May 04 Saturday
Composer, pianist, educator, and NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron returns to the festival with his trio. A peerless performer known for timeless classics and innovative improvisations, Barron’s piano skills are a testament to his status as a jazz icon. He has released over 40 albums, received 12 GrammyⓇ nominations, and played with legends including Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, and Buddy Rich. Barron was a music professor at Rutgers University for more than 25 years, and was inducted into the American Jazz Hall of Fame in 2005. Whether playing solo, trio, or quintet, Kenny Barron is recognized worldwide as a master of performance and composition.
5 pm Q&A with Kenny Barron and Gilmore Director of Jazz Awards Seth Abramson, Shaw Theatre lobby
May 05 Sunday
Andrea Beaton, piano, fiddleTroy MacGillivray, piano, fiddleTracey Dares MacNeil, piano, fiddle
No stage? No seats? No problem! Parents can relax while kids of any age can have fun checking out the piano, meeting the artists, crawling or dancing around the room. A Baby Grands concert is The Gilmore’s way of sharing great music with the whole family. Refreshments will be available.
Andrea Beaton, Troy MacGillivray, and Tracey MacNeil hail from the isolated beauty of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Their joyful style of dance music is defined by its improvised folk piano tradition. Expect instrument-switching, solo dancing, and inspiring harmonies, as they explore the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland, and Cape Breton, along with original compositions. Their performances offer a shared sense of fun and years of making music together.
Gabriela Montero, pianoCalidore String Quartet: Jeffrey Myers, violin – Ryan Meehan, violin – Jeremy Berry, viola – Estelle Choi, cello
Venezuelan composer and pianist Gabriela Montero presents the world premiere of her new work for piano and strings, commissioned by The Gilmore, with the Calidore String Quartet. Also on the program: Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81. Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique compositions have garnered critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage. Born in Venezuela, the GrammyⓇ Award-winner studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras. Founded at LA’s Colburn School in 2010, The Calidore String Quartet is recognized as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of a vast repertory, from the cycles of quartets by Beethoven and Mendelssohn to works of celebrated contemporary voices.
In a special Festival event, British pianist Paul Lewis will present a survey of Franz Schubert’s monumental contribution to the classical repertoire: his piano sonatas. Mr. Lewis has received critical and public acclaim worldwide, consolidating his reputation as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the central European classical repertoire. He regularly works as a soloist with the world’s great orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, and the Royal Concertgebouw, and Cleveland Orchestras, among many others.
May 06 Monday
Jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer Isaiah J. Thompson won the 2023 American Pianists Awards and the Cole Porter Fellowship of the American Pianists Association. As a performer, he aims to express joy and convey his personal experiences through music and his everlasting love of jazz. His recording debut was featured on Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Handful of Keys album with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis. He worked on the Golden Globe-nominated soundtrack for Motherless Brooklyn, was named a Steinway Artist, and won the 2018 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award.
May 07 Tuesday
Simone Dinnerstein presents Undersong, a program of works by Couperin, Satie, Glass, and featuring the Schumann masterpiece Kreisleriana. Ms. Dinnerstein’s distinctive musical voice and evocative interpretations breathe new life into classical masterpieces. Ms. Dinnerstein rose to international prominence in 2007 with her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and 13 of her albums have topped the Billboard classical charts. She founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series open to the public and hosted by New York City Public Schools to raise funds for their music education programs, and Philip Glass’ Piano Concerto No. 3 was composed for her and co-commissioned by twelve American and Canadian orchestras.
May 08 Wednesday
Jazz pianist and composer Helen Sung was among the first graduates of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music. Her artistry and inventive compositions have earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship and won Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition. Her artistry and inventive compositions span the full spectrum of dynamic and soulful jazz.
Critical superlatives and audience ovations follow Yuja Wang wherever she performs. The Beijing-born pianist was a 2006 Gilmore Young Artist, and her jaw-dropping technique and passionate playing make her a true piano sensation. Her charismatic artistry, emotional honesty, and captivating stage presence combine for performances like no other. Ms. Wang has performed with the world’s most venerated conductors, musicians and ensembles, and in concert halls throughout the world.
May 09 Thursday
Paul Cornish, pianoEmma Dayhuff, bass – Jonathan Pinson, drums
Winner of the 2018 American Jazz Piano Competition, Composer-pianist Paul Cornish’s style is a blend of contemporary and jazz with experimental elements. Pianist for the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance, he has performed and worked with artists including Herbie Hancock and John Legend, and on stages throughout the world. An accomplished composer and educator, he is on the faculty at the Stanford Jazz Workshop and strives to inspire freedom and collaboration in his music and community.
Venezuelan jazz pianist, composer, and Steinway Artist Benito Gonzalez combines a lineage of American jazz tradition with rhythms from around the world. Nominated for two GrammyⓇ Awards and winner of the 2005 Great American Jazz Piano Competition, his sound is recognizable for the powerful rhythm and Afro-Latin patterns he prioritizes across his projects. The New York-based artist grew up playing traditional folk music with his family before being inspired by pianists Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett, whose quartet he later joined. He played with saxophonist Azar Lawrence’s band and joined saxophone legend Pharoah Sanders as his pianist/musical director in 2019.