Sarah Grunstein

Office: Brooks 244
Phone: 508.793.2234
E-mail: sgrunste@holycross.edu

“At Sarah Grunstein's Bach concerts at Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall) in February, the opening notes of the Prelude from the Partita in B-flat evoked memories of Dame Myra Hess and Englishman Harold Samuel, i.e., she cared deeply about the music, knew stylistically what to do with it, and (best of all) produced a demure, pearly, singing tone . . . each note like a tiny pearl, released gradually. " (American Record Review, 2005).

Praised by The New York Times as "a versatile, expressive pianist who combines a penetrating musical intelligence with the technical proficiency to realize her ideas," Sarah Grunstein performs internationally as concert artist. She achieved particular acclaim for her performances in London, New York, and Sydney of Bach's complete "Well-Tempered Clavier" during the celebration of the Bach Tercentenary, with her all-Bach recital at Purcell Room leading to an invitation to perform at Kensington Palace before His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

“A towering and authoritative presence on stage...Sarah Grunstein beguiled her audience into complete contemplative stillness.” (The Chronicle, 2005.) “Her superb pianism and the special sound of the instrument, both melodious and powerful...combined to create an experience that will not soon be forgotten, but that was all too soon over...Remarkable!” (Classical Voice of New England , 2007).

Born in Sydney, Sarah Grunstein’s career has included concerts in the United States, Austria, Hungary, Italy, the United Kingdom, and her homeland. A winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Award for Young Australians, she has appeared as concerto soloist with the Monteverdi Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne Musicians, the Victorian State Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in repertoire ranging from Mozart to Saint-Saëns and Manuel de Falla. Most recently she has collaborated as chamber artist with Chilean cellist Jan Muller-Szeraws. As soloist and chamber musician, Sarah Grunstein’s repertoire spans from the music of J.S. Bach to Takemitsu and includes Australian, American, and European contemporary chamber works.

She has given master-classes and seminars in the United States (including the New England Conservatory and the Frederic Historic Piano Collection) and at the conservatories and universities in her homeland. Her performances have been recorded by La Civica Scuola in Milan and frequently broadcast by WQXR (New York), 2MBS-FM, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Sarah Grunstein is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she earned the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, and held a Teaching Fellowship for four years following graduation. She received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her doctoral dissertation, which explores Chopin’s improvisatory style from the perspective of the Bach circle, received a nomination for the Barry S. Brook Dissertation Award.

She is a former student of renowned teachers Sascha Gorodnitzki and Herbert Stessin at the Juilliard School, Nancy Salas at the Sydney Conservatorium, Lev Natochenny (Frankfurt Hochschule für Musik), Malcolm Bilson (Cornell University), and Greville Rothon, assistant to Claudio Arrau, and Vincent Persichetti. She has found deep inspiration in the artworks of her father, artist Bill Grunstein, on whose life and work she has recently published.

In addition to her Teaching Fellowship at Juilliard, Sarah Grunstein has taught at the Manhattan School of Music, the City University of New York, Fordham University, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and the Victorian College of the Arts. She is now Assistant Professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Steinway Concert Artist.

Visit sarahgrunstein.com

Reviews

“Her performance was remarkable in a number of ways . . . demonstrating complete mastery of the pieces. She kept the audience not only enraptured, but attentive to her wishes, curbing with her body language its impulse to applaud too quickly and too frequently and thus destroy the sonic spell, another skill all too rarely well-practiced.

Grunstein made the instrument sing this music and render it in a way that revealed features and nuances not always noticed, especially in the Carnaval, to whose diverse cast of colorful characters she had introduced us . . . Her superb pianism and the special sound of the instrument, both melodious and powerful with a warmth that modern pianos do not have, combined to create an experience that will not soon be forgotten, but that was all too soon over.

The listeners were equally thrilled, and Grunstein consented to play an encore for them: the Aria from J.S. Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations . . . She made the Pleyel seem right for its beauty, too. Remarkable!” ( Classical Voice of New England, October 2007)

[Full review click here]

“On Wednesday 1 August at 6.30 pm in the Recital Hall West, a select audience ...was transported from the Recital Hall to an imaginary Poland of the 19th Century. The vehicle was the music of Chopin and the navigator the beautiful Sarah Grunstein. In honour of her Polish heritage, she presented a sensitively graduated program, ranging from the elegant Prelude in F Sharp Major Op 28 No 13 to the virtuosic Ballade No 1 in G Minor Op 23.

The program was divided into three sections, comprising the Prelude [Op. 28, no. 12] and Ballade No 4 in F Minor Op. 53, the central section consisting of four Mazurkas Op. 33 and the final section the Nocturne in C Minor Op. 48 No. 1, Berceuse in D Flat Op. 57 and the Ballade No. 1 in G Minor Op. 23.

The demonstration of Ms Grunstein’s technique was formidable. Every piece chosen was delivered with commanding sonority and style. The tranquil and dreamy Prelude, the restrained drama of the Ballade No 4, the charm of the characteristic Mazurkas, the sobriety of the Nocturne and the delicate and shimmering touch in the Berceuse, culminating in the virtuosic and wonderfully poetic Ballade in G Minor, all made us aware of the depth and musical intelligence of this international artist . . . And how proud we are of her."(Tess Farraher, The Score, August 2007)

"Miss Grunstein is a versatile, expressive pianist who combines a penetrating musical intelligence with the technical proficiency to realize her ideas. Bach's C minor Partita, BWV- 826, was admirable; the opening Sinfonia tempestuous, the more intimate Courante and Sarabande imbued with a luminous calm. Beethoven's Sonata in D was delivered with a directness that only heightened the tragedy that propels the central Largo; the surrounding three movements danced with appropriate grace…"
~The New York Times

"From the first note, Sarah Grunstein commanded the theatre…Sarah Grunstein beguiled her audience into complete contemplative stillness…a towering and authoritative presence on stage…a stunning virtuoso…There is a clear parallel with reports of the celebrated Polish-born Wanda Landowska."
~Hugh Bingham, The Chronicle

"It is not often I could say that I have experienced something really profound after attending a concert. Observing the audience as they were leaving the Auditorium Lattuada after Sarah's concert I realize that this was not only something felt by me but by the majority of those who were in attendance. The Bach Partita was sheer joy to listen to: executed on the piano with the interpretation and articulation of a harpsichordist - florid ornamentation, intelligent interplay of the improvisatory, dance and imitative styles. As to the Brahms, Chopin and Schumann every detail had been attended to - musically, technically, intellectually, spiritually and emotionally."
~International Academy of Music; Milan, Italy

"At Sarah Grunstein's Bach concerts at Carnegie Hall in February, the opening notes…evoked memories of Dame Myra Hess and Englishman Harold Samuel, i.e., she cared deeply about the music, knew stylistically what to do with it, and (best of all) produced a demure, pearly, singing tone. In fact, she echoed one reviewer's reference to her "lovely liquid tones, each note like a tiny pearl, released gradually." This Australian native with degrees from Juilliard and the City University of New York, who is now Assistant Professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, is an artist worth hearing."
~Harris Goldsmith, American Record Guide