PIANO MASTERS: SIMONE DINNERSTEIN PERFORMING BACH'S GOLDBERG VARIATIONS

"Arresting freshness and subtlety!"  (TIME)

"Lean, knowing, and unpretentious elegance." (The New Yorker)

"Personality, verve, and thoughtfulness." (Washington Post)

"An utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation, Ms. Dinnerstein brings her own pianistic expressivity to the 'Goldberg' Variations, probing each variation as if it were something completely new. She learned them herself and recorded them herself, then Telarc picked up the album and it became one of the success stories of the year." (The New York Times)

“…listen to pianist Simone Dinnerstein's recording of Bach's 'Goldberg Variations' (Telarc), a timeless, meditative, utterly audacious solo debut." (O, The Oprah Magazine)

American pianist Simone Dinnerstein has fast been gaining international attention since making a triumphant New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in 2005, performing Bach's Goldberg Variations. In November 2007, Ms. Dinnerstein made her recital debut at the Berlin Philharmonie, performing Bach's French Suite No. 5, Philip Lasser's Variations on a Bach Chorale, and Beethoven's Sonata No. 32, Op. 111. The concert was recorded live, and was released in August 2008. Gramophone called the CD, "ample evidence of gifts above and beyond the ordinary." Diapason raved, "Beethoven's Sonata Op. 111 could have been a cause for concern. Simone Dinnerstein quickly sets our mind at rest with the Maestoso-both lively and clearly articulated. The Arietta captivates with its most welcome naked simplicity, whereas the variations proceed with implacable logic all the way to the closing trills."

Ms. Dinnerstein received the Classical Recording Foundation Award for 2006 and 2007 for her recording of Beethoven's complete works for piano and cello with Zuill Bailey. As a winner of the Astral Artistic Services National Auditions, Ms. Dinnerstein appeared as both concerto soloist and in recital at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Since 1996, Ms. Dinnerstein has played concerts throughout the United States for the Piatigorsky Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing classical music to non-traditional venues. Amongst the places she has played are nursing homes, schools and community centers. Most notably, Ms. Dinnerstein gave the first classical music performance in the Louisiana state prison system when she played at the Avoyelles Correctional Center.

In addition, Ms. Dinnerstein has founded P.S. 321 Neighborhood Concerts, an evening concert series at the Brooklyn public elementary school that her son attends and where her husband teaches fifth grade. The concerts, which feature musicians Ms. Dinnerstein has admired and collaborated with during her career, are open to the public and raise funds for the school's Parent Teacher Association. The musicians performing donate their time and talent to the program.

Ms. Dinnerstein is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she was a student of Peter Serkin. She also studied with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music and in London with Maria Curcio, the distinguished pupil of Artur Schnabel. For two summers, she was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Ms. Dinnerstein lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and son.

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