Pianist Stefan Litwin To Focus On Schoenberg At Institute For Advanced Study Concert

“Arnold Schoenberg: Broadening the Circle” is the title of a concert by pianist and composer Stefan Litwin, to be held at the Institute for Advanced Study on February 21 at 8:00 p.m. and February 22 at 4:00 p.m. Both concerts will be in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus.

Litwin’s program, designed to explore connections to the music of innovative composer Arnold Schoenberg, will include, among other pieces, J.S. Bach’s Fugue in B-minor; Schoenberg’s Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11 (performed on the moderator-pedal-equipped piano); Liszt’s Nuages Gris; Berg’s Sonata, Op. 1; and Litwin’s Thoreau’s Nightmare.

Three other events are associated with the concert.

On February 20 there will be a lecture, “Adorno in Darmstadt,” delivered by philosopher Lydia Goehr. Focusing on Theodor Adorno’s 1960s criticism of the avant garde Darmstadt composers, the talk will take place at 4:00 p.m. in the West Building Lecture Hall.

“Photo Album With Music” on February 20 at 8:00 p.m., will feature Nuria Schoenberg Nono, daughter of Arnold Schoenberg. Litwin will join her for a conversation about her father and his work. Nono will present images, unpublished anecdotes, and recordings of Schoenberg speaking. Litwin will perform works by Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, and Eisler. This event will be held in Wolfensohn Hall.

On February 22 at 2:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall there will be a concert talk. Litwin and Institute Artist-in-Residence Jon Magnussen will discuss the works on Litwin’s concert program.

Litwin has studied piano, composition, and interpretation at institutions in the U.S. and abroad. He earned his doctorate from the State University of New York in 1993. He has a strong commitment to the performance of contemporary music, and has performed in numerous world premieres on television and radio broadcasts, and has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the English Chamber Orchestra, and many other ensembles. During the 2003-04 season he is Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin.

Nono is director of the Luigi Nono Archives in Venice, and president of the Board of Directors of the Arnold Schoenberg Center, Vienna.

Lydia Goehr is professor of philosophy at Columbia University. She is author of The Imaginary Museum of Musical Works (1992) and The Quest for Voice: Music, Politics, and the Limits of Philosophy (1998).

The concert, concert talk, Goehr lecture, and “Photo Album With Music” are sponsored by the Institute’s Artist-in-Residence Program, and are part of Magnussen’s current initiative, “Recent Pasts 20/21: An Exploration in New Music.”

All these events are free and open to the public; for the concert, tickets must be reserved. For information, call 609-734-8228.