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A Masterclass with John Perry, Pianist
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date & time
Sun, Nov 5, 2023
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
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Free, unticketed
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Internationally acclaimed pianist John Perry works with talented Princeton University students in a free workshop, sponsored by the Donna Weng Friedman ’80 Masterclass Series.
Program
Johannes Brahms Fantasien, Op. 116:
I. Capriccio in D Minor
6. Intermezzo in E Major
Performed by Isabelle Bruening '27
Robert Schumann Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor
I. Un poco adagio - Allegro vivace
Performed by Kimberly Shen '24
Frédéric Chopin Ballade no. 1 in G minor
Performed by Sarah Yuan '27
Johann Sebastian Bach Partita #5 in G Major, BWV 829
I. Praeambulum
2. Allemande
3. Corrente
4. Sarabande
5. Tempo di Minuetta
6. Passepied
Performed by Kasey Shao '25
About John Perry, Pianist
John Perry, distinguished artist and teacher, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Eastman School of Music where he was a student of Cecile Genhart. During those summers, he worked with the eminent Frank Mannheimer. Recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, he continued studies in Europe for four years where he worked with Wladyslav Kedra, Polish concert artist and professor at the Akademie für Musik in Vienna, and Carlo Zecchi, renowned conductor, pianist, and head of the piano department at the Santa Cecilia Academy of Music in Rome.
Mr. Perry has won numerous awards including the highest prizes in both the Busoni and Viotti international piano competitions in Italy and special honors at the Marguerite Long International Competition in Paris. Since then he has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America to great critical acclaim. Also a respected chamber musician, Mr. Perry has collaborated with some of the finest instrumentalists in the world.
He also enjoys an international reputation as a teacher, presenting master classes throughout the world. He often is a jury member at some of the most prestigious international piano competitions. His students have been prize winners in most major competitions and include two first-prize winners in the Rubinstein, four first-prize winners in the Music Teacher’s National Association national competition, and first-prize winners in the Naumburg National Chopin competition, the Cleveland Competition, Beethoven Foundation competition, the Federated Music Clubs, and the YKA, AMSC, and YMF competitions, and finalists in the Chopin International in Warsaw, the Van Cliburn, the Queen Elisabeth, Leeds, Dublin, Busoni, Viotti and the Three Rivers competitions.
Mr. Perry is professor at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, professor of piano at Mason Gross Schoo of the Arts, Rutgers University, and Professor Emeritus of the USC Thornton School of Music. In addition, he recently founded a music school, John Perry Academy of Music in Los Angeles, where he serves as Artistic Director. During the summer he is artist professor at the Lake Como International Piano Academy, the Banff Center in Alberta, Canada, the Sarasota Music Festival in Florida, the Orford Music Festival in Quebec, the Morningside Music Bridge Program in Calgary, Alberta, the Internationaler Klaviersommer Cochem, Germany, the International Music Festival in Perugia, Italy, the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, Montecito International Music Festival in Santa Barbara, and the John Perry Academy Summer Piano Festival in California. In January he is main guest artist at the Sydney Piano Festival in Australia.
His recordings are available on the Telefunken, Musical Heritage Society, CBC, ACA and Fox labels.
Click here to visit Mr. Perry’s website: https://www.johnperrypiano.com/
About Donna Weng Friedman
Donna Weng Friedman — Award winning pianist Donna Weng Friedman enjoys a varied
career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, curator, producer and app developer. Her
album Heritage and Harmony: Silver Linings, featuring exclusively AAPI/BIPOC artists, was
intended as a response to the wave of violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander
(AAPI) individuals, and aims to promote understanding and tolerance among people of all
backgrounds. Recorded and released during the pandemic, the album was presented with
two Silver Medals at the 2022 Global Music Awards.
In collaboration with WQXR, Donna created and produced Heritage and Harmony, a virtual
concert series in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Her story was featured on
Asian Americans of New York & New Jersey | WLIW21, a segment of which has been aired
on PBS numerous times.
Donna was awarded a 2022 New York Women Composer’s grant. She is the co- creator and
co-host of HER/MUSIC;HER/STORY with soprano Allison Charney, a mini- series on WQXR
as well as a concert series that shines a light on women composers, past and present. She
was the guest speaker on TEDx Santa Barbara’s series Making Waves: Conversations with
Influencers and Disruptors. Donna is the Artistic Advisor of Ariel Rivka Dance, an all-female
dance company.
Donna was the featured guest artist on the National Women’s History Museum’s series
NWHM Presents: Sundays@Home, honoring women whose activism and talents serve to
inspire others. On March 8th, 2022, she launched a virtual education program in
collaboration with the National Women’s History Museum called Heritage and Harmony: Her
Art, Her Voice, featuring leading female BIPOC role models in the arts who share their
stories of heritage, their challenges and their triumphs, as they seek to inspire and empower
future generations of groundbreaking young women.
Donna has performed in concert halls worldwide, and appeared as soloist with major
symphony orchestras, including the Atlanta, Philadelphia and Shanghai Symphony
Orchestras. She has collaborated with world-class artists including Carter Brey, Anthony
McGill, Elizabeth Mann, Ani Kavafian, David Shifrin, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Paul
Neubauer, and Kelly Hall-Tompkins.
The curator of the Donna Weng Friedman ’80 Master Class Series at Princeton University,
she is also a member of Princeton University Music Department’s Advisory Council. Donna is
currently serving as Vice Chair to the Friends of Thirteen Advocacy Board/WNET. She
received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University where she was a University
Scholar and a Master’s of Music Degree from the Juilliard School where she was a winner of
the highly coveted Gina Bachauer Piano Competition as well as the William Petschek full
scholarship award. Donna had the honor and privilege of studying with the great pedagogue
Nadia Boulanger and the inimitable pianist Radu Lupu.
About John Perry, Pianist
John Perry, distinguished artist and teacher, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Eastman School of Music where he was a student of Cecile Genhart. During those summers, he worked with the eminent Frank Mannheimer. Recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, he continued studies in Europe for four years where he worked with Wladyslav Kedra, Polish concert artist and professor at the Akademie für Musik in Vienna, and Carlo Zecchi, renowned conductor, pianist, and head of the piano department at the Santa Cecilia Academy of Music in Rome.
Mr. Perry has won numerous awards including the highest prizes in both the Busoni and Viotti international piano competitions in Italy and special honors at the Marguerite Long International Competition in Paris. Since then he has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America to great critical acclaim. Also a respected chamber musician, Mr. Perry has collaborated with some of the finest instrumentalists in the world.
He also enjoys an international reputation as a teacher, presenting master classes throughout the world. He often is a jury member at some of the most prestigious international piano competitions. His students have been prize winners in most major competitions and include two first-prize winners in the Rubinstein, four first-prize winners in the Music Teacher’s National Association national competition, and first-prize winners in the Naumburg National Chopin competition, the Cleveland Competition, Beethoven Foundation competition, the Federated Music Clubs, and the YKA, AMSC, and YMF competitions, and finalists in the Chopin International in Warsaw, the Van Cliburn, the Queen Elisabeth, Leeds, Dublin, Busoni, Viotti and the Three Rivers competitions.
Mr. Perry is professor at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, professor of piano at Mason Gross Schoo of the Arts, Rutgers University, and Professor Emeritus of the USC Thornton School of Music. In addition, he recently founded a music school, John Perry Academy of Music in Los Angeles, where he serves as Artistic Director. During the summer he is artist professor at the Lake Como International Piano Academy, the Banff Center in Alberta, Canada, the Sarasota Music Festival in Florida, the Orford Music Festival in Quebec, the Morningside Music Bridge Program in Calgary, Alberta, the Internationaler Klaviersommer Cochem, Germany, the International Music Festival in Perugia, Italy, the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, Montecito International Music Festival in Santa Barbara, and the John Perry Academy Summer Piano Festival in California. In January he is main guest artist at the Sydney Piano Festival in Australia.
His recordings are available on the Telefunken, Musical Heritage Society, CBC, ACA and Fox labels.
Click here to visit Mr. Perry’s website: https://www.johnperrypiano.com/
About Donna Weng Friedman
Donna Weng Friedman — Award winning pianist Donna Weng Friedman enjoys a varied
career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, curator, producer and app developer. Her
album Heritage and Harmony: Silver Linings, featuring exclusively AAPI/BIPOC artists, was
intended as a response to the wave of violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander
(AAPI) individuals, and aims to promote understanding and tolerance among people of all
backgrounds. Recorded and released during the pandemic, the album was presented with
two Silver Medals at the 2022 Global Music Awards.
In collaboration with WQXR, Donna created and produced Heritage and Harmony, a virtual
concert series in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Her story was featured on
Asian Americans of New York & New Jersey | WLIW21, a segment of which has been aired
on PBS numerous times.
Donna was awarded a 2022 New York Women Composer’s grant. She is the co- creator and
co-host of HER/MUSIC;HER/STORY with soprano Allison Charney, a mini- series on WQXR
as well as a concert series that shines a light on women composers, past and present. She
was the guest speaker on TEDx Santa Barbara’s series Making Waves: Conversations with
Influencers and Disruptors. Donna is the Artistic Advisor of Ariel Rivka Dance, an all-female
dance company.
Donna was the featured guest artist on the National Women’s History Museum’s series
NWHM Presents: Sundays@Home, honoring women whose activism and talents serve to
inspire others. On March 8th, 2022, she launched a virtual education program in
collaboration with the National Women’s History Museum called Heritage and Harmony: Her
Art, Her Voice, featuring leading female BIPOC role models in the arts who share their
stories of heritage, their challenges and their triumphs, as they seek to inspire and empower
future generations of groundbreaking young women.
Donna has performed in concert halls worldwide, and appeared as soloist with major
symphony orchestras, including the Atlanta, Philadelphia and Shanghai Symphony
Orchestras. She has collaborated with world-class artists including Carter Brey, Anthony
McGill, Elizabeth Mann, Ani Kavafian, David Shifrin, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Paul
Neubauer, and Kelly Hall-Tompkins.
The curator of the Donna Weng Friedman ’80 Master Class Series at Princeton University,
she is also a member of Princeton University Music Department’s Advisory Council. Donna is
currently serving as Vice Chair to the Friends of Thirteen Advocacy Board/WNET. She
received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University where she was a University
Scholar and a Master’s of Music Degree from the Juilliard School where she was a winner of
the highly coveted Gina Bachauer Piano Competition as well as the William Petschek full
scholarship award. Donna had the honor and privilege of studying with the great pedagogue
Nadia Boulanger and the inimitable pianist Radu Lupu.