Pianist Orion Weiss to open Secrest Artists Series season

Weiss, the winner of the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant, will perform at 8 p.m. in Brendle Recital Hall.

While still a teenager, Weiss stepped in with less than a day’s notice to replace Andre Watts in a Baltimore Symphony performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2. He has won numerous awards, including the prestigious 1999 Gilmore Young Artist Award, an honor granted by the Irving S. Gilmore international Keyboard Festival to promising young American pianists.

“Every so often, a talent comes along that is so natural, genuine and exciting you can hardly believe your ears,” said the Cincinnati Enquirer about Weiss.

The Wake Forest concert will include all 24 preludes of Chopin’s Opus 28, Bach’s “Partita No. 4 in D-Major” and Bartok’s “Out of Doors Suite.” A native of Lyndhurst, Ohio, Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Paul Schenly. Weiss currently studies with Emanuel Ax at the Juilliard School in New York. Weiss has been represented by IMG Artists, a major artist management firm, since he was 18.

In 2002, Weiss was a member of the Chamber Music Society Two program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Weiss has performed with the Oregon Symphony led by Norman Lyden and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra with Mischa Santora. During the 2002-2003 season, he also performed Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 5” with the Phoenix Symphony and the Canton Symphony.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for senior citizens and non-Wake Forest students. Season tickets for the Secrest Artists Series are $100 and are available through the Secrest office by calling 336-758-5757. Tickets for all Secrest Artists Series events are available without charge to Wake Forest students, faculty and staff. Group discounts are available.

Tickets may be purchased through the Wake Forest box office (336-758-5295) after Sept. 1.