Piano concert to honor the Bay Area Red Cross Society
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- (© Aubrie Pick for Drew Altizer Photography)
A unique and varied piano concert took place at the saloon of the German Consulate General on Wednesday, December 2. It was the highlight of a reception which celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the American Red Cross Bay Area – Paint the Town Red Gala. The latter is an annual event which will again take place in March 2010. The Paint the Town Red Gala brings together around 400 members of the Bay Area philanthropic and corporate community to raise funds in support of the Red Cross.
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- (© Aubrie Pick for Drew Altizer Photography)
After a cocktail reception numerous guests were able to enjoy the performance of Corinna Simon on her last stop of her concert tour through the United States. Ms. Simon had compiled a specific program for this occasion, which included contemporary works by East and West German composers (among them, Günter Kochan, Jürg Baur, Friedrich Goldmann, Hans Werner Henze, and Harald Genzmer) as well as compositions by Georg Friedrich Händel (Aria con Variazioni), Ludwig van Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. To conclude the concert Corinna Simon played pieces of the American composer George Gershwin.
Corinna Simon began receiving piano instruction already at the age of five. As a young student, she attended the Stern Conservatory and studied piano first at the Berlin University of the Arts, and then at the Musical Academy of Munich.
She gave her debut in 1984 at the sold out concert hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. Following her concert exam in 1987, she took several master classes with Gyorgy Sebok, Karlheinz Kämmerling, Mario Curcio and Halina Czerny-Stefánska.
She has since performed numerous chamber and solo concerts throughout all of Europe, where her enormous technical skill and her lyrical sensibility were highly praised. She has so far performed at, among other venues, the Berlin Philharmonic (large concert hall); at the Lucerne Festival; and on several occasions in Vienna, Paris, Stockholm and other European cities. Corinna Simon is also highly active in supporting young talents and she is a juror of two well known music competitions.
Before coming to San Francisco she has also performed at the German Embassy in Washington D.C. and at the German Consulate General in New York.
