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Artist: Simone Dinnerstein
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Simone Dinnerstein:

The Eye is the First Circle - Ives Concord Sonata

GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Simone Dinnerstein, described by The Washington Post as “an artist of strikingly original ideas and irrefutable integrity,” will release her next album, The Eye is the First Circle featuring iconic American composer Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata, on October 18, 2024 via Supertrain Records – timed to coincide with Ives’ 150th birthday on October 20. The new album is a live recording of the premiere of Dinnerstein’s multimedia production of the same title, at the Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University, New Jersey on October 17, 2021.

The recording is Dinnerstein's last to be released with her longtime recording partner, GRAMMY-winning producer Adam Abeshouse, who also produced her previous thirteen albums. She says, “The Eye is the First Circle was a deeply personal project for me, and it was very meaningful to have Adam there. It is even more meaningful that this marks our last album together.”

Dinnerstein has long been drawn to the music of Charles Ives. “There is a type of wild struggle in his music between the weighty influences of the past and the Americana of his upbringing and his quest for developing his own musical language,” she says. “The music seems to vacillate between a kind of haunting memory of beauty and an extremely dissonant and forward-looking anticipation of the future. It’s deeply human, incorporating tragedy and comedy, a striving for the spiritual and an embrace of popular culture. In our present day, when every one of us is able at the drop of the hat to curate the most esoteric of playlists, both literally and metaphorically, his music resonates deeply.”

With her production The Eye is the First Circle, Simone Dinnerstein ventured into bold interdisciplinary artistic territory in collaboration with projection designer Laurie Olinder and lighting designer Davison Scandrett. Conceived and directed by Dinnerstein, the dynamic production deconstructs and collages elements from two iconic works of art – Simone’s father Simon Dinnerstein’s painting The Fulbright Triptych and Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata – and also incorporates ambient sounds of children playing, night sounds from the pond, and birdsong.

Simone Dinnerstein:

Bach - Inventions & Sinfonias

Simone Dinnerstein's new CD of J.S. Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias has been released on Sony Classical. The pianist made the recording at the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York and worked on the project along with Grammy-winning producer Adam Abeshouse. Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias, originally written in 1723 as musical guide for keyboard players, remain a core part of the piano repertoire for students, amateurs, and professional musicians alike and have been lifelong companions for Dinnerstein.

Simone Dinnerstein:

Broadway-Lafayette

Sony Classical releases the new CD from pianist Simone Dinnerstein - Broadway-Lafayette on February 24, 2015. The music on this album celebrates the time-honored transatlantic link between France and America through the music of George Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue), Maurice Ravel (Piano Concerto in G Major), and Philip Lasser (The Circle and the Child: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, written for Dinnerstein). The album was recorded with conductor Kristjan Järvi and the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, by Grammy-winning producer Adam Abeshouse.

Simone Dinnerstein:

Mozart in Havana

Sony Classical has released acclaimed pianist Simone Dinnerstein's new album, Mozart in Havana. The new album, recorded in Cuba, may be her most ambitious to date and is a testament to music's ability to cross all cultural and language barriers.For it, Dinnerstein has collaborated with the virtuosic Havana Lyceum Orchestra to perform Mozart's Piano Concerto Nos. 21 and 23. In June, the Orchestra will also make their American debut in a series of concerts, the first time an orchestra of this size has traveled to the U.S. from Cuba since the revolution. 

Simone Dinnerstein:

Richard Danielpour - An American Mosaic

On March 26, 2021, approximately one year after the first COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns in the U.S., pianist Simone Dinnerstein's recording of An American Mosaic by composer Richard Danielpour will be released on Supertrain Records. An American Mosaic is a set of fifteen miniatures, each commemorating a segment of the American population that has been affected by the pandemic – doctors, parents, children, front line workers, caretakers, and those who have lost their lives to the virus. The album also includes transcriptions by Danielpour for Dinnerstein of J.S. Bach's "Agnus Dei" from the Mass in B minor, as well as "Wenn Ich einmal soll scheiden" and "Epilogue Chorus: Wir setzen, uns mit Tränen nieder," from the St. Matthew Passion.

An American Mosaic was commissioned by the Oregon Bach Festival and was premiered by Dinnerstein online on December 6, 2020 in a virtual concert for OBF from her home in Brooklyn. This album, produced and engineered by Grammy-winner Adam Abeshouse, is the recording of that performance.

An American Mosaic was born out of both Danielpour's anxiety and insomnia early in the pandemic, and his desire to write a piano work intended to give comfort to those suffering. "The only thing that was able to relax me enough to sleep (no amount of medication would do the trick) was listening to Simone Dinnerstein's Bach recordings," he said. In May, he contacted Dinnerstein about the piece he intended to write. Danielpour, from Los Angeles, and Dinnerstein, from New York, embarked on this collaboration in summer and fall 2020, and discussed, prepared, and rehearsed the piece entirely via email, phone, and Zoom.

"Last spring, out of the blue, I received a phone call from Richard Danielpour," Dinnerstein recalled. "He told me how my Bach recordings had helped him through those first difficult months of the pandemic. To know that my music had touched a fellow musician 3,000 miles away during that period of isolation was extremely meaningful to me. When Richard told me about his idea for An American Mosaic, I was honored and thrilled that he asked if he could share it with me. Spending the late summer and fall learning his language and digging deeply into the rich tapestry of this work was a transporting experience."

Simone Dinnerstein:

Bach: A Strange Beauty

"An utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation..." The New York Times

Simone Dinnerstein's first album on Sony Classical Bach: A Strange Beauty sees the pianist return to Bach, this time combining three transcriptions of his Chorale Preludes with one of his English Suites and two of his Keyboard Concerti. Simone Dinnerstein's special affinity to the music of Bach was cemented when her self-funded recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations took the US Billboard charts by storm on its release in 2007. The album drew intense critical acclaim and Dinnerstein's unique playing garnered such impressive reviews as that from The New York Times "An utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation."

Simone Dinnerstein:

Something Almost Being Said

Sony Classical will internationally release pianist Simone Dinnerstein's second album Something Almost Being Said: The Music of Bach and Schubert. The new album combines J. S. Bach's Partitas Nos. 1 and 2, with Schubert's Four Impromptus, Op. 90, and was recorded at the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York by Grammy-winning producer Adam Abeshouse. The album's title is taken from English poet Philip Larkin's poem, The Trees.