Legendary pianist Ann Schein to perform Jan. 26 for UAB Piano Series

Pianist Ann Schein will perform an all-Chopin program Sunday, Jan. 26, for the UAB Piano Series at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

About Schein, The Washington Post has written, “Thank heaven for Ann Schein … what a relief it is to hear a pianist who, with no muss or fuss, simply reaches right into the heart of whatever she is playing — and creates music so powerful you cannot tear yourself away.”The UAB Piano Series, presented by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music, brings the world’s finest pianists to Birmingham. Distinguished Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence Yakov Kasman, DMA, a Van Cliburn medalist, directs the series.

The concert is set for 4 p.m. in UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.

From her first recordings with Kapp Records, and her highly acclaimed Carnegie Hall recital debut as an artist on the Sol Hurok roster, Schein’s amazing career has earned her praise in major American and European cities and in more than 50 countries around the world, according to her biography. Since her debut in Mexico City in 1957 when she performed both the Rachmaninoff 3rd Concerto and the Tchaikovsky B-flat Concerto, she has performed thousands of concerts on every continent.

For her UAB performance, Schein will perform Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 55, No. 2; Polonaise – Fantaisie, op. 61; Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52; Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35; and 24 Preludes, Op. 28.

Schein “extended the legacy of her teachers, Mieczyslaw Munz, Arthur Rubinstein and Dame Myra Hess,” according to her artist’s statement, by performing six concerts of the major Chopin repertoire in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall throughout an entire season in 1980-81 to outstanding reviews and sold-out houses, the first Chopin cycle presented in New York in 35 years.

Schein has received many distinguished honors for her Chopin performances, beginning with her first recordings in 1958. In a special survey of outstanding Chopin recorded performances during the bicentennial of Chopin’s birth in 2010, titled “A Century of Romantic Music,” Gregor Benko and Ward Marston cited her performances of Chopin, stating, “Ann Schein was trained in her native United States, where she studied with both Mieczyslaw Munz and Arthur Rubinstein. Her first recordings, made when she was 18 and 19, established her as one of the premier Chopin pianists of our time.”