Four Amazing Pianists Come Together for Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival Fundraiser

Orion Weiss and Anna Polonsky play at Chamber Music Festival fundraiser

From the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival

It promises to be a grand event when four powerful pianists take the stage for the 2^nd Annual “Leaves of Gold” Fundraising Concert and Party to benefit the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival.  Jon Kimura Parker, Anna Polonsky, Adam Stern and Orion Weiss will perform on two grand pianos on Monday, Oct. 25^th at 7:00 pm at Orcas Center.

Internationally acclaimed concert pianist “Jackie” Parker is the Artistic Advisor for the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival.  His career has taken him from Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House to the Canadian Arctic and war-torn Sarajevo.  Jackie is Professor of Piano at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.  He is an Officer of The Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian honor.

Anna Polonsky has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.  In 2008, Anna performed as a pianist for the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival.  In 2006 she took part in the European Broadcast Union’s project to record and broadcast all of Mozart’s keyboard sonatas.  In 2007 Polonsky performed a Carnegie Hall solo recital, inaugurating the Emerson Quartet’s Perspectives Series. She is a member of the newly formed Schumann Trio.  In addition to performing, Polonsky serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College.

Adam Stern has won praise as a conductor, composer, lecturer and pianist.  He has guest-conducted throughout the United States   He has also composed for numerous dramatic productions in Los Angeles and Seattle and appeared in the Richard Dreyfuss film The Competition.  In 1990 he won a Grammy Award as “Classical Producer of the Year.”  He’s currently Music Director of the Seattle Philharmonic, the Port Angeles Symphony and Music Department Administrator at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle.

At age 27, Orion Weiss is already one of the most sought-after soloists.  He has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra and many others.   He toured the U.S. with the Orchester der Klangverwaltung Munich and toured Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Itzhak Perlman.  This past year he and Anna Polonsky were married.

Following the concert, a Fireside Party will include desserts by Passionate for Pies and Sugar Baby Specialty Cakes, coffee bar and wines from Thurston Wolfe.   Also, there will be a live auction, where patrons can bid on Music Lovers Adventure Trips to other Northwest Festivals in 2011.

Concert tickets are $150 and may be purchased online at www.oicmf.org or by calling the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival office at 360-376-6636 .  This fundraising concert, fireside party and auction benefits Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival programming and community education.