Getting to work with talented and truly gifted artists like Jonathan Levin, a native of Clayton, is just one of the greatest perks of this job.  It's not very hard to write a few words in a blog or send out press releases to help our local artists. In comparison, concert pianists like Jonathan have literally invested thousands of hours of practice to bring us, the audience, a touch of classical music.

When interviewing Jonathan recently, I asked how do your fingers move so fast along the piano keys, and he replied "it's sometimes just muscle memory and they may move faster than my brain can remember the notes".  How scary, but that's when he relies on those thousands of hours of practice to come through for him and us.

This February 14th, for the third year, the Clayton Piano Festival will give a concert at the Historic Wagner House.  This year's performance is entitled, "Tales of Love from Beethoven to Broadway" and it will expand to include Violinist Michael Danchi and Mezzo Soprano Nora Graham-Smith.  Jonathan will himself perform this year and bring his own piano transcriptions of songs from the Great American Songbook.  Dinner will be served with a reception following the concert to meet the performers.  Tickets are $60.00 per person and available by calling 919-585-1221.

Jonathan is Artistic Director and Founder of the Clayton Piano Festival which seeks to create accessible, educational, world-class concerts and music presentations that uniquely enrich the cultural life of the area. The festival, which presented its first season of concerts, public classes, school outreach and other community events in February, 2012, aims to bridge the gap between performer and audience, bringing classical piano music to people of all ages and levels of exposure to the arts.  For the past three years, he has been Musical Director of Natchez Festival of Music's Educational Outreach Program and is also on the faculty of Remarkable Theater Brigade's Summer Young Artists Program for vocalists.  A sought after collaborative pianist, Jonathan has appeared on the Vox Novus/RTB Composers Voice Concert Series and has worked closely with respected voice teachers Paul Sperry and Monica Harte. 

Jonathan hopes to give that feeling of magic of live performance through interaction with his audience -- how lucky we are his wish and mission is to create magic!  Don't miss an opportunity to hear Jonathan play, or to engage him in conversation about music, photography (another of his passions)....his sense of humor is truly charming and his love for Clayton very obvious!

Jonathan, please don't stop bringing us a touch of magic to Clayton! 

 

 Jonathan Levin plays Gershwin/Wild Virtuoso Etude No. 4 "Embraceable You"