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With her unique personalization of music, Barbara
provides a wonderful opportunity to expand the public for classical music.
This is entertainment and enjoyment for the entire family and a proven way
of building future audiences for classical music. Barbara connects
with any audience- from children to retirees. Her ability to talk
about her composer "friends" led BBC Television to film a 16-week musical
series with Barbara. Deere & Co., the farm equipment manufacturer,
was inspired to create a successful concert-lecture series with Barbara and
their factory workers- the first of its kind in America!
Whether appearing as soloist on the major stages
of the world with symphony orchestras or giving an informal talk to a
group of non-musicians about her composer "friends," Barbara communicates.
She connects and makes the magic of music accessible to all who hear her.
Available as separate programs or as a series:
Chopin: The Poet of the
Piano
Franz Liszt: The “Elvis
Presley” of the Keyboard
“The Russians are Coming;
The Russians are Coming!”
Beethoven: The Tragic Hero
A Love Story:
Robert & Clara & Johannes
Olé! Music of Spain
and Latin America
"Gracing The Stage"
The arts touch a place
inside all of us where we harbor our dreams, anxieties, hopes, and
passion. If you take the time to indulge in the arts, you may find there
is a part of yourself that opens up: that part which the world we live in
so often tries to keep closed. And lucky for us, we do not have to go very
far to find it. There is such an offering of art, talent, entertainment,
etc. right here in Greenbrier Valley, that all you have to do to enjoy it
is to reach out to it, and trust me, it is reaching out to you!
Recently I took the time to step out of my own little world and into a new
part of our community. Amazed at what I found at Carnegie Hall, I have
been inspired to find as much of it as I can.
On Friday, Dec. 12, 1 was transported to the Romantic Age of the 19th
century. My hosts were Clara and Robert Schuman, Brahms, and concert
pianist Barbara Nissman, who, lucky for us, was our time traveling tour
guide. It was a wonderful journey through time. In an informal setting,
where the greenest of classical music novices would feel at ease, Nissman
spoke of her “friends,” and how their music came from the harbors of
emotions within them. It was an insight into the passion of the
compositions, and the times in which these works of art were created.
Once there was an under standing of where the music came from, Nissman
channeled her composer “friends” through the magnificent Steinway.
Together they graced the stage and within moments the auditorium exploded
with energy through a performance that took me totally by surprise. I was
expecting to be entertained, but I had no idea as to the magnitude of her
talent. The sheer power that went into the piano and the precise execution
of the music was exhilarating.
For me to try to speak of Nissman’s accomplishments would surely fall
short of their worthiness. She has performed with the world elite in more
foreign lands that most of us only wish we would have the opportunity to
see. Some honorable mentions include: The London Philharmonic, The Royal
Phil harmonic, the BBC Symphony, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Munich
Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh, Chicago, St.
Louis, and National Symphonies, as well as the Philadelphia and Cleveland
Orchestras. In fact, she has also worked with some of the major conductors
of our time including Eugene Ormandy. Richardo Muti, and Leonard Slatkin.
The evening was fulfilled by a reception in her honor. She spoke to
everyone who came. There was a glow about her and energy that you could
feel the closer you got to her. I was very comfortable in her presence, as
were all. She spoke candidly with the crowd and knew most everyone by name
due to being one of our more famous residents. There were two types of
people there, those who were her friends, and those who were friends she
had yet to meet. She is a true lady.
In retrospect the evening left me with a question. With a woman of such
talent living right here in our own backyard, why did the auditorium,
which can seat approximately 300 people, only have around 200 in it? I
wish I could tell everyone who wasn’t there what they had missed. For
those who are skeptical about events such as this I can only pass along a
message from a dear friend who once told me, “Figure out the things that
you don’t like and don’t do them any more. Pay attention to the things
that you do like, and do more of it. And try everything!”
It doesn’t matter what genre of music appeals to you; a journey inside
yourself is one you should take whenever possible. . In this case you have
a guide, Barbara Nissman. Her “friends” and their music speak to the soul
and ease the mind. You owe it to yourself to at least open the window and
feel the breeze go through you. With that being said, I hope whomever may
read this will keep their eyes open for her next performance. It will be a
day that you will not soon forget, and one that will change the way you
view art, music, and yourself.
The Mountain Messenger. Dec. 20, 2003
“Nissman Pulls Audience into
Russian Music”
For the third time,
pianist Barbara Nissman took time away from her busy touring schedule to
zip up from her farm in Lewisburg, pop into the Cultural Center theater,
launch into an audience-friendly concert and chat about her instrument.
Her subject Saturday night was Russian
piano music. Nissman is perhaps the world’s leading interpreter of the
music of Sergei Prokofiev. She noted that her parents are both Russian, so
the combination of factors lets her speak, and play, with an intimate
sense of authority.
She has been very sharp in these
lecture-recitals at demonstrating to those in the audience that might not
know much about Western art music that they do, in fact, have some
knowledge of her subject. So she started with a bit of the 18th
variation from the “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini” by Sergei Rachmaninov,
a piece at the core of Hollywood’s absorption of Russian music into film
scores. She commented on Rachmaninov’s incredible fame as a pianist in the
United States before playing his usual encore, the Prelude in C# minor.
Her skill as a colorist is never in abeyance, but this piece allows for
layers of tolling bell-like chords to which she lent special timbres.
She dwelt longest on that composer, playing
three other preludes: the G major, a little bubbling brook of a piece; the
G# minor, all cantering energy and evaporating clouds of sound; and the G
minor, martial, hammered rhythms that pile up relentlessly. When she
turned to Aleksander Scriabin, she stressed his affinity for the music of
Chopin. The Etude in C# minor, written when the composer was 14, let her
spin out lyrical arcs. The wild “Etude in Thirds” showed how much clarity
she can bring to complex textures. The “Nocturne for the Left Hand”
sounded like she was using three hands rather than one with its surging
contrasts and sweeping leaps.
The middle of the program featured several
supremely difficult pieces, typical of Russian virtuoso pianism. She made
a fiery case of Mikhail Pletnev’s arrangement of a movement from
Tschaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.” Stravinsky’s own transcription of “The
Russian Dance” from “Petrouchka” featured astonishing piles of notes,
violent contrasts and utter clarity. Prokofiev’s “Diabolical Suggestions”
was delivered at a frantic pace without Nissman ever sounding less than
fully in control.
Nissman has the flair of a showman. She seemed to
start Rachmaninov’s transcription of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the
Bumblebee” before she sat down. She spent fifteen minutes answering the
audience’s questions before closing with a reflective Prokofiev prelude.
The Charleston Gazette.
May 13, 2002
Benefit concert for
the music program at Eastern Greenbrier Junior High School given by
Barbara 5/22/04
For
more information about this unique lecture series, contact:
pianoconnect@barbaranissman.com
or call 1-877-886-0036.
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