
Paul Orgel – Music of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms
March 23 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm

A concert to benefit Full Circle Preschool
Pianist Paul Orgel has concertized throughout the United States, Europe, and China as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra and chamber musician. Critics have praised his playing for its “subtlety and attention to nuance” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “rare pathos” (New York Times), “brilliant technique, sense of humor and fantasy” (Bridgeport Post), “warmth and beauty of sound” (Barre-Montpelier Times Argus), and “power and grace” (Vermont Times).
An artist with a large, varied repertoire, Orgel has specialized in Czech music, performing programs of the complete piano music of Janáček, and music from Terezin, and as a scholar of classical performance practice, he has given recitals of Beethoven and Haydn on the Viennese fortepiano. He can be heard on recordings on CRI, (the Grammy nominated “Music of Louis Moyse”, with flutist Karen Kevra), Capstone, (Fantasias by Curt Cacioppo), Phoenix USA (“Music from the Holocaust”: Berman, Haas, Klein, and Ullmann) and MSR (Suk, Chausson, and Reger). A recent project (“Alchemy of Genius”) paired Bach Preludes and Fugues with Chopin Nocturnes in recordings available online at Vermont Public Radio. His complete Chopin Nocturnes are found on his YouTube channel along with over 100 other recordings.
Paul Orgel was educated at the Oberlin and New England Conservatories, and Boston University. He holds a doctorate in piano performance from Temple University. Among his piano teachers were Russell Sherman, Irwin and Lillian Freundlich, Anthony DiBonaventura, and Harvey Wedeen. He was former on the piano faculties at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Wesleyan University, Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges, and is currently a member of the keyboard faculty at the University of Vermont, and has been a piano faculty member of the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. Advanced students from his private studio in northern Vermont have, for many years, been among the state’s most frequent award winners in competitions and auditions.
PROGRAM
from the Well-Tempered Klavier, Book 2: J.S Bach
Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 874
Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 875
“Chaconne” from the Partita No. 2 in D Minor for solo violin, BWV 1016, by J.S. Bach
transcribed for piano left hand by Johannes Brahms
Rhapsody in G Minor, Opus 79, No. 2 Johannes Brahms
Intermezzo in E-flat Major, Opus 117, No. 1
Capriccio in C Major, Opus 76, No. 8
Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Opus 57, “Appassionata” Ludwig van Beethoven
Allegro assai
Andante con moto
Allegro ma non troppo – Presto