Category Archives: Music

This Sunday, Marilyn Nonken traces her pianistic roots

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Marilyn Nonken

Marilyn Nonken

As part of the “Tracing Our Roots” series of discussions at NYU Steinhardt’s Piano Studies program, Marilyn Nonken will offer a unique program focusing on her own career and teachers this Sunday, 21 April, at 3.00pm at NYU’s Black Box Theatre, 82 Washington Square East. During the free event, Marilyn (who directs the Piano Studies program at NYU Steinhardt) will perform works by Arnold Schoenberg, Luigi Dallapiccola, and Tristan Murail, and also provide reminiscences of her mentors David Burge, who passed away earlier this month, and Leonard Stein. (The New York Times obituary for Burge can be found here.) Her first book, The Spectral Piano, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

Did I mention it was free? I look forward to being there. For a brief taste, here’s Justin Urcis’s interview with Marilyn about Murail’s Territoires de l’oubli:

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Upcoming: The Grand Gesture

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Marilyn Nonken and Sarah Rothenberg.

Marilyn Nonken and Sarah Rothenberg.

UPDATE: For more on the program, see Ronni Reich’s interview with the performers published today at nj.com.

This Saturday at 8.00pm, Marilyn Nonken and Sarah Rothenberg will perform a two-piano version of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (1913) and Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen (1946) in a program called The Grand Gesture at Montclair’s Peak Performances series. Tickets and information are now available for this concert here. According to the Web page for the event:

In 1913, the audience at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées erupted in one of the most infamous riots of the 20th century. The cause? A revolution in music, namely the premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s primal Le sacre du printemps, or, The Rite of Spring.

For the piece’s centennial, virtuosi pianists Sarah Rothenberg and Marilyn Nonken have created The Grand Gesture, a stark deconstruction of Stravinsky’s masterpiece. Add to the mix Olivier Messiaen’s equally uproarious Visions de l’Amen (1946) and you have an evening of experimental classics defying convention.

Says the publicity, “Hailed by The New Yorker as ‘two of the finest of new music pianists,’ Sarah Rothenberg and Marilyn Nonken have been praised by The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and more. As soloists and a duo they have performed throughout the world with some of the world’s leading ensembles and at prominent venues ranging from Lincoln Center, The Gilmore Festival, Miller Theater, (Le) Poisson Rouge, IRCAM and more.” All tickets are $15.00 See you on the bus.

Marilyn Nonken traces her roots

Posted on by
Marilyn Nonken

Marilyn Nonken

As part of the “Tracing Our Roots” series of discussions at NYU Steinhardt’s Piano Studies program, Marilyn Nonken will offer a unique program focusing on her own career and teachers on Sunday, 21 April, at 3.00pm at NYU’s Black Box Theatre, 82 Washington Square East. During the free event, Marilyn (who directs the Piano Studies program at NYU Steinhardt) will perform works by Arnold Schoenberg, Luigi Dallapiccola, and Tristan Murail, and also provide reminiscences of her mentors David Burge, who passed away earlier this week, and Leonard Stein. Her first book, The Spectral Piano, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

Did I mention it was free? I look forward to being there. For a brief taste, here’s Justin Urcis’s interview with Marilyn about Murail’s Territoires de l’oubli:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Upcoming: Diagilev’s Paris

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Marilyn Nonken and Sarah Rothenberg.

Marilyn Nonken and Sarah Rothenberg.

If you’re in Houston next Wednesday, don’t miss Diagilev’s Paris, a concert presented by Da Camera and featuring Sarah Rothenberg and my wife Marilyn Nonken. They’ll be performing two-piano versions of Erik Satie’s Parade and Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring; it’s being presented as a part of the Museum of Fine Arts’ Picasso in Black and White exhibition. Tickets and information here; it’s sure to be a memorable event.

Marilyn and Sarah will also be performing the Stravinsky, along with Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen (1946), as part of a program called The Grand Gesture at Montclair’s Peak Performances series on 13 April. Tickets and information are now available for this concert here.

Says the publicity, “Hailed by The New Yorker as ‘two of the finest of new music pianists,’ Sarah Rothenberg and Marilyn Nonken have been praised by The New York Times, the L.A. Times, The Wall Street Journal and more. As soloists and a duo they have performed throughout the world with some of the world’s leading ensembles and at prominent venues ranging from Lincoln Center, The Gilmore Festival, Miller Theater, (Le) Poisson Rouge, IRCAM and more.” So keep an eye out — and an ear open.