Audrey Andrist and Lisa Emenheiser

Audrey Andrist and Lisa Emenheiser, two of the busiest pianists in the Washington, D.C. area, have performed together on occasion for twelve years. They have presented four-hand and two-piano concerts at the Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum and at the Garth Newel Festival in Virginia, and were featured in a two-piano program for the Phillips Collection’s 75th Anniversary concert in 2016.

Their program features the virtuosic Suite No. 2, Op. 17 for two pianos by Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Igor Stravinsky‘s monumental Rite of Spring for one piano, 4-hands, arranged by the composer himself. Also featured are two Slavonic Dances by Antonin Dvorak (Op. 46, No. 3 in A-flat major, and Op. 46, No. 8 in G minor).

Hailed as a “stunning pianist with incredible dexterity” (SF Classical Voice), Canadian pianist Audrey Andrist has thrilled audiences around the globe, from North America to Europe and Asia, with her “passionate abandon” and “great intelligence.” Ms. Andrist grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan, and while in high school traveled three hours one-way for piano lessons with William Moore, himself a former student of famed musicians Cécile Genhart and Rosinna Lhévinne. She completed Masters and Doctoral degrees at the Juilliard School with Herbert Stessin, and garnered first prizes at the Mozart International, San Antonio International, Eckhardt-Gramatté, and Juilliard Concerto Competitions. She has performed at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Montreal’s Place des Arts, Alice Tully Hall in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the Stern/Andrist Duo with her husband, violinist James Stern, and Strata, a trio with Stern and Nathan Williams, clarinet. An ardent exponent of new music, Andrist has presented many world premieres of music written for her and the ensembles with which she plays, including a piano concerto written for her by award-winning Canadian composer Andrew P. MacDonald, premiered with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra and Mario Bernardi conducting. Andrist can be heard on over a dozen recordings of both standard and modern repertoire. She lives in the Washington, D.C. area, where she teaches at UMBC and the Washington Conservatory, and where she is in constant demand as a soloist, chamber player, orchestral pianist and adjudicator. Her critically acclaimed CD of solo piano music by Robert Schumann is available on Centaur Records.

Steinway Artist Lisa Emenheiser has been heralded for her “intense music-making and pianism” (The Washington Post). She has been performing with the National Symphony Orchestra for the past 25 years. A graduate of Juilliard School, where she earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music degrees, Ms Emenheiser is a past winner of the “Young Artist in Recital” and “National Arts Club” competitions. As described by The New York Times, Lisa “played the piano dazzlingly,” and by The Washington Post, she “shimmered and beguiled, shifting easily between virtuosity and transparency.” Ms. Emenheiser has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, The Richmond Symphony, the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the Virginia Chamber Orchestra, the Fairfax Symphony, the McLean Orchestra and was one of the featured soloists for the Kennedy Center’s Piano 2000 Festival. Lisa is an avid performer of contemporary music. She is pianist for the 21st Century Consort and a founding member of Opus 3 Trio with violinist Charles Wetherbee and cellist David Hardy. Additionally, Lisa was featured on national television as an expert artist commentator and performer in the PBS documentary entitled Exploring Your Brain, in which she performed Ginastera’s Piano Sonata No. 1 and discussed the topic of memory with Garrick Utley.

Tickets: $15 general admission, $10 seniors, $5 students, free for UMBC Music majors and Music faculty/staff, available online or at the box office one hour before the performance.

Plan your visit
UMBC is located about 10 minutes south of the Inner Harbor along I-95. For this event, free visitor parking is available in Lot 8, directly adjacent to the Performing Arts and Humanities Building, where Linehan Concert Hall is located — please see here for additional information.