WQXR presents Beethoven sonata marathon Nov 20 at The Greene Space

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WQXR, New York’s sole dedicated classical music station, offers an extraordinary once-in-a-lifetime experience with a twelve-hour marathon of all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas on Sunday, November 20 at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station’s downtown venue. Hosted by WQXR’s Midge Woolsey and Terrance McKnight, this unique event highlights the station’s Beethoven Awareness Month, and will be streamed live at www.wqxr.org.

Performing the 32 piano sonatas – including such masterpieces as the “Moonlight,” “Appassionata,” and “Hammerklavier” – are some of today’s most promising young Beethoven interpreters, including Inon Barnatan, Alessio Bax, Jonathan Biss, Jeremy Denk, Benjamin Hochman, Valentina Lisitsa, Natasha Paremski, and Joyce Yang, as well as rising stars from the Juilliard School. The milestone marathon will be presented in six two-hour parts. All-day passes are available at www.thegreenespace.org, and links for tickets to individual segments are provided below.

No composer has impacted the course of Western music quite like Ludwig van Beethoven. According to eminent musicologist Charles Rosen, the 32 piano sonatas, which Beethoven composed between 1795 and 1822, “form one of the most important collections of works in the whole history of music.”

Graham Parker, Vice President of WQXR, comments: “The opportunity to hear this collection complete in live performance by the most exciting group of young professionals and dazzling students is rare indeed. WQXR is incredibly fortunate to have gathered the newest voices of Beethoven interpretation to contribute to what promises to be an extraordinary marathon.”

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