Keyboard Conversations®

JEFFREY SIEGEL, pianist

Back by Overwhelming Popular Demand!

Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations®

Return to Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center October 15, 2012

Presented by ‘FRIENDS OF KEYBOARD CONVERSATIONS’

Hailed by The New York Times as “an artist who means every note he plays,” internationally acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Siegel brings his poetry and breathtaking virtuosity to his celebrated KEYBOARD CONVERSATIONS®. By overwhelming popular demand the series returns to the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts’ Perelman Theater. Friends of Keyboard Conversations, a group of passionate fans, with the help of Kimmel Center President and CEO Anne Ewers, leaped into the breach to sponsor and continue the popular series when the group learned financial constraints put the series’ future in jeopardy.

KEYBOARD CONVERSATIONS® are concerts with captivating, non-technical commentary, followed by a lively Q & A. The popular three-concert series - now in its eighth season - begins on October 15, 2012, at 7:30pm in Perelman Theater with Spellbinding Bach:  Immortal Works and the ‘WOW’ Factor!!  The program offers high-voltage works Bach wrote to dazzle the listener, including the "Italian Concerto," and Busoni's  famous transcription of the "Chaconne," deemed one of Bach's supreme masterpieces.  A romantic February 4^th pre-Valentine’s Day program Russian Rapture: Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky features the soaring melodies and passion of these all-time favorite composers. Listen to the Dance: Waltzes, Marches, Polkas and Tangos! concludes the season on May 21, 2012, with works spanning more than two centuries - from Beethoven, Chopin, and Mendelssohn to Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Astor Piazzola.

Mr. Siegel has a long, proud affiliation with Philadelphia. He has appeared several times as soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, most notably under the direction of the legendary conductor Eugene Ormandy, and with Charles Dutoit. He has also appeared as guest pianist with The Philadelphia Orchestra String Quartet. 

Spearheading ‘FRIENDS OF KEYBOARD CONVERSATIONS’ is Dr.  Fredrica  (Freddy) Mann Friedman.  She is a daughter of the late philanthropist Fredric R. Mann, for whom the Mann Music Center is named.  Says Dr. Mann Friedman, “Keyboard Conversations are Jeffrey Siegel’s gift to the cultural richness of Philadelphia.  My father believed that a civilization without music is a civilization without a soul – and that great music should be accessible to all. If my father were alive today, he would be sitting in the front row at Jeffrey’s concerts.”

Keyboard Conversations series are presented annually across the United States, in Canada and in London.  Jeffrey Siegel has been featured on Oprah Radio's 'Dr. Oz Show,' as guest of Dr. Mehmet Oz. 'Piano Treasures,' a one-hour TV special produced by Time Life, was recently broadcast by PBS to more than 300 cities nationwide. 

JEFFREY SIEGEL has been soloist with the world's great orchestras. Abroad, these include the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, Philharmonic and Philharmonia, Moscow State Symphony, Munich's Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Amsterdam, Oslo and Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchestra of La Scala and NHK Symphony of Japan. In addition to engagements with the Philadelphia Orchestra, United States, engagements have included the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Subscription tickets for the three-concert series and single tickets are now available by phone at 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, and in person at the Kimmel Center Box Office 300 Broad Street (Broad & Spruce).

NOTE: Mr. Siegel is available for print and broadcast interviews.