Free Concert: Edvinas Minkstimas, Piano

Pianist Edvinas Minkstimas will perform as part of the Washington Conservatory Piano, Plus! Concert Series at 8 pm on Saturday, April 2 at Westmoreland Congregational UCC Church, 1 Westmoreland Circle, Bethesda, MD. (the border of DC and Bethesda.) This concert is free, with donations welcome at the door. (Suggested donation is $20.) Following the concert, the audience is invited to a wine reception with Dr. Minkstimas in the lower-level Social Hall of the church.

Lithuanian pianist Edvinas Minkstimas is widely regarded as one of Europe's top emerging young pianists. He has performed throughout Europe and North America in solo and chamber music recitals, and as a soloist with orchestras. He will perform a virtuoso program including Davidsbündler, op. 6 by Robert Schumann, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt, Sonata in a minor, Op. 164 by Franz Schubert . The program will conclude with Tarantella from “Annees de Pelerinage” by Liszt.

Edvinas Minkstimas' professional debut was at the age of 14 with The Lithuanian National Philharmonic Orchestra (Vilnius), playing the Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor. Minkstimas has released two recordings, featuring solo and orchestral performances of works by Brahms, Beethoven and Liszt.

Recent highlights include performances at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, as soloist with the Arlington Philharmonic, Amadeus Orchestra, Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Philharmonic, Lithuanian National Philharmonic, and in concert in Europe and South America.

Minkstimas earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School, the Artist Diploma from the Paris Conservatory and degrees from Lithuanian Academy of Music. He won the Belz-Parker Young Artist Award in Memphis, Tennessee, and in 2007, First Prize at the Fifth International Ciurlionis Piano Competition in Vilnius, Lithuania. He has taken top honors at the First Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians (Moscow), the International Knezkova- Hussey Piano Competition (Canada) and European Piano Days (France), among other festivals and competitions. He is Chair of the Piano Faculty of the Washington Conservatory of Music.

The Washington Conservatory of Music is a nationally accredited community music school serving students of all ages. Families with young children are encouraged to attend and to sit in the balcony for better viewing and easy exit.