th Anniversary concert to his memory is a testament to the power of his life and music." —Joan Tower, Grammy Award-winning composer
November 3rd Event is a Production of Well Found Music Presents
Helps' colleagues from the University of South Florida's School of Music will perform published and unpublished selections from the celebrated composer's solo piano, piano/string chamber music and more
On November 3rd at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the legacy of eminent American pianist/composer Robert Helps will be recognized on the tenth anniversary of his death, with “A Celebration of the Life and Music of Robert Helps."
Joan Tower, Grammy Award-winning composer said: “When I met Bob, it was like a force of nature had walked into my life. He was a huge presence-both personally and musically and I will never forget him. I still miss him. This 10th Anniversary concert to his memory is a testament to the power of his life and music."
Proceeds from the upcoming concert, a production of Well Found Music Presents, will go toward the publishing of Help's unpublished works and the preservation of his analog recordings.
Helps' colleagues from the University of South Florida's School of Music (where he taught and performed) will present published and unpublished selections from the composer's solo piano and piano/string chamber music. Performers include: Svetozar Ivanov, piano; Scott Kluksdahl, cello; Carolyn Stuart, violin and Dharshini Tambiah, piano. The evening will feature an all-Helps program focusing on both Piano trios, the unpublished 'Fantasy' for violin and piano, the unpublished 'Postcards,' Helps' well-known and loved 'Hommage a Faure,' 'Saccade' and 'Eventually the Carousel Begins' for piano four hands, and the unpublished 'Duo' for cello and piano.
Thursday November 3rd, 8pm
Well Found Music Presents 'A Celebration of the Life and Music of Robert Helps.' Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, 154 West 57th Street, New York. Tickets on sale now: at $28-$48, available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or via Carnegie Charge at 212-247-7800.
Performers at the 11/3 Event in New York
Svetozar Ivanov, piano:
Svetozar Ivanov's numerous appearances as recitalist and orchestral soloist include performances at Salle Gaveau and Association Philomuses in Paris, The Bethaninklooster in Amsterdam, Walled City Music Festival in Northern Ireland, Royal Academy of Music in Denmark, Incontro sulla Tastiera in Italy, Royal Irish Academy of Music, “Salon des Arts" and “Sofia Music Weeks" in Bulgaria, Zurich Conservatory in Switzerland, Vicenza Conservatory in Italy, Festival “Peter the Great" in the Netherlands, Robert Helps International Festival at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Chautauqua Music Festival in New York, Killington Music Festival in Vermont and Sequoia Concerts in San Francisco. Ivanov's two recent solo CDs, 'Naked Tango' and 'Vers la Flamme' were praised by All Music Guide for being “superbly original, quite moving, personal and musically absorbing" and for performances which were “filled with sensual longing, anguished yearning, anxious dread and provocative energy." Svetozar Ivanov is the head of the Piano Department at the University of South Florida's School of Music.
Scott Kluksdahl, cello:
Scott Kluksdahl is Professor of Violoncello at the University of South Florida's School of Music, and has appeared as a recitalist and chamber musician in major metropolitan centers throughout the United States, Europe, Israel, and Latin America. He has appeared as orchestral soloist with numerous ensembles including The San Francisco Symphony, the Asheville, Marin, Omaha, Richmond (Indiana), and Tampa Bay orchestras, Bulgaria's Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, and Colombia's Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota. Scott is a highly regarded interpreter of 20th and 21st Century music, and has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works from contemporary composers including Elliott Carter, Robert Helps, Bernard Rands, Augusta Read Thomas, David del Tredici, and Richard Wernick.
Carolyn Stuart, violin:
Carolyn Stuart is heard regularly in prominent North American and European centers, including recent appearances at Merkin Concert Hall in New York, Association Philomuses in Paris, Salon des Artes in Sofia, and concerts in Washington DC, Toronto, Athens, Vicenza, and Zurich. She has performed on national radio and television broadcasts in the Netherlands and Bulgaria, as well as NPR stations throughout the US. She is a member of the acclaimed new music group Quorum and the Stuart-Ivanov Duo and has recorded for Gega New, Albany, Capstone, and Blue Griffin labels. Stuart avidly collaborates with current composers and has performed for the Robert Helps International Festival, Cleveland Composers' Guild, the American New Arts Music Festival, and the International Alliance of Women in Music. Carolyn Stuart is Associate Professor of Violin at the University of South Florida's School of Music.
Dharshini Tambiah, piano:
This is pianist Dharshini Tambiah's third appearance at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall; her previous solo recitals at Weill included music by Robert Helps as well as the World Premiere of 'Ballade,' a solo work which she commissioned from eminent American composer, Augusta Read Thomas. Tambiah has performed in major concert venues across Europe and the US, including St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London; the Philomuse Association in Paris, France; the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria as part of the 2009 International Haydn Festival; and Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center in New York. Dharshini is a Visiting Professor of Piano at the University of South Florida's School of Music.
Quotes about Robert Helps
“Robert Helps is not only the pianist's pianist and the composer's composer, but he is the composer's pianist and the pianist's composer, for, since his teen-age performance of music that was deemed unperformable, he has played incomparably: compositions which other pianists could not or would not perform. The singular pianistic mastery which he brought to these performances moulds his own writing for piano, from which pianists have discovered resources of nuance, rhythmic subtlety, dynamic control, and sound which endow their own playing with a new sensitivity and sensibility. His chamber and orchestral compositions are not pianistic transcriptions but the fresh realization of the same awareness in these non-pianistic media. He long has been a legend in his own time, and he deserves it." —Milton Babbitt in 1996
“Robert Helps...is legendary. The extraordinary musical impulse that infuses both his piano playing and his musical compositions inspired me personally from an early age. His effortless-seeming mastery of all aspects of music, laced with uproarious humor and unquenchable zest for life makes him the man that is so loved and admired by all." —David del Tredici, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer
“Composer, pianist, teacher, friend—Bob Helps has excelled in all these roles so well and for so long that by now, we can no longer imagine the world of music without his generous nature and adventurous spirit." —Garrick Ohlsson, Avery Fisher Prize and Grammy Award- winning pianist
“When I met Bob, it was like a force of nature had walked into my life. He was a huge presence-both personally and musically and I will never forget him. I still miss him. This 10th Anniversary concert to his memory is a testament to the power of his life and music." —Joan Tower, Grammy Award-winning composer
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