Reflections from the Keyboard with Pianist Sara Daneshpour and Piano Archives Curator Donald Manildi

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: for Clarice Smith Center
Andrew Zender, azender@umd.edu
(301) 405-8151

for University Libraries
Donald Manildi, godowsky@umd.edu
(301) 405-9224

September 30, 2009 —COLLEGE PARK, MD— Pianist Sara Daneshpour, a 21-year-old D.C. native who has been carving out a place for herself in the international music world, will perform works by Schumann, Chopin, Debussy, Rachmaninov and Scriabin on Sunday, Oct. 11 at 2 p.m. in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Gildenhorn Recital Hall. The performance will be accompanied by remarks from Donald Manildi, Curator of the International Piano Archives at Maryland (IPAM), to highlight and illuminate archival treasures in the collection. The event is free, but ticketed.

Described by The Baltimore Sun as “a powerhouse,” Daneshpour won second place in the 2007 William Kapell International Piano Competition at the Center. In addition to the Kapell, Daneshpour has received many awards in international competitions, beginning in 2003 with First Prize at the Maria Fisher Piano Competition for Young Soloists (Beethoven Society of America). Since then, she has collected a medal at the 2006 Maria Canals International Competition in Barcelona, Second Prize at the Kapell and First Prize, Gold Medal, and the Audience Award at the 2007 6th International Russian Music Piano Competition in San Jose, California. Daneshpour will be a guest artist at the National Orchestral Institute and Festival in June 2010.

Her October 11 program will include:
- Variations on the Name “Abegg”, Op. 1 by Robert Schumann
- Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35 by Frederic Chopin
- Estampes by Claude Debussy
- Four Etudes-Tableaux from Op.39 by Sergei Rachmaninov
- Sonata No.4 in F-Sharp, Op.30 by Alexander Scriabin.

Curator Donald Manildi will present highlights from historic recordings representing performance traditions of composers on Ms. Daneshpour’s program. These recordings reside in the International Piano Archives at Maryland, part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. IPAM is the world’s only institutional collection devoted specifically to pianists, piano music and piano recordings. Its holdings include the vast majority of all commercially-issued recordings of the classical repertoire, over 16,000 published scores (many rare and out-of-print), as well as documents on the careers of hundreds of concert pianists. IPAM serves as a research center for students, pianists, musicologists and music lovers from many countries.

The event is free, but tickets are required and seating is reserved. Contributions to the International Piano Archives at Maryland are encouraged. Call (301) 405-ARTS or visit www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu for tickets or more information. The Clarice Smith Center is located near the intersection of Route 193 and Stadium Drive at the University of Maryland, College Park. A parking garage is located across the street from the Center.

About the Artists
Sara Daneshpour performs frequently in her native city of Washington, D.C., including engagements at the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, and the Phillips Collection, as well as at Carnegie Hall in New York. Her appearances abroad have earned acclaim in Russia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and Norway. Of her performance of Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 with the Baltimore Symphony, The Baltimore Sun stated that she produced “enough tone for two pianists,” while The Mercury News lauded her “strength, finesse, passion; it was all there.” She graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 2007, where she completed five years of studies with Leon Fleisher. She currently studies privately in Washington, D.C. with Dr. Oleg Volkov.

Donald Manildi has served as Curator of IPAM since 1993, and holds degrees in piano performance from the University of Washington (Seattle) and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has published over 600 reviews, articles and discographies in various journals. His compact disc, Pianists as Composers, was issued on the Elan label in 1999 to critical acclaim. He has also produced over 30 CD reissues of historic piano recordings. At IPAM his responsibilities include the development and preservation of existing collections, the acquisition of significant new materials, attending to visits and inquiries of performers and scholars from around the world, and serving as guest lecturer for various University of Maryland music classes.