Press Release Summary: Interview to Air Sunday, November 11 at 7 p.m. ET
Press Release Body: WAKE FOREST, N.C. (November 7, 2007)-TheClassicalStation.org announces today that its weekly program Preview! will feature an interview with pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher. The interview will air Sunday, August 11 at 7 p.m. ET. During the show, WCPE's Deana Vassar will interview Fleisher who is performing at Duke University, November 15 and 16.
"Since Fleisher has regained the use of his right hand, he says he is living in a state of grace, a state of ecstasy," says Vassar. "I can only imagine what he has experienced on this journey. I can\'t wait to share his remarkable story with our Preview! listeners."
The interview will discuss: Fleisher's focal dystonia as a result of repetitive stress syndrome causing the loss of use of his right hand from 1965 to 1995, subsequent 30-year career conducting and 15 years of performing left-hand alone piano literature, as well as the last 12 years incorporating two-handed performances into his left-hand alone repertoire.
"Fleisher is the Johnny Cash of classical music," says The New Yorker, "a wounded lion in winter whose performances may lack the nimble touch of youth, but compensate with an implacable authenticity that can shake a listener to the core."
Fleisher will be performing a solo recital at Duke University's Page Auditorium in Durham, North Carolina, Friday, November 16 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available through the Duke University Box Office online or by calling 919-660-3300. On Thursday, November 15 at 4 p.m., Fleisher will be holding a Master Class at Duke University's Page Auditorium. The Master Class is free and open to the public. For more information: e-mail ethomps@duke.edu or call 919-660-3333.
Preview! is a weekly feature which airs every Sunday evening from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. ET and presents the latest in classical recordings and upcoming classical events. WCPE can be heard worldwide, 24/7, via the Web in multiple streaming formats, including the next generation IPv6. Visit TheClassicalStation.org/internet.shtml to begin listening online.
About WCPE: With a 28-year history, WCPE is a non-commercial, 100 percent listener-supported, independent station dedicated to excellence in Great Classical Music broadcasting. Community-minded business underwriters and foundations are among the 150,000 listeners in the North Carolina broadcast area. General Manager Deborah S. Proctor's leadership has enabled the WCPE community to include national and worldwide listeners. Other radio stations and cable television systems can rebroadcast Great Classical Music. WCPE is one of the first public broadcasters to stream on the Internet. WCPE is heard worldwide on the Internet in multiple formats, including the next generation IPv6. Because WCPE receives no tax-derived support, the station conducts two on-air fundraising campaigns and two major mail-out campaigns per year to raise needed operating funds. Quarter Notes, the WCPE Program Guide, is published four times a year as a means to enhance appreciation and understanding of classical music. It is distributed to station supporters and is also available online at TheClassicalStation.org/guide. For more information, visit TheClassicalStation.Org or call 1-800-556-5178.
About Leon Fleisher: At nearly 80 years old, the charismatic expert brings his reclaimed gifts and more than seventy years of craft. Fleisher is a native of San Francisco, where he began his keyboard studies at four and gave his first public recital at eight. In 1944, at age 16, Mr. Fleisher made his debut with the New York Philharmonic. He went on to become the first American to win the Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition in Belgium. Fleisher holds honorary doctorates from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Towson State University and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1994 Musical America named him \"Instrumentalist of the Year.\" He has also been the recipient of the Johns Hopkins University\'s President\'s Medal. Holder of the Andrew W. Mellon Chair at the Peabody Conservatory of Music since 1959, Mr. Fleisher also serves on the faculties of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. From 19860-1997, he was Artistic Director of the Tanglewood Music Center. Teaching activities have been an important element of his activities at the Aspen, Lucerne, Ravinia and Verbier festivals, among others. He has also given master classes at the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Paris Conservatory, the Ravel Academy at St. Jean de Luz, the Mishkenot in Jerusalem and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. For more information, visit http://www.americancomposers.org.
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