Sunday, December 8, 2024 - 3:00 PM
Winner of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, this young pianist’s rendition of Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio at the Tannery in 2023 left an indelible mark. Making his recital debut, his eclectic program will highlight the large palette of colors he conjures from the keyboard.
Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2
Debussy: Images, Book 2
Bartók: Out of Doors
Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 12
Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit
Community Sponsorship
RUNTIME: 2 HOURS
Union College
Memorial Chapel
Schenectady, NY
General Admission seating – doors open 45 minutes before concert.
All kids and college students admitted free at door.
Ticket information and policies
American pianist Evren Ozel has established himself as a musician of “refined restraint” (Third Coast Review), combining fluent virtuosity with probing, thoughtful interpretations. Having performed extensively in the United States and abroad, Evren is the recipient of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2022 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and is currently represented by Concert Artists Guild as an Ambassador Prize-Winner of the 2021 Victor Elmaleh Competition.
Since his debut at age 11 with the Minnesota Orchestra, Evren has gone on to be a featured soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Boston Pops Orchestra, and The Orchestra Now at Bard College with conductors including Jahja Ling, Courtney Lewis, Keith Lockhart, and Leon Botstein. In the 2023-24 season, he will record Mozart concertos with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Howard Griffiths for the Next Generation Mozart Soloists project based in Zurich.
Evren has performed solo recitals at important venues across the United States, including the Gilmore’s Wellspring Theater, the Harvard Musical Association, and the Ordway. In 2021 he delivered an all-Chopin recital under a joint collaboration between the Schubert Club and Chopin Society of Minnesota, to critical acclaim. In the 2023-24 season Evren will perform the last three Beethoven Sonatas in recital, and undertake his recital debut at Boston’s Jordan Hall. He also performs solo during select duo recitals, including 2024 concerts at Newport Classical in Rhode Island and at People’s Symphony Concerts in New York.
An esteemed chamber musician, Evren has played at the Marlboro Music Festival and ChamberFest Cleveland with artists such as Jonathan Biss, Franklin Cohen, Hsin-Yun Huang, Joseph Lin, Christoph Richter, and Peter Wiley. He has also performed on Musicians from Marlboro tours at venues including the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Most recently, he was selected as a Bowers Program Artist for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In the 2023-24 season, Evren will make his debuts at the Gardner Museum in Boston and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, with violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux. He frequently collaborates with violinist Geneva Lewis, including concerts for Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Capital Region Classical, and Washington Performing Arts at the Kennedy Center.
Evren began learning piano using the Suzuki method in his hometown of Minneapolis, studying with Cindy Malmin. He later studied for seven years with Dr. Paul Wirth in Minneapolis, and then moved to Massachusetts at age 15 to study with Wha Kyung Byun at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the New England Conservatory, and is currently a candidate in their prestigious and highly exclusive Artist Diploma program, all under the tutelage of Wha Kyung Byun. Other important mentors include Jonathan Biss, Imogen Cooper, Richard Goode, Dr. Sarah Miller, Tom Rosenberg, and Mitsuko Uchida.
