Russian Pianist and Composer Sergei Dreznin Appearing at Merkin Hall Performing the music of Bach, Skriabin and others Tuesday, June 10th at 8pm, Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street

Sergei Dreznin, the noted pianist and composer, will hold a solo piano recital at Merkin Hall on Tuesday, June 10th at 8pm. Mr. Dreznin will perform pieces ranging from the classical (Bachs French Suite in G major") to the contemporary (Mayako Kubos BACH Variations" for tape and improvised piano). Two pieces will be New York premieres. Mr. Dreznin has become well-known through his collaboration with violinist Gidon Kremer, his unusual interpretations and new versions of classical piano works, and his own highly original approach to music theater with 14 shows produced, ranging from music based on original Shakespearean texts to revivals of Cabaret from Ghetto Terezin.

Sergei Dreznin, the noted pianist and composer, will hold a solo piano recital at Merkin Hall on Tuesday, June 10th at 8pm. Mr. Dreznin will perform pieces ranging from the classical (Bachs French Suite in G major") to the contemporary (Mayako Kubos BACH Variations" for tape and improvised piano). Two pieces will be New York premieres. Mr. Dreznin has become well-known through his collaboration with violinist Gidon Kremer, his unusual interpretations and new versions of classical piano works, and his own highly original approach to music theater with 14 shows produced, ranging from music based on original Shakespearean texts to revivals of Cabaret from Ghetto Terezin.

Mr. Dreznin is a Moscow-born concert pianist and composer, who played over two hundred concerts a year before moving to Vienna in 1987. While in Vienna, he had several of his music theater pieces produced, performed at the Salzburg festival and all across Europe, including Sarajevo, Berlin, and his native Moscow on the eve of Perestroika. A graduate of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow (as a composer) and the Russian Academy of Music (as a pianist), he has been awarded the honorary diploma of the All-Russia Piano Competition (1977) and the first prize at the All-Union Composers Competition (1985).

Now based in New York, Mr. Dreznin has performed and composed extensively, including all-Liszt and all-Stravinsky recitals, in such venues as Merkin Hall, Casa Italiana and Elibash Hall, as well as the Skriabin Gala in 2003 at the Steinway Hall. He performed his own compositions at the Vienna New York Chamber Series. In May 2002, Mr. Dreznin performed his piece Circus Fantasy" (in a duo with a cellist Borislav Strulev) for celebrities including Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and Bono (U2) and for an audience of three thousand at the Millennium Theater in Brooklyn.

New York audiences may also know Mr. Dreznin from his piece, For Whom the Bell Tolls: In Memoriam September 11", which had its world premiere at the Merkin Hall in March of 2002 with Mr. Dreznin conducting the Bachanalia Orchestra. On September 11, 2002, Mr. Dreznin commemorated the anniversary of the attacks with the world premiere of his music theater piece Wien New York Retour" which is centered on these tragic events and their aftermath. Coverage of this event appeared in The Washington Post, and on the web sites of US newspapers including Miami Herald, Baltimore Sun, and USA Today, as well as CNN, BBC, Shanghai Press, Hindustan Times and Indonesian TV. It also made the front page of the Moscow Times.

Other New York composition credits include Circus Fantasy" at Lincoln Center, performed by Gidon Kremer who also performs Mr. Dreznins Dante Concerto" (after Liszt) around the globe, Just As If... Life and Cabaret from Paradise Ghetto Theresienstadt" at the 78th Street Theater Lab in Manhattan, and Roses in December" starring James Naughton at Urban Stages. Mr. Dreznins versions of Polka" by Alfred Schnittke (performed by Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica) and of Shostakovichs song cycle From the Jewish Folk Poetry" (performed by the violinist Levon Ambarstumyan) have recently enjoyed their premieres at Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Dreznins work will also be presented at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, where his show, KAMP! -- Song and Satire from Theresienstadt" will be performed on June 7 and 8. This show, which brought back the original material written and performed by the inmates of the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt, was shown at South Bank Festival, London in 1997, at the Austrian Embassy, Washington in 1995, at the multitude of the venues around New York and in Florida, including Bard College.

Sergei Dreznins piano recital will be held on Tuesday, June 10th at 8pm, at Merkin Concert Hall, located at 129 West 67th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam). A complete listing of the concert program is enclosed. All tickets are $10. To order, please call (212)501-3330, or visit www.sergeidreznin.net for more information.