CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVDN) – The West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History (WVDACH) will host Pianist Barbara Nissman for a concert at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex, in Charleston on Friday, Jan. 24, at 6 p.m. for “Beethoven, the Great!”, another exciting program in the Steinway Classics series. The concert is free and open to the public.
Nissman will welcome two musician friends as her special guests, violinist Russell Fallstad and cellist Samuel Magill, who will join her in a performance of Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio for piano, violin and cello. Combining great music with informal chat, she will also introduce us to some more popular piano works by the great master.
“Beethoven is the composer who always keeps me sane and focused,” says Nissman. “Beethoven gives so much joy and strength to all who listen. A man of courage, his music always inspires us to go forward.”
A member of the inaugural class of Steinway “Legends” chosen from over a century of Steinway Artists, Nissman is a recent inductee into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. She has performed with major conductors and orchestras on nearly every continent. She recently returned to Amsterdam and appeared before a live audience of 10-12,000 and a television audience of 1.2 million to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Prinsengracht concerts that she helped initiate in 1982. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music degree from West Virginia University in May 2024, and in 2020, received the Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Magill is the former Associate Principal Cello with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and a former member of both the Houston and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. He has appeared as soloist in concerts throughout France, Belgium, Japan and the U.S. and has recorded over 20 CDs. He now resides in Greensboro, NC.
Fallstad has played his violin all over the world, in 20 countries and has given concerts in 40 states here in America. He is known in Lewisburg as the owner of HeartStrings Academy where he teaches violin in a studio above Carnegie Hall and to students online. He has come out of retirement to perform Beethoven with Barbara and Sam.
“What a joy it has been for me to return for another program of great music performed on the beautiful new Steinway at the Cultural Center! With this series we are expanding the audience for classical music, and it is so gratifying for me to share with my West Virginia community the music that I love so much. We all need more joy in our lives these days, and music has the power to transport us into a magical world,” says Nissman.
For more information about the concert, contact the WVDACH at (304) 558-0220.
