South Pasadena Public Library | Restoration Concert on March 19

The Restoration Concerts Committee of the Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library will be presenting a Restoration Concert on Sunday, March 19, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. featuring pianist Robert Thies and violinist Kerenza Peacock The program includes music by Brahms, Schumann, Mozart and Debussy.

Tickets will be available at the door for $25. The concert will be held in the beautiful historic Library Community Room at 1115 El Centro St. in South Pasadena. Mask wearing is optional but strongly recommended.

Robert Thies is an artist renowned for his consummate musicianship and poetic temperament. He first captured worldwide attention in 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. With this victory, Thies became the only American pianist to win first prize in a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn’s famed triumph in Moscow in 1958. Praised for his “thoughtful and intensely moving interpretations” Thies enjoys a diverse career as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. To read more about his amazing career, go to https://www.robertthies.org/rthies_main/bio.htm.

Kerenza Peacock is a musical wanderer – equally at home playing classical works by Vivaldi and Mozart as she is performing new works by young composers like Oliver Davis or letting her hair down playing fiddle with Anglo-American Bluegrass band The Coal Porters. Labels are frustratingly narrow when applied to Kerenza’s view of music. She has recorded as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra and received 5 star reviews for her Vivaldi “Four Seasons”, but her view is broadened by the fact that she has recorded with the world’s most famous pop stars. To learn more about Kerenza, go to https://www.kerenzapeacock.com/about.

The Restoration Concerts Committee, a committee of the non-profit organization, The Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library, has a goal to bring world-class music at an affordable price to the concertgoers in South Pasadena and surrounding communities. As the name suggests, net proceeds from the concerts provide for restorations, enhancements and other benefits to the South Pasadena Library and Community Room.

There will be two more concerts this season after the March 19th concert. On April 21, violinist Roger Wilkie and Friends will be featured. Then on May 28th, our quartet in residence, The New Hollywood String Quartet will be returning.  For more information about Restoration Concerts,  go to https://www.friendsofsopaslibrary.org/restoration-concerts.