American-Israeli pianist Omri Shimron will present a guest artist concert on Saturday, April 14, at 8 p.m. in the Squires Recital Salon. This concert is a part of the ongoing Faculty and Guest Artist Recital series in the Department of Music at Virginia Tech.

Shimron will give a lecture-performance of the monumental and exhilarating piano work "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" This set of 36 variations written by Frederic Rzewski in 1975 was based on a Chilean protest song from the early 1970s, “¡El pueblo unido jamás sera vencido!” Shimron states about the work, “Its popularity with audiences across the globe stems in part from its pianistic richness and bravura as well as Rzewski’s ability to remain accessible and communicative even within flashes of the most modernist gestures.”

Rzewski is known for choosing politically charged music as the foundation for his keyboard works, basing others on racial and social justice tensions in American society. Shimron’s multimedia lecture presentation will touch on the political overtones of Rzewski’s work as well as an explanation of the work’s origin, structure, and significance.

Shimron has won prizes from the Josef Hoffman Piano Competition and the Chautauqua Institution. He has appeared at music festivals in Tel Aviv, Fontainebleau, and Pavia. Collaborative and solo concerts have included appearances at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage and New York City’s Sundays on the Island series.

Tickets for this program may be purchased one hour before the performance in the Squires Student Center. Tickets are $5 general public, $3 seniors, and $3 students.

Free parking is available in the Squires Lot located at the corner of College Avenue and Otey Street in the Architecture Annex Lot on Otey Street and the Perry Street/Prices Fork lots. Find more parking information online or call 540-231-3200. Alternative parking is available in the Kent Squire parking garage or the Farmers Market metered parking lot both located on Draper Road. Additional Downtown Blacksburg parking information can be found online.

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