Monday, October 30th, 2023, 7:30 pm
Piano on Park Live presents:
The Story Behind the Notes
with Cyrus von Hochstetter (piano)
RSVP with Suggested Donation (proceeds will support the Piano on Park concert series)
Join Cyrus von Hochstetter in an interactive exploration of the connection between music, sound and meaning as we look for the stories behind the notes with musical examples from Debussy, Beethoven, Wagner, Schumann and more.
Program:
Excerpts from Debussy, Wagner, Purcell and Beethoven.
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810 - 1856)
Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6
Lebhaft (Florestan and Eusebius)
Innig (Eusebius)
Mit Humor (Florestan)
Ungeduldig (Florestan)
Einfach (Eusebius)
Sehr rasch (Florestan)
Nicht schnell (Eusebius)
Frisch (Florestan and Eusebius)
Lebhaft (Florestan)
Balladenmäßig. Sehr rasch (Florestan)
Einfach (Eusebius)
Mit Humor (Florestan)
Wild und lustig (Florestan and Eusebius)
Zart und singend (Eusebius)
Frisch (Florestan and Eusebius)
Mit gutem Humor (Florestan)
Wie aus der Ferne (Florestan and Eusebius)
Nicht schnell (Eusebius)
In "Davidsbündlertänze," Robert Schumann assigns certain pieces to either of his two musical personas – Florestan, who represents his passionate, voluble side, and Eusebius, who embodies his dreamy, introspective aspect.
About the artist:
With his training in both classical and jazz piano, Cyrus von Hochstetter straddles the musical worlds as a pianist, composer, educator, public speaker and presenter. As a pianist, he has performed internationally, toured the US with chamber music ensembles and produced records with diverse musicians such as Larry Campbell, Ryan Keberle, Stéphane Wrembel and David Taylor. He has composed music for the stage and for commercials and has brought his 7-piece ensemble the ‘Hat Music’, to Joe’s Pub in New York navigating a musical spectrum encompassing arrangements of music by Arnold Schönberg, Duke Ellington, and Cyrus von Hochstetter’s own compositions. With a passion for storytelling, he frequently speaks publicly about the language of music and introduces audiences into the deeper fabric of classical music through his YouTube video series ‘My Music Notes’.
He is the founder of ‘Piano on Park’ a non-profit concert series, where he curates and presents intimate living-room concerts with some of New York’s most accomplished musicians. The series has included performances by David Krakauer, JP Jofre, Rob Schwimmer, Stéphane Wrembel, Daniel Schnyder, David Taylor, Mark Peskanov and generates support for many up-and-coming young musicians. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the series streamed concerts by musicians recorded in their own living room, offering one of few opportunities for musicians to perform and connect with audiences during that time.
As the director of the Two Bridges Music program in 2017 and 2018, Cyrus von Hochstetter launched a free concert series for New York’s Lower East Side community and also designed an innovative composition curriculum teaching children as young as seven years old how to write music from scratch. Within two years of enrollment in the program, these students were writing pieces for string orchestra. The ensuing collaborations with InterSchool Orchestras of New York, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of NY and Third Street Music school orchestras led to public performances of the young composer’s pieces including a concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His composition curriculum at Two Bridges Music received funding from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and he was invited to speak about the programs’ success at a convention of the New York State Council of the Arts.
A Manhattan School of Music graduate under jazz pianists Garry Dial and Jason Moran, he expanded his education in classical piano with Zitta Zohar and complemented his training with studies of counterpoint and composition. In addition he earned a Master’s degree in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Cyrus maintains a private studio in Manhattan where he teaches piano, composition and theory.