Pianist Soyeon Lee To Dazzle Newtown Audience

When Mary Hawley conceived of having a proper Town Hall built for the citizens of her beloved Newtown, she envisioned a center for all sorts of town activities: a bowling alley, a kitchen and dining hall for 100 people, a small stage for entertainment, various town offices and courtrooms, conference rooms, a central post office, and a magnificent auditorium seating 500, complete with a sizeable stage, velvet curtains, two backstage dressing rooms for soloists and one large one for the orchestra, an orchestra pit, capable of holding an entire orchestra and, of course, a concert grand piano.

Which piano did Mary Hawley choose? The piano that was the most admired and the official piano of the Metropolitan Opera. 

The nine-foot Knabe concert grand on the stage of Edmond Town Hall has seen 75 years of service. It has been totally restored and brought up to standard, it gets tuned to precisely A-440 before every single performance when a piano is on the program and it has brought pleasure, comfort, delight and exquisite thrills to those performing on it and to those fortunate enough to hear a master pianist perform on it.

At the invitation of the Newtown Friends of Music pianist Soyeon Lee will give a piano recital on Sunday, November 5, at 3 pm. Subscribers with season tickets will consider this concert a bonus to their annual NFoM season; others will be able to purchase tickets at the door for this one concert only. 

Ms Lee, winner of the 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, made her 2004 Lincoln Center recital debut as the recipient of The Juilliard’ School’s prestigious William Petschek Piano Debut Award. She has been heard live on WQXR and WNYC.  She has concertized at Carnegie Hall and from the Cleveland Plain Dealer received high praise, including “…irresistible …. intelligence…utter sincerity.”

Indeed, her rapturous playing has brought numerous accolades and successes. The New York Times described Ms Lee as a pianist with “…a huge, richly varied sound, a lively imagination and a firm sense of style…”.

For her program in Newtown Ms Lee will perform music by Joseph Haydn (Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI:40), Robert Schumann (Carnaval, Opus 9), Alexander Scriabin (Etude in C-sharp minor, Opus 2, No.1 and Fantasy in B minor, Opus 28), Gabriel Faure (Nocturne in E-flat minor, Opus 33, No. 1) and Maurice Ravel (La Valse).

Tickets to this performance are available in advance on the NFoM website, or by telephone at 426-6470, and, if there are any tickets left to be sold, on the day of the performance at $18 for adults and $16 for seniors. As always, children will be admitted free of charge when accompanied by a ticket holding adult.

Edmond Town Hall is wheelchair accessible, has a modern elevator that brings patrons to all floors of the building, and handicap parking is on the north side of the building.

There will be a reception to greet the artist after her performance and CDs will be available for purchase. 

For further information and ticket reservations call Newtown Friends of Music or visit NewtownFriendsOfMusic.org.