ONNY Spring Concert Features Steinway Artist

POTSDAM - One of the most majestic and popular piano concertos of all time will be performed by internationally acclaimed pianist and Steinway artist, Paul Wyse, when The Orchestra of Northern New York presents its spring classical concert at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 16 in SUNY Potsdam's Hosmer Hall, and again at 3:00 p.m., Sunday, April 17 in the Dulles State Office Building, Watertown.

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb Major, Op. 83 is the centerpiece of the concert.  The powerful and pastoral music of Dvorak's Czech Suite in D Major, Op. 39 opens the program.  Kenneth Andrews, founder and music director of ONNY, conducts the 60-piece orchestra.

Mr. Wyse will perform on a nine-foot concert grand Steinway piano being shipped from Artist-Pianos, Syracuse by a special moving company for the Watertown concert. The instrument's value is $162,000.

Wyse thrills audiences with his stunning artistic vision, poetic style, and virtuosity. The Miami Herald hailed him as "...a musician of uncommon perception, possessing lots of facility and fire."

He has been seen in concert in the United States, Canada, Central America, Europe, and New Zealand. Highlights include the premier performances for the Royal Family of Monaco, concertos with the New World Symphony, the Gettysburg Symphony Orchestra, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the Peabody Chamber Orchestra, and The Orchestra of Northern New York. Wyse has had an amazing career (see paulwyse.com) with ONNY, performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Beethoven's Concerto No. 4, Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2,  Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 1, and now Brahms Concerto No. 2.

He has made radio appearances on WGBH Boston, the Australian Broadcasting Company, the New Zealand Broadcasting Company, and recently appeared on New York Public Television performing Sonatas for Violin/Cello and Piano of L.V. Beethoven. He has collaborated in performance with such greats as Michael Tilson Thomas, Vladimir Feltsman, Carter Brey, José-Luiz Garcia, and Paula Robison. 

Also, a trained visual artist, Wyse has painted portraits that hang in North America's finest collections including the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, the Steinway Hall historical portrait collection, and the House of Commons of Canada. His list of notable portraits include, pop legend Billy Joel, Kennedy Center Award winning conductor and pianist Leon Fleisher, 34th Speaker of the House of Commons Peter Milliken, and Harry Connick Jr. In 2015, he became the first Steinway Artist to have designed and hand painted a Steinway art case (model D) piano, on which he will perform as a recitalist in the major cities of the world. For more information visit www.wysefineart.com.

The concert is presented with support from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the NYS Legislature.

Tickets for the spring concert are $22 for adults, $18 for seniors and military personnel, and $5 for students 6-17 and college students with I.D. They are available by calling 315-267-2277 or online at www.onny.org.

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