Beethoven's Complete Works for Piano: Williams Hall

Tue, February 25, 2020 | 8:00pm

Tue, March 3, 2020 | 8:00pm

Wed, March 4, 2020 | 8:00pm

Tue, March 10, 2020 | 8:00pm

290 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA
United States

Dear friends: Effective March 9th, we are temporarily suspending access to all NEC concerts for all visitors from outside our campus community. During this time, concerts will continue as scheduled, but only NEC undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff may attend.

We recognize that this news comes as a great disappointment to many, and we share in that disappointment. Most concerts are available via live stream, and we are working to make live streaming available at Jordan Hall. While remote viewing cannot replace the in-person concert experience, we are nonetheless grateful to be able to continue to share music with you via necmusic.edu/live.

Read NEC's full Health Alert and FAQ

Is Beethoven’s music great? How do we know? Piano department chair Bruce Brubaker encourages curious concertgoers to celebrate and reconsider Beethoven’s music and legacy.

75 NEC pianists present every work for piano that Beethoven ever wrote over the course of 13 recitals in spring and fall 2020. Hear well-known favorites like the “Moonlight” Sonata and “Für Elise” alongside rarely-performed works and decide for yourself: what does Beethoven mean today?

A virtuoso pianist himself, Beethoven composed dozens of works for the fortepiano, often making use of the new musical resources of the instrument as it developed rapidly throughout the composer’s lifetime. Approximately 1/3 of each concert program will feature rarely performed sets of variations that may offer insight into Beethoven’s own performances as an improviser.

The NEC Piano Department Beethoven 2020 project is dedicated to Distinguished Artist-in-Residence Russell Sherman who celebrates his ninetieth birthday in 2020. Mr. Sherman was the first American musician to record all of Beethoven's piano sonatas and concertos. He has been a member of the NEC faculty since 1967,

Spring 2020:

Fall 2020:

Seven concerts, to be announced. This series ends with a monumental 10-hour tour de force of all of Beethoven’s piano sonatas performed in one day.

LIVE VIDEO STREAMING IS AVAILABLE FOR THIS CONCERT:

Watch concert stream

February 25

WoO 77: Six easy variations on an original theme for piano, Caleb Barnes
Opus 81a: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major ("Das Lebewohl") (1810), Cong Bi
Opus 129: Rondo a capriccio in G Major ("Rage over a lost penny") (1795), Lee Dionne
WoO 78: Seven variations for piano on "God Save the King", Lee Dionne
Opus 120: Thirty-three variations on a waltz by Diabelli in C Major (1823), Aristo Sham
March 3

WoO 54: Lustig-Traurig (Bagatelle) for piano in C Major (1802), Lauren Ding
Opus 33: Seven Bagatelles (1802), Ssu-Hsuan Li
Opus 119: Eleven new Bagatelles (1822), Joseph Vasconi
WoO 53: Allegretto (Bagatelle) for piano in C Minor (1796–97), Adrian Liao
WoO 56: Allegretto (Bagatelle) for piano in C Major (1803, rev. 1822), Charlotte Min
WoO 52: Presto (Bagatelle) for piano in C Minor (1795, rev. 1798 and 1822), Charlotte Min
Opus 126: Six Bagatelles (1823), Alexander Tsereteli
WoO 59: Poco moto (Bagatelle) in A Minor ("Für Elise") (c. 1810), Dongyan Yang
WoO 60: Ziemlich lebhaft (Bagatelle) for piano in B-flat Major (1818), Dongyan Yang
Opus 35: Fifteen variations and a fugue on an original theme in E-flat Major ("Eroica") (1802), Ji Yong Kim
March 4

Opus 76: Six variations on an original theme (the Turkish March from The Ruins of Athens) in D Major (1809), Yidi Jiao
Opus 14, No. 1: Piano Sonata No. 9 in E Major, Jingyi Huang
Opus 14, No. 2: Piano Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Teng Cao
WoO 71: Twelve variations for piano on the Russian dance from Paul Wranitzky's ballet Das Waldmädchen, Zhiqiao Zhang
WoO 57: Andante favori (1804), Hannah Byun
Opus 53: Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major ("Waldstein") (1803), Clayton Stephenson
March 10

Opus 77: Fantasia in G Minor (1809), Yongqiu Liu
WoO 66: Thirteen variations for piano on the aria "Es war einmal ein alter Mann" from Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf's opera Das rote Käppchen, Gabrielle Hsu
Opus 22: Piano Sonata No. 11 in B-flat Major (1800), Sunmin Kim
Opus 106: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major ("Hammerklavier") (1818), Ziang Xu