Sunday, March 19: Concert in South Pasadena

A Restoration Concert will feature pianist Robert Thies and violinist Kerenza Peacock. The program includes music by Brahms, Schumann, Mozart and Debussy.

By News Desk

An exciting Restoration Concert will take place on Sunday, March 19, at 4:00 pm, at the South Pasadena Community Room (1115 El Centro St.).

Robert Thies

Robert Thies is an artist renowned for his consummate musicianship and poetic temperament. He first captured worldwide attention in 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. With this victory, Thies became the only American pianist to win first prize in a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn’s famed triumph in Moscow in 1958.  Praised for his “thoughtful and intensely moving interpretations” Thies enjoys a diverse career as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He has already performed forty concerti with orchestras all over the world.  He has appeared with such orchestras as the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, Liepāja Symphony (Latvia), Mexico City Philharmonic, the National Symphony of Mexico, Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Louisville Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Pasadena Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, and the Naples Philharmonic. His concerts have been broadcast throughout the United States, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Bolivia, Hungary, Mexico, and New Zealand.

Kerenza Peacock

Kerenza Peacock is a musical wanderer – equally at home playing classical works by Vivaldi and Mozart as she is performing new works by young composers like Oliver Davis or letting her hair down playing fiddle with Anglo-American Bluegrass band The Coal Porters.  Labels are frustratingly narrow when applied to Kerenza’s view of music. She has recorded as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra and received 5-star reviews for her Vivaldi “Four Seasons”, but her view is broadened by the fact that she has recorded with the world’s most famous pop stars.  “Flight”, Kerenza’s disc as concerto soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, reached the top of the Classical Charts in the UK and US in 2015.  Her recording of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” was selected as Album of the Week on Classic FM, and her work is featured on BBC Radio 3. “Sound of Dance”.  Now a resident of Los Angeles, Kerenza has performed in the Hollywood Bowl, Staples Center and Disney Hall, and records for film and TV. Kerenza continues to perform all over the world, recently playing concertos by Sibelius, Mendelssohn, Korngold, Dvorak, Bach, Piazzolla and Vivaldi.

The Restoration Concerts Committee, a committee of the non-profit organization, The Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library, has a goal to bring world-class music at an affordable price to the concertgoers in South Pasadena and surrounding communities. As the name suggests, net proceeds from the concerts provide for restorations, enhancements and other benefits to the South Pasadena Library and Community Room.