Pianist Barbara Nissman Concludes UA’s 2010-2011 Celebrity Series

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The internationally-acclaimed pianist Barbara Nissman will perform on The University of Alabama campus Friday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Moody Music Building’s Concert Hall.

The performance is part of the School of Music’s 2010-2011 Celebrity Series in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.

She will also hold two master classes on Saturday, March 26. The first will be at 10 a.m. in the Concert Hall, and the second will be at 2 p.m. in the Choral/Opera Room of the Moody Music Building. This will be Nissman’s first visit to UA.

“I have heard so much about the school from some good friends who are students there,” Nissman said. “I am very much looking forward to my visit. It will be fun to work with the piano students and to share the music of some of my favorite composer ‘friends’ with the audience.”

Nissman has been called one of the last pianists in the Romantic tradition of Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Rubinstein, and her recordings of 20th-century composers Prokofiev, Ginastera and Bartók are considered definitive by most pianists.

She has performed with the leading orchestras of Europe and America, including the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Munich Philharmonic; in the United States she has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the National Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, among others.

Although she is associated with composers and classics of the past, her career has also included performances alongside Don Henley of the Eagles and Billy Joel, performing on the Walden Steinway in a gala fundraiser for the Walden Woods project.

Nissman was born and raised in Philadelphia and received her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan. She lives on a farm in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia.

Single ticket prices are $22, $15 and $7 for students. For ticket information, or an immediate credit card purchase, phone the School of Music Box Office at 205-348-7111.

UA’s School of Music is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.