On Hollywood & Weimar: Songs of European Composers from the Golden Age of Film
Free (RSVP required; waitlist only)
- Karyn Levitt, soprano
- Jed Distler, piano
Erich Wolfgang Korngold — Selected works
Miklós Rózsa — Selected works
Dimitri Tiomkin — Selected works
Hanns Eisler — Selected works
Many of Hollywood's greatest film scores were written by émigré and exiled composers who fled Nazi Europe for Southern California. From dusty westerns and sweeping romances to the thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock, this program celebrates the blending of the old world and the new to produce the uniquely hybrid sound of Hollywood's Golden Age.
About Karyn Levitt, soprano
About Jed Distler, piano
Composer/pianist and Steinway Artist Jed Distler studied with Andrew Thomas, Stanley Lock and William Komaiko, and taught for more than 20 years at Sarah Lawrence College. Early in his career Distler gained acclaim for his transcriptions of jazz piano solos by Art Tatum and Bill Evans, while his new music piano recitals have offered premiers of works by Virgil Thomson, Andrew Thomas, Richard Rodney Bennett, Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Curran, Lois V. Vierk, and many more.
Distler's presenting organization ComposersCollaborative, Inc. earned a 2013 Guinness Record for world's largest keyboard ensemble, featuring an composition of his own scored for 175 electronic keyboards. In 2012 he became the first pianist to perform jazz legend Thelonious Monk's complete songs over the course of a single 90-minute concert. In 2021 Distler embarked on a multi-year project performing all of Mahler's Symphonies in four-hand arrangements with pianists around the globe. His 2023 European tour included performances, master classes and artist residencies at the Bari Piano Festival, the Karlskrona Piano Festival, the Rovigo Comservatory, Cremona Mondomusica, and Festival Musical Durtal. He currently is composing 1,827 Bagatelles for the 2027 Beethoven anniversary year. Distler has recorded prolifically for the high resolution Spirio player piano, and his solo piano CD Fearless Monk is available from TNC Music.
Distler is the new Artistic Director for Salon Concerts at Klavierhaus, a weekly series that provides an inclusive environment and expressive forum for pianists of all generations. As Artist-in-Residence for WWFM.Org The Classical Network, Distler is the creator, host and producer of the 2017 ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award radio program Between the Keys. Distler contributes reviews and articles to Gramophone and Classicstoday.com, and has written numerous CD booklet notes for Sony/BMG and Universal Classics. Most importantly, Distler turned down an offer to become head of the Music Department at Trump University.
http://www.jeddistler.com/