The Leschetizky Association of New York Presents April 23 Benefit Recital by Pianist Richard Shirk at Steinway Hall - Program Features Music of Grieg New York, NY - The Leschetizky Association of New York will present a benefit recital by pianist Richard Shirk on Friday, April 23, 7 PM at Steinway Hall, 109 W 57th Street in Manhattan. This concert will benefit the Leschetizky Association Debut Fund. Mr. Shirk will perform an all-Grieg program, featuring the under-performed solo piano music of this superb Norwegian master. Since making his New York recital debut in Alice Tully Hall as the first-prize winner of the Leschetizky Competition, Richard Shirk has twice appeared in Avery Fisher Hall. He has also performed at the Long Island Beethoven Festival, the Bar Harbor Festival, the National Arts Club, the Shandelee Music Festival, New York University, Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, and University of Colorado. He has given recitals in London, Salzburg, Bologna, the Hague, Brussels, Frankfurt, Warsaw and Gdansk and has also performed and taught in Korea and Japan. In addition, he has been featured on the Concertgebouw's series in Amsterdam. Shirk's all-Mozart recital in Merkin Hall was broadcast on National Public Radio. Audio Magazine called Shirk "an impeccable Mozart pianist." Admission for the April 23 benefit concert is $35, and is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. For directions or other information, please call Steinway Hall at (212) 246-1100. You can also visit them online at http://steinway.com/. The Leschetizky Association of New York was founded in 1942 by Edith Golde and other pupils of the legendary Polish pianist, composer and pedagogue Theodor Leschetizky to promote the memory of his teaching and composing. Now in it's 61st year, the association presents concerts and informal playing groups for pianists of all ages and levels in venues ranging from private studios to piano showrooms to concert halls throughout the metropolitan area. Thanks to the generous bequest of a Steinway piano from the estate of Hilde Wittgenstein, widow of Paul Wittgenstein, who was a founding member of the association, the association has inaugurated a concert series in the gallery of the Tenri Cultural Institute. This series features concert artist members in recital and special events of the association. In the mid 1970s the name was changed to the Leschetizky Association to reflect the international character of the membership and the Leschetizky Association Debut Fund was incorporated as a tax-exempt fund to support the debut competition. In 2003 the organization presented its first Gifted Young Pianists Competition to answer the need to recognize emerging young talents and give them an opportunity to play with orchestra. Leschetizky continues to assert a seminal influence on the modern concert stage through the musical descendants of his many students and the association is dedicated to furthering the high standard of piano playing and teaching he epitomized. Visit them online at http://www.leschetizky.org/. For more information about the Leschetizky Association of New York, please contact Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 or [log in to unmask] Jeffrey James Arts Consulting Tel/Fax: 516-797-9166 Website: http://www.jamesarts.com