Date/Time: Saturday, December 17th, 2022 @10:00 AM
Members of the Leschetizky Association will perform a wide selection of the piano sonatas on the occasion of the composer’s birthday, in five concerts. The concerts will take place at Klavierhaus, 790 Eleventh Avenue, at 10 a.m., 12 noon, 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m., and 7:15 p.m. Admission is free, but pre-registration is required due to limited seating.
Please visit Eventbee.com and scroll down on the home page to find the “Find Event” button. Type in “Beethoven Sonata Marathon” and the list of concerts will come up. Please register for each concert you wish to attend and print out your confirmation email to present at the door. Masks and vaccinations are recommended.
The concerts will also be live-streamed on Klavierhaus’s YouTube channel: YouTube.com/c/Klavierhaus.
The program order is as follows: Beethoven Marathon final schedule. Click here for the bios of the marathon performers and notes about the sonatas they will play: performers’ bios.pdf.
Download flyer here: Beethovenflyer4c
Birgit Matzerath, about the Beethoven Piano Sonata Marathon:
In November 2021, pianist Liz Wolff played one of the first live recitals after the break inflicted on in-person activities by the Covid 19 pandemic. The program was called “Beethoven in C” and featured the sonatas op 10 No 1 in c-minor, the Waldstein Sonata op 53 in C-major, and the last sonata, No 32 op 111 in c-minor. Liz was playing, I was turning pages, and Joe Patrych was running the live-stream. President Zelma Bodzin welcomed the audience on the internet and the small audience that had gathered at TENRI, the regular concert venue of the Leschetizky Association. We were only a handful of people, but it felt so good to be together again.
After the concert, we talked about all the festivities in honor of Beethoven’s 250th birthday in 2020 that had been cancelled due to the pandemic. I remembered the two Piano Sonata Marathons organized by WQXR in 2012 and 2015 that I had attended as an audience member, beginning to end. There is nothing like going home late at night with the beautiful music still playing in your head that you’ve listened to all day. “Your recital was a summary,” I said to Liz; “If we ask everyone to participate, can we fill in the blanks between the three sonatas?”
The idea of a Beethoven Piano Sonata Marathon was approved by the Board, and presented to the members of the Leschetizky Association in July of this year. The first enthusiastic responses came in on the day the invitation went out. In all, 23 members expressed interest in participating. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to commit to the date of the event: December 17, the day after Beethoven’s birthday. 16 pianists will perform 26 of the 32 piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven in 5 concerts throughout the day.
We are very grateful to Klavierhaus for donating the space and the use of their magnificent concert piano, to their staff, especially James Wu, for their support and creative ideas, to Joe Patrych for running the live stream, and to Manuel Buri for keeping the piano in tune.
The musicians performing in this event hail from different walks of musical life. Some perform, others teach, still others make a living in non-musical professions and dedicate a considerable amount of their spare time to preparing for performances on a high level.
Love of music brings us together, joy, and gratitude for being alive to share music that sustained us during the challenges of the pandemic.