The Shadow
LEWISBURG, W.Va. — Master pianist Barbara Nissman is contributing her new “Behind the Notes” series of online conversations and performances as a fundraiser for Carnegie Hall.
Nissman created the 12-part series in her home studio in Greenbrier County, W.Va.
All proceeds from the series will support Carnegie Hall. For a $50 or higher donation to Carnegie Hall, viewers will have access to the entire 12-part online series until April 30, 2021. Tickets are available at carnegiehallwv.org.
The first segment in “Behind the Notes” features Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.”
Nissman moves on to Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Prokofiev, Bach, Ginastera, and Shubert before returning for more Liszt and Chopin. Program 11 features Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata. The series ends with Brahms.
In each segment Nissman connects both her performance and the listener to the music and its composer. Nissman crafted the series in a specific order so that each segment builds scaffolding that enhances the viewer’s experience of the following parts of the series.
Hailed as “one of the last pianists in the grand Romantic tradition of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Rubinstein,” Nissman continues the grand bravura tradition of romantic pianism. Her recordings of Prokofiev, Bartók, and Ginastera are considered definitive works.
She has garnered praise for her series of recordings of 19th century composers: Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff.
She has also recorded 10 volumes of her favorite recital programs, all of which are now available on her record label, Three Oranges Recordings at http://www.threeorangesrecordings.com.
The Three Oranges Foundation was recently established to continue Nissman’s educational projects.
In March 2020 Nissman received the Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts from the state of West Virginia. She has performed with leading orchestras in Europe and the United States, including the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Munich Philharmonic.
In the U.S. she has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the National Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra, among others.
She has worked with some of the major contemporary conductors, including Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and Leonard Slatkin.
Carnegie Hall is a nonprofit organization supported by individual contributions, grants, and fundraising efforts such as Taste of our Towns (TOOT) and Fantasy. It is located at 611 Church St. in Lewisburg.
For more information, visit www.carnegiehallwv. org.
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Master pianist Barbara Nissman is contributing her new “Behind the Notes” series of online conversations and performances as a fundraiser for Carnegie Hall. All proceeds from the series will support the hall. For a donation of $50 or more to Carnegie Hall, viewers will have access to the entire 12-part online series until April 30, 2021. Tickets are available at carnegiehallwv.org. (Photo Courtesy Carnegie Hall, Philip McLaughlin)
