BERWYN, PA — In celebration of the church’s recent acquisition of a Mason & Hamlin concert piano, Trinity Presbyterian Church of Berwyn presents a FREE dedicatory concert with concert pianist, teacher, writer, and WRTI classical host Dr. Debra Lew Harder, on Sunday October 14th at 4:00 PM.
Titled “Overcoming the Odds – Illness and Creativity of the Great Composers”, Harder explores, through live musical performance and conversation, how many of the composers we consider the titans of Western music had to overcome serious debilitating illness. What compelled them to keep creating? How did their personal challenges allow them to become more innovative? Hear these geniuses’ incredible music, and learn how creativity helped Beethoven, Chopin, Scott Joplin, Gershwin, and Hildegard von Bingen transcend disease.
We invite the community to come join us for this very special program, in the celebration of this very wonderful instrument. A light reception in Fellowship Hall will follow the concert.
A concert pianist and broadcaster, Debra Lew Harder holds doctorates in both medicine and music, and is the creator of “Music and Conversation with Debra Lew Harder,” which demonstrates the power of classical music in various fascinating social and scientific contexts. She has performed with orchestras throughout the U.S., and as soloist at London’s Wigmore Hall, the historic Barocksaal in Rostock, Germany, Haverford College’s Guest Artists Series, Jefferson Medical University’s Dean’s Concert Series, on the Guest Artist Series at Temple University, and at Camden-Rutgers University. As a collaborative pianist, she has performed with many artists of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and performs regularly with her piano trio, Trio MiReSol.
Tune in to hear Debra host her popular Saturday morning show on WRTI, 90.1 FM in Philadelphia, “Saturday Morning Classical Coffeehouse with Debra Lew Harder.” She conducts Philadelphia Orchestra broadcast interviews, hosts live-to-broadcast performances, and produces arts news features for the station.
Her creative output includes nationally published essays, as well as numerous transcriptions for solo piano from the medieval, jazz, orchestral and non-Western repertoire.
Trinity Presbyterian Church is located at 640 Berwyn Avenue, 1 block south of Route 30 (Lancaster Pike) in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Parking is free. The GPS address for the main church parking lot is 51 Waterloo Ave, Berwyn PA, 19312. The church is one block from the Berwyn train station (Septa’s Paoli-Thorndale line).
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