Peoples' Symphony Concerts

This brilliant pianist returns to PSC witrh a program including two virtuosic showpieces.  "For sheer excitement, he is difficult to purpass." - New York Sun



The Program:

RAVEL: Valses Nobles et Sentimentales
STRAVINSKY: Petrushka
LISZT: Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude
LISZT: Mephisto Waltz



The Artist:

First Prize in the 1979 Naumburg International Piano Competition, held in memory of William Kapell, catapulted Peter Orth into the American musical mainstream with a highly acclaimed recital debut in Alice Tully Hall.  Not long afterwards he was awarded the Shura Cherkassky Prize by the 92nd Street Y in New York and the Fanny Peabody Mason Award in Boston.  Since that time, he has been heard as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, as well as the orchestras of Detroit, Montreal, Pittsburgh, and Saint Louis.  Recently he has performed with such European orchestras as the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, the Orchestre National de Lyon and the Nord Deutsche Philharmonie. In February 2010, he gave a solo recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

His recent recital at Alice Tully Hall was greeted by three standing ovations and praise in both the The New York Times and The New York Sun. This success brought Orth back to New York to Zankel Hall for another recital in October of 2007. Writing in the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini spoke about the tenderness and fervor of his playing, describing it as “...one long arc of inspiration.” In The New York Sun, Fred Kirshnit commented that “... the experience seemed like one continuous essay in profundity ….a commanding presence…..for sheer excitement, he is difficult to surpass.”

Mr. Orth has played under conductors Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, James Conlon, Leonard Slatkin and Aldo Ceccato, performing in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall and the Pasadena Ambassador Auditorium.  Peter Orth has also visited the well-known festivals of Marlboro, Ravinia, Caramoor, Aspen, Bad Kissingen and Kuhmo/Finland. He returned to Siena for four performances of the Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto with the State Orchestra of the Ukraine.  His recent performance of the work with the Rostock Philharmonie was described by Musical America as a “technically and musically impressive performance of the cruelly difficult Brahms Second Piano Concerto.” In 2004, he was presented in recital by Steinway and Sons in New York and presented with a gold medal in honor of Steinway’s 150th birthday.