Internationally Acclaimed Pianist to Give Performance of Bach’s "Goldberg Variations"

WORCESTER, Mass. – Sarah Grunstein, internationally acclaimed pianist and assistant professor of music at the College of the Holy Cross, will perform J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. in Brooks Concert Hall. The concert, presented by the Holy Cross Chamber Players and sponsored by the music department, is free and open to the public.  Because of the challenging and encyclopedic nature of the work, the Goldberg Variations are rarely heard in concert. Grunstein, who has established her credentials as a Bach interpreter and has achieved recognition for her pre-concert talks, will also provide a brief spoken introduction.

"From the first note, Sarah Grunstein commanded the theatre . . . Sarah Grunstein beguiled her audience into complete contemplative stillness . . . a towering and authoritative presence on stage . . . cool meticulous Bach followed by hot-blooded tempestuous Schumann . . . a stunning virtuoso.”     (The Chronicle, Australia)

Grunstein has recently returned from a concert and teaching tour in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. In Italy, Grunstein performed the Goldberg Variations as part of the series of the XIV International Music Festival at Rocca Grimalda, Alessandria. At Durham University, England, she presented a lecture-recital “Playing the Changing Face of Chopin's Score” which included her own improvisation between preludes. She presented master-classes in Australia and for the Piano Forum at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo. At the University of Auckland, New Zealand, Grunstein performed and gave master-classes as “Distinguished Artist-in-Residence.”

Grunstein holds a doctor of musical arts degree from the City University of New York, and a bachelor and master of music degrees from The Juilliard School. A member of Holy Cross faculty since 2002, Grunstein has taught at Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music, the City University of New York, Fordham University, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She is the first elected board member in Performance for the College Music Society.

At Holy Cross she founded and leads the monthly student-faculty Performance Forums, has presented colloquia on her 18th-century fortepiano, founded the Annual Chamber Music Festival, and is Co-Director of the Chamber Music Program. She has led study tours to the Frederic Historic Piano Collection where she has created and directed festivals featuring Holy Cross students performing on historic instruments.

"At Sarah Grunstein’s Bach concerts at Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall) in February, the opening notes of the Prelude from the Partita in B-flat evoked memories of Dame Myra Hess and Englishman Harold Samuel, i.e., she cared deeply about the music, knew stylistically what to do with it, and (best of all) produced a demure, pearly, singing tone . . . This Australian native with degrees from Juilliard and the City University of New York, who is now [Assistant] Professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, is an artist worth hearing."     (American Record Guide)

“Bach's C minor Partita … was admirable; the opening Sinfonia tempestuous, the more intimate Courante and Sarabande imbued with a luminous calm.”     (New York Times)