“It was clear from his opening flourish in Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto that he is a player not only of dynamic brilliance, but of mellow touch…” (London – England)
Allen Reiser has performed with various orchestras in England and Canada, and recital engagements have taken him to nearly every major centre in Western Canada. He is a pianist of diverse musical interests, with a particular interest in Canadian piano music and the music of Franz Liszt.
Allen Reiser’s first released CD, “A Canadian Piano Album”, was nominated for a 2001 Prairie Music Award in the category of Outstanding Classical Recording. A second CD, “Sonatinas and Little Sonatas”, was released in June of 2009; “…. a wonderful collection of intermediate-level sonatas and sonatinas”. (Clavier Jan/Feb 2010) His Sonatina album was the basis for a book published in Germany, simply titled “Allen Reiser”, which focuses on the composers present on that CD.
Allen Reiser is a National Gold Medalist of the Royal Conservatory of Music. He is active throughout Western Canada as a performer, adjudicator and master class clinician, and has presented workshops and recitals for local, provincial and national Registered Music Teachers’ Associations. He has been honoured by Calgary’s Mount Royal University with a Distinguished Faculty/Teaching Award (1992), and by the Royal Conservatory of Music with a Teacher of Distinction Award (2020). His two major teaching positions have been at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, and he has been guest piano instructor at summer schools in Cranbrook, Camrose, Sundre and Victoria. He currently operates a private piano studio in Calgary.
PARIS FOR LUNCH, ANYONE?
With the introduction of the Concord Airliner in the mid-1970’s, the idea of traveling from North America to Europe for lunch became a hedonistic reality. When these graceful behomoths of the sky were retired a few decades later, that lunch-time option disappeared.
But …. not entirely!! Music, with its ability to transport the listener in an instant to foreign locations, works just as well!
This program of French piano music centres on French composers inextricably identified with Paris. It contains many pieces that one could easily imagine being entertained with, while enjoying a Parisian lunch at an outdoor cafe on the Champs-Élysées. So bring your croissants and your Perrier, and indulge yourself in the musical ambiance of a LUNCH IN PARIS!! A.R.
