Renowned cellist Benjamin Shapira will joined by pianist Shulamith Shapira performing the two Brahms cello sonatas at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall on March 16th, 8:00 pm.
B. Shapira’s talent was recognized at a very early age. He was quickly embraced by
America Israel Cultural Foundation, and was selected by Isaac Stern to join a small
group of outstanding young protégé artists at the Jerusalem Music Center. Shapira’s
international career was launched after his celebrated Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall
performance of the Complete Bach Suites for Cello Solo. Since, Shapira is in
constant demand as a soloist, performing all over the United States and abroad. His
recent years’ US performances include concerts in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston,
Texas, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin. Shapira frequently performs internationally as
well, touring Europe, South America and Israel.

Tickets can be purchase at CarnegieCharge at: 212-247-7800 or by calling Taltal
productions at: 1-888-432-3556. Tickets are $25 and $12 for students and senior
citizens.

The Brahms Cello Sonatas Celebrated in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall

The concert provides a rare opportunity for NY music lovers to explore both cello
sonatas side by side. Considered by most as corner stones of the cello repertoire,
the two Brahms cello sonatas reflect, each in its own way, that distinct style,
which made Brahms’ music so eternally powerful in the eyes of music lovers: always
romantic, potent and rich, yet classicist and intellectually intricate in form and
detail. “The E Minor sonata is one of my favorite works in the entire cello
repertoire” says Shapira. “It is a tragic work, which makes an extraordinary use of
the entire wide emotional range the cello can offer, making special use of the deep,
bass qualities of the instrument. It is a magnificent, monumental work” he exclaims.
The F major sonata opus 99 belongs to a much later period of Brahms’s life. “The F
Major sonata provides such a contrast to the dark E Minor” says Shapira “it is a
passionate work, almost violent at times, but always seems to maintain a very
optimistic approach, full of youthful energy” he concludes.

Highly praised by critics, Shapira was compared with the great Catalonian cellist
Pablo Casals. “Shapira’s admirable accounts [of the Bach Suites] might be aptly
described as ‘Modified Casals’,” says critic Harris Goldsmith in a review published
by the New York Concert Review “Shapira is, like his great Catalonian forebear, a
romantic with brains”. The Agence France Presse dubs Shapira as “A Soloist of
International Stature”; the New Jersey Herald calls him as “a passionate performer”.