April Afternoon of Beethoven

Award-winning violinist, Andrew Smith, and his partner in the Elan Duo, Elina Christova, an award-winning pianist, will be performing at the Talmadge Hill Community Church on Sunday, April 1 at 4pm to help raise money for KEYS (Kids Empowered by Your Support). Their program will include Beethoven’s Violin Sonata op. 12 (dedicated to Antonio Salieri), the very popular Violin Sonata op. 24 (nicknamed the “Spring Sonata”), and a work by Manuel de Falla .

KEYS, a non-profit founded by Rob Silvan in 2004, offers one-to-one and group music lessons to over 300 children from 4-18 in Bridgeport’s public schools, where music and arts programs have been slashed in repeated budget cuts.  The parents of these children lack the means to provide music instruction for their children, so the KEYS program offers its music programs and instruments free of charge.  KEYS aims to teach music to children, and, in the process, to empower them by teaching them the discipline, teamwork, and performance skills that is essential to being a good musician. 

The Elan Duo was formed in 2010 after a fundraising concert at the Steinway Recital Room, and have since performed at venues around the world, including the Weill Recital Room, Chicago's Symphony Hall, The Royal Festival Hall in London, the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, Alice Tully Hall, the Shanghai Conservatoire in China, and St Martin in the Fields in London.  The Elan Duo will release its first recording of the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas this season, and will present them at Radford University in Virginia, at Valparaiso University in Indiana, and at Steinway Recital Room in Westport. 

A donation of $25 is requested.  For more information, please call Rob Silvan at 203.761.0150 or email keys.bridgeport@gmail.com