Pianist Paul Zeigler coming to Morristown, March 8

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Abendmusik, the concert series sponsored by Music@MUMC, continues its 2013-2014 season with a concert on Saturday,March 8, 2014, at 7:30 pm featuring pianist Paul Zeigler.

Mr. Zeigler’s concert is entitled Four Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven and will feature Sonata Op. 13 in C Minor (Pathetique), Sonata Op. 25 in A Flat Major, Sonata Quasi una Fantasia, Op. 27, no. 1 in E Flat Major and Sonata Quasi una Fantasia Op. 27, No. 2 in C Sharp Minor (Moonlight). 

There is a suggested donation of $20 for adults and $15 for senior citizens.  Advance tickets are available ($17 adults/$12 seniors) by telephoning the church office 973-538-2132.  Students with ID are admitted free. 

The concert will be presented at Morristown United Methodist Church, 50 Park Place (on the Green). Our facilities are handicapped accessible.  There will be a reception following the concert.  Please visit our website for more information: www.morristownumc.com.

The concert will open with a rising star, 10-year-old pianist Nicholas Gritz, performing Robert Schuman’s Fantasiestucke, Op. 13, No. 2 in F Minor (Aufschwung).

Paul Zeigler’s multifaceted career as a pianist, composer, teacher, lecturer and adjudicator has taken him on performances throughout the United States, canada, and Europe. But no matter where he has performed, the critics have been unanimous: “absolutely thrilling, emotionally exciting, mind-expanding… a virtuoso performer.”

Paul began playing piano at age 16 under the tutelage of pianist/composer Wells Gemberling and later with pianist/composer Harold Zabrack. He won first place at the 1986 Young Keyboard Artists International Piano Competition, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and took second place at the 2002 Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition, Radford University, Virginia.

Paul’s triumphant debut as soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey, Robert W. Butts, conductor, led to highly acclaimed performances of all five Beethoven Concerti with that group. In 2000 Paul received critical praise for his monumental series of Beethoven sonata performances. “…a lustrous vision…a brilliant concept…symphonic in dynamic range and scope…Zeigler plays with a lyric legato that should be the envy of many…[he] found all the fire and lyricism in the score.” The Classical New Jersey Journal

In 2008 Paul’s work, Peace: a Song Cycle on Five Poems by Langston Hughes, was a finalist in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Composition Competition.

November of 2012 saw the premier of Paul’s work Concerto for Piano and Orchestra at Morristown United Methodist Church. It was performed on two pianos with Paul as soloist and Mitchell Vines, pianist, providing the orchestral accompaniment. In May, 2013, the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra was presented in its full orchestral version with the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey and Maestro Robert W. Butts, conductor.  Sheila Abrams, who reviewed the concert in the online magazine, NJ Arts Maven, described it this way: “…once in a while, a miracle happens. And one happened on Sunday. The concerto was an absolute joy. Passionate and lyrical…”

Paul has also released four CDs:

  • Beethoven: Three Sonatas, Pathetique, Moonlight and Appassionata!
  • To Music and Other Original Works by Paul Zeigler with Patricia   Ruggles, mezzo, Janet Vidovich, clarinet, and Mitchell Vines, piano!
  • Peace with Diane Gold Toulson, flute, Patricia Ruggles, mezzo, and Renee Jolles, violin,and Paul Zeigler Pianist!
  • Brahms Sonata in F minor, Liszt Sonata in B minor

When not performing and composing, Paul teaches music privately at his studio in Madison, New Jersey. He takes great pride in the fact that many of his students have gone on to win awards and acclaim in their own right.

Funding has been made possible in part by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

For further information: 973-538-2132 or www.morristownumc.com. 

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