The Silver Duo, Cello and Piano Concert: Inspired by Ashley Bryan

Inspired by our Ashley Bryan exhibition, and Ashley’s love of music through his attending a Pablo Casals rehearsal of Bach in Prades France in 1950, we are delighted to bring you a wonderful performance of cello and piano by the acclaimed Silver Duo. This concert of Mendelssohn’s Sonata No. 1 in B Flat Major, Op. 45; Bach arr. Alexander Siloti and Pablo Casals; and Brahms’ Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38, will fill our library in this early Autumn celebration of sound.

Noreen Silver, Cello – Phillip Silver, Piano

Noreen and Phillip Silver bring a wealth of performing experience to their highly regarded partnership. The Duo, founded when Noreen and Phillip were students at the New England Conservatory of Music, has received accolades and acclaim from appreciative audiences and critics throughout Europe, Israel, the United States, Scandinavia, and the Czech Republic.

Noreen Silver was born and grew up in Glasgow, Scotland. As a teenager she was a member of the prestigious National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Cello studies include degree programs at London’s Royal College of Music and an advanced degree with Laurence Lesser at Boston’s New England Conservatory. Noreen’s professional experience includes several years in Seattle’s Northwest Chamber Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Opera, Boston Opera, London’s BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Noreen is now principal cellist of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as soloist with the orchestra on several occasions. Noreen is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maine teaching cello and coaching chamber music. Noreen is a dedicated teacher and an avid chamber music player who is featured as soloist in CDs of Chamber Music by Leone Sinigaglia and Bernhard Sekles on the Toccata Classics label in London.

Phillip Silver is an internationally acclaimed solo and collaborative artist. Phillip has performed in many of the world’s leading concert halls including the Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls in London, the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, Scotland, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Germany, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Israel Museum and Henry Crown Theater in Jerusalem. Over the course of his career he has performed with many distinguished artists including Denes Zsigmondy, Jian Wang, Elmar Oliveira, Albert Markov and Alexander Markov. Phillip has also been a member of the Van Leer Chamber Players in Jerusalem, the Rachmaninov Trio in the UK.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Phillip studied with Katja Andy and Leonard Shure at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he earned the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Music cum laude. He also earned the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Washington for his research into the music of Ignaz Moscheles.

For close to two decades Phillip Silver has carried out research on music and musicians caught up in the Holocaust. Several of Phillip’s recordings have been released on the Toccata Classics label in London. These include a world premiere recording of music by an Italian-Jewish victim of the Nazis, Leone Sinigaglia and a recording of music by the GermanJewish composer Bernhard Sekles. Phillip Silver has been on the faculties of Glasgow University, Strathclyde University, and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland. He is currently a Professor of Music at the School of Performing Arts at the University of Maine in Orono.

Cost: $10; $7 for Farnsworth members

This event is sold out.