World-renowned concert pianist Abbey Simon will perform, host Master Class at Shorter

January 24, 2011 - World-renowned concert pianist Abbey Simon will perform a recital at Shorter University’s Brookes Chapel on Monday, Jan. 31. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is free to the public. Simon will also host a Master Class with Shorter and Emory University students on Sunday, Jan. 30. The Master Class is also open to the public and will be held from 5 until 7 p.m. in Brookes Chapel. Simon has been hailed as a super-virtuoso whose appearances in the concert halls of the world are eagerly anticipated not only by music lovers, but also by professional musicians who come to hear him perform.  He is recognized as one of the grand masters of the piano.

Through the years, critics have hailed Simon’s mastery and noted that his playing has its roots of the great pianists of the past.  Improvising at the piano at the age of three, he began taking lessons at the age of five. At the age of eight, Simon was accepted by Hofmann as a scholarship student at the Curtis Institute.

Upon graduation from Curtis, Simon went on to win numerous awards.  He made his official debut in New York’s Town Hall as winner of the prestigious Naumburg Award.  Following this success he performed at Carnegie Hall a number of times before his debut tour to Europe.  His success in Europe was so great that he did not return to the United States for 12 years.

Simon has been the recipient of the Federation of Music Clubs Award, the National Orchestral Association Award, and a Ford Foundation Award.  Following his debut in Europe, he received the Harriet Cohen Medal and the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Award.

Simon’s recordings for Philips, EMI, HMV, and Vox make him one of the most recorded classical artists of all time.  He has recorded all the concertos of Rachmaninoff, the complete works of Ravel, and Schumann’s Carnaval and Fantasy.  His Chopin collection encompasses some 20 disks.

He has served on the faculties of such noted schools as Indiana University and the Juilliard School.  Simon currently holds a Cullen Distinguished Professorship at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1977.   Recently, Simon was presented in recital on the “Naumburg Looks Back” series in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.

Founded in 1873, Shorter University is a Christian college committed to excellence in education. Since 2003, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Shorter among the South’s best baccalaureate colleges, and the Princeton Review annually includes Shorter on its lists of best value and best Southeastern colleges. The university offers traditional bachelor’s degrees in 48 major areas as well as undergraduate degree programs for working adults, the Master of Business Administration, the Master of Education and the Master of Arts in Leadership. General education and calculus courses are offered in an online format, and Shorter recently launched online programs that lead toward the Associate of Science, the Bachelor of Business Administration, and the Master of Accountancy degrees. For more information, visit www.shorter.edu..



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