Yesterday Noble Arts Pianos  presented Prof. Ulrich Urban in celebration of the Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday. Prof. Urban had come in from Washington, D.C., where he had performed at the National Gallery on the eve of the Superbowl to an appreciative audience of 400. Yesterday’s concert, however, was set in the elegant and more intimate environment of the Noble Arts Pianos in Easton, PA. And Prof. Urban did not dissappoint! His selection for the evening included Mendelssohn’s “Three Songs without Words”, “Three Fantasies or Caprices”, a Sonata from Joseph Haydn, and something very new:  a piece from contemporary composer from Connecticut Elizabeth R. Austin titled “Four Puzzle Preludes on Classical Themes”.

For the performance Prof. Urban selected the Sauter 7′7” Ambiente which despite its power ensured the intimacy of the evening with its sensitivity and velvet character. Check back as we will post a sound sample of the evening by next week.

About Prof. Ulrich Urban:

Born in Frankfurt/ Oder, Germany, Ulrich Urban studied piano at the Leipzig Conservatory with Guenther Kootz and conducting with Rolf Reuter. From 1969 to the present, he has taught at this institution, where he was promoted to the full Professor of Piano in 1991, after the fall of the Wall. His first performances of Bach garnered glowing reviews and his repertoire includes works by composers associated with Leipzig’s musical traditions such as Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Maz Reger, and Richard Wagner. He also introduced works by Elizabeth R. Austin, Gernot Grohs, and Erle Ninow as well as the works of the English composer Clement Harris, which he recorded in 2004.

His concert tours have taken him across Europe to Japan, South Africa, South America, and the United States, where he also conducted master classes. Urban has performed piano concertos with more than forty orchestras, including the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden and Hamburd Philharmonic Orchestras, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the the Weimar Staatskapelle, among many others.

See also:

http://nobleartpianos.com/