CONCERTO AMERICA WORLD PREMIERE WITH BOSTON POPS ON JUNE 30 AND JULY 2 -
Pianist Jeffrey Biegel to perform Charles Strouse's Concerto America with
Maestro Keith Lockhart

The internationally renowned pianist Jeffrey Biegel will give the World
Premiere performances of Tony Award winning composer Charles Strouse's
Concerto America with the Boston Pops, Maestro Keith Lockhart conducting,
on Sunday, June 30 and Tuesday, July 2 at Symphony Hall in Boston, Mass.

Future performances of the Concerto America will take the work to all
50 states.  The first of these performances after the Boston Premiere
will take place with the Greensboro and Honolulu Symphony Orchestras.

The Concerto America was written by the internationally celebrated Mr.
Strouse, creator of such Broadway classics as Bye, Bye Birdie, Annie,
Golden Boy and Applause.  The composer describes the piece as, "a
thematic evocation of my fascination with American popular music...(that
reflects) the joy and optimism of America." His complete program notes,
as well as more information about the Concerto America, can be found
at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/april02/CAP_040402.htm

Support for this project has been received from South Florida Council
of The Chopin Foundation of the United States, Marvin & Isa Leibowitz
and Carol Carnes.  Their generous support will allow the project to
offer this piece for state premieres without commissioning cost to the
orchestras.  Media support for the performances is being supplied by
Steinway & Sons - http://www.steinway.com/ and Culturekiosque.com -
http://www.culturekiosque.com/klassik/.

Referred to by the legendary Leonard Bernstein as "a splendid musician
and a brilliant performer," pianist Jeffrey Biegel performed the American
premiere of the fully restored original 1924 manuscript of George
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall in
Boston.  He has subsequently performed this piece with orchestras across
the U.S.  and in Germany.  He has also presented performances from Maine
to California of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Millennium Fantasy for piano and
orchestra, a work he commissioned in collaboration with 26 American
orchestras and which was Premiered in September of 2000 with the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra, Jesus Lopez-Cobos conducting.  Jeffrey Biegel's website
is at http://www.cyberecital.com

For more information about The Concerto America or pianist Jeffrey Biegel,
contact Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 - tel & fax or by
E-mail at [log in to unmask]

Jeffrey James <[log in to unmask]>