VOLUME 12, NUMBER 14 • JANUARY 26, 2001

Van Cliburn program to showcase scientist-musicians

The Van Cliburn Foundation and The Rockefeller University are collaborating on an event that kicks off the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Screening Recitals. The program, "Polymaths and the Piano," showcases outstanding amateur pianists from the mathematics, scientific and medical communities.

Polymaths and the Piano

Jack Fishman Professor Seth Darst will perform at the "Polymaths and the Piano" program on Thurs., Feb. 8.

The program, which will be held in Caspary Auditorium on Thurs., Feb. 8, begins at 7:30 p.m. with a recital by each pianist. The concert will include works by Bartok, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Copland, Debussy, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scarlatti, Schubert and Scriabin.

Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic for The New York Times, will moderate a panel discussion from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. The panelists will discuss the relationship between the study of science and music. They will also discuss the impact the serious study and performance of music has had on their professional careers and how they maintain their proficiency both as pianists and as full-time employed professionals.

Performers at the event will include Seth Darst, molecular biophysicist and professor, The Rockefeller University; Henri-Robert Delbeau, physician, Long Island Jewish Medical Center; Per Enflo, mathematician and professor, Kent State University; Michael Hawley, professor of Media Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Len Horovitz, physician, Lenox Hill Hospital; Stephen Hubbard, electrical engineer and professor, Clemson University; Rebecca Martin, physician and professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; and Carl Tait, computer scientist, IBM.

Darst, the Jack Fishman Professor and head of a Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics at The Rockefeller University, began studying piano at the age of eight with his mother, Judith Darst, and received several honors and awards in the Seattle area. As a junior in high school, following a move to Colorado in 1972, he performed Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals with his mother and the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1976, he performed Grieg’s Piano Concerto as a competition winner with the Fort Collins, Colo., Symphony Orchestra. Darst continues to play and perform as his time allows.

New York Screening Recitals

The Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition New York Screening Recitals will take place from Fri., Feb. 9 to Wed., Feb. 14 in Caspary Auditorium. The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, widely considered to be "the most prestigious classical piano competition in the world" (Chicago Tribune) was created by a group of Fort Worth music teachers and other volunteers in celebration of Van Cliburn’s sensational victory at the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958. Since the first gold medal was awarded in 1962, the Van Cliburn Competition continues, every four years, to identify outstanding young artists and open doors for them by providing two years of concert management services and hundreds of engagements around the world.

The event is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come first-served basis.

For more information, consult the university’s Events Hotline, 327-700