Earth Protectors

• Francesca Khalifa, piano

To American composer Brian Field, the arts are one of the most direct avenues for change. In the year following the debut of his solo piano suite, Three Passions for Our Tortured Planet, Field has created a collective of over 50 musicians around the world who have played the work publicly and digitally, standing in solidarity with Brian and his objective to raise awareness for the dangers of climate change. One of these is pianist Francesca Khalifa, who will present a special live and live-streamed concert featuring Three Passions for Our Tortured Planet as well as a screening of the short film by award-winning director Anne de Carbuccia, One Ocean.

The program will conclude with a panel discussion featuring Field, Khalifa, Carbuccia, and Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel, Senior Climate Scientist and Director of Climate Science at the Union of Concerned Scientists. All proceeds from the concert, and from royalties received by programming Field's work, are to be directed to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

About Francesca Khalifa, piano

Francesca is the founder and artistic director of the Beethoven Fest New York City, a fiscally sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her mentors are the Cuban pianist and pedagogue German Diez (1924-2014) and pianist Ena Bronstein-Barton, both former pupils of Claudio Arrau. Her research on German Diez is at the base of the documentary Piano Lessons, directed by Antongiulio Panizzi and produced by Moving Garden. The movie has obtained the official endorsement of the American Liszt Society, which premiered the documentary at the ALS Festival at the University of Michigan in October 2021. The film was also selected at the Silicon Beach Film Festival 2021 and will be presented in a tour of concerts and talks in 2022 through Spain, Italy, Chile, Cuba, Brazil, New Zealand and Australia. Francesca's first album, Legado, will be released in January for Sheva Collection.