Leon Fleisher (c) Koichi Miura
Local audiences will have numerous opportunities to see, hear and enjoy legendary pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher when he visits Syracuse University for a series of events from Sept. 29-Oct. 2.
Fleisher launches the 2015-16 University Lectures series on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 7:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel in an event co-sponsored by the College of Visual and Performing Arts. He will perform selections from his vast repertoire and then engage in a moderated conversation with Ralph Zito, chair of VPA’s Department of Drama. The event is free and open to the public. American Sign Language interpretation and Communication Access Real Time will be available.
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 7:30 p.m., Fleisher will conduct a master class for piano students in VPA’s Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music. Additionally, on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 p.m., he will conduct a chamber music master class for Setnor students. Both events will take place in Crouse College’s Setnor Auditorium and are free and open to the public.
Then on Friday, Oct. 2, Fleisher will join the Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra as guest conductor for an 8 p.m. performance in Setnor Auditorium. The program will include Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture; Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, with Setnor Professor Steven Heyman, piano; and the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor with Setnor Professor Fred Karpoff, piano. Tickets for the concert—$10 for the general public and free for SU students with a valid SU I.D.—are available at the Schine Box Office. The concert will be streamed live.
All three events in the Setnor School are presented as part of the Baker Artist Series.
As master pianist and conductor, celebrated teacher and gifted lecturer, Fleisher has left an indelible mark in the worldwide music community. Currently on faculty at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and Glenn Gould School in Toronto, Fleisher has fostered the talents of many great artists, including Jonathan Biss, Yefim Bronfman, Alon Goldstein, Louie Lortie and André Watts.
He continues to impart his life-affirming artistry throughout the world, from his acclaimed Carnegie Hall workshops to master classes last summer at the Schleswig Holstein and Menuhin Festivals to residencies at music schools and conservatories across the United States. An inspiring conductor, Fleisher recently closed the Marlboro Music Festival. And he is leading orchestras in China and Japan this fall.
Fleisher began playing at age 4, at which time his parents pulled him from school, opting for private tutoring to allow more practice time (“I’ve long thought of entitling my biography ‘I Was a Kindergarten Dropout,’” he jokes). Fleisher’s most recent recording, 2014’s “All the Things You Are,” reached No. 1 on the classical charts and earned a 2015 Grammy nomination. He was the subject of the 2006 Oscar- and Emmy-nominated documentary “Two Hands.”
The next University Lecture will take place Wednesday, Oct. 7, with SU alumna and best-selling author (“Tiny Beautiful Things,” “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) Cheryl Strayed ’02, who will speak about her writings and the power of memoir.
The Office of University Lectures welcomes suggestions for future speakers. To recommend a speaker, or to obtain additional information about the University Lectures series, contact Esther Gray in the Office of Academic Affairs at 315-443-2941 or eegray@syr.edu. More information can be found on the series’ website and on Facebook.
