Pianist Simone Dinnerstein's First Album on Sony Classical Bach: A Strange Beauty Debuts at No. 1 on Traditional Billboard Classical Chart

The Only Traditional Classical Artist To Appear on the Billboard Top 200

"Dinnerstein brings out the luminous, off-kilter splendor of this music in a way that is both fearless and sly." - San Francisco Chronicle

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Jan 27, 2011, 07:05 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Pianist Simone Dinnerstein's latest album, Bach: A Strange Beauty (Sony Classical), makes its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart. Dinnerstein is also the only Traditional Classical artist to grace the Billboard Top 200 chart which compiles the entire music industry's top selling albums. In addition, this week the album is No. 4 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart (new artists across musical genres). Bach: A Strange Beauty also spent time as the No. 1 top selling album on Barnesandnoble.com and No. 2 selling album on Amazon.com, in good company with The Decemberists, Cake, The Black Keys and Bruno Mars. Last Sunday Dinnerstein was featured on CBS Sunday Morning.

Bach: A Strange Beauty, which is Dinnerstein's first orchestral disc as well as her first for Sony Classical, sees the pianist return to Bach, this time combining three transcriptions of his Chorale Preludes with one of his English Suites and two of his Keyboard Concerti. The new album has been featured by classical radio stations across the country and on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

Simone Dinnerstein's special affinity to the music of Bach was cemented when her self-funded recording of his Goldberg Variations ranked No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Chart upon its release in 2007. Dinnerstein's unique playing garnered impressive reviews. The New York Times chose the disc as one of the best of 2007, and reported it "An utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation." A second album, The Berlin Concert, also ranked No. 1 upon release in 2008. Her intense and expressive style as well as her individual approach to Bach's music is also revealed in her debut on Sony Classical. The mixed program offers a range of sonorities and textures – the solo piano, piano with orchestra, the piano mimicking other instruments, and even the piano evoking a soloist with orchestra, as it does during the English Suite.

About Simone Dinnerstein:

American pianist Simone Dinnerstein has been called "a throwback to such high priestesses of music as Wanda Landowska and Myra Hess," by Slate magazine, and praised by TIME for her "arresting freshness and subtlety." The New York-based pianist gained an international following because of the remarkable success of her recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which she raised the funds to record. Released in 2007 on Telarc, it ranked No. 1 on the US Billboard Classical Chart in its first week of sales and was named to many "Best of 2007" lists including those of The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker. Her follow-up album, The Berlin Concert, also gained the No. 1 spot on the Chart. Dinnerstein's performance schedule has taken her around the world since her triumphant New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in 2005, performing Bach's Goldberg Variations. She has also played concerts throughout the United States for the Piatigorsky Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing classical music to non-traditional venues. Amongst the places she has played are nursing homes, schools and community centers. Most notably, she gave the first classical music performance in the Louisiana state prison system when she played at the Avoyelles Correctional Center. She also performed at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, in a concert organized by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to coincide with her BSO debut. In addition, Dinnerstein has founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series open to the public and hosted by New York City public schools. The concerts, which feature musicians Dinnerstein has admired and collaborated with during her career, raise funds for the schools. Ms. Dinnerstein is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she was a student of Peter Serkin. She was a winner of the Astral Artist National Auditions, and has twice received the Classical Recording Foundation Award. She also studied with Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music and in London with Maria Curcio. She is managed by Tanja Dorn at IMG Artists. For more information, please visit www.simonedinnerstein.com.