Viva Mexico - Sept. 19
Department Performance - Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at 7pm
Pianist Max Lifchitz celebrates the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month performing a recital featuring music by Mexican composers.
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- Advance purchases: $5 general public / $4 students, seniors & UAlbany faculty-staff
- Day of show purchases: $10 general public / $9 students, seniors & UAlbany faculty-staff
(Photo by Carlo DeJesus)
The Music Program of the University at Albany’s Department of Music and Theatre is pleased to present faculty member Max Lifchitz in two distinct concerts highlighting music from Latin America to bookend Hispanic Heritage Month. The pianist/composer will kick off the celebratory month on Tuesday, September 19, 2023 with Viva Mexico and will mark its culmination with Tangos & More on Thursday, October 12, 2023. Both concerts are at 7pm and will take place at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the uptown University at Albany campus at 1400 Washington Avenue.
In the first concert, Lifchitz will perform music by Mexican composers from the 20th and 21st centuries. The program will feature works written during the first half of the 20th century by beloved masters Carlos Chavez, Silvestre Revueltas and Manuel M. Ponce. Also included will be recent works espousing a cosmopolitan outlook by Manuel Enriquez, Eduardo Mata and Maria Teresa Prieto. A late 19th century waltz by Ricardo Castro and two works Lifchitz composed during the 1960s while living in his native Mexico City will round off this program.
Turning his attention to dance-inspired works from the Caribbean and the Americas, Lifchitz’s second concert will feature Cuban Contradanzas by Manuel Saumell and tangos from Argentina, Brazil and the United States. Also on the program will be tango-inspired compositions by Hector Campos-Parsi, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Ernesto Nazareth, William Ortiz, Astor Piazzolla and Heitor Villa-Lobos as well as Lifchitz himself and the late Joel Chadabe, a UAlbany Music faculty member for 32 years.
The San Francisco Chronicle described Lifchitz as "a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist" while The New York Times praised his "clean, measured and sensitive performances.” Lifchitz started his musical training in Mexico City before relocating to New York where he perfected his craft at The Juilliard School. Awarded first prize in the 1976 International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Twentieth Century Music, Lifchitz has appeared on concert stages throughout Latin America, Europe and the United States. His highly praised solo and ensemble recordings are widely available through streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify.