Parrish's Spring Salon Series Begins With Pianist Alexandria Le

Salon Series, the Parrish Art Museum’s classical music program featuring world-class artists performing in an intimate setting, kicks off its spring season with concert pianist Alexandria Le on Friday, May 5, at 6 p.m. Le’s program features complementary pairings of works by American and international composers, a gesture that aligns with the museum’s 125th anniversary exhibition, “Artists Choose Parrish.”

Among the many selections in her Salon Series program, Le’s dynamic pairings of American and non-American musical works will include two works that combine classical and pop music genres. French composer Francis Poulenc’s florid, lyrical “Improvisation no. 15: Hommage à Édith Piaf” — the quintessential French chanteuse — is coupled with a piano arrangement of George Gershwin’s distinctly American “Rhapsody in Blue” that combines elements of classical and jazz, established with the iconic opening siren-like clarinet riff and continuing with sections that evoke the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple in the 1920s. Her program also includes Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” a hallmark of French Impressionism, paired with “Summerland” from the 1935 suite “Three Visions” by William Grant Still, often referred to as the “Dean of Afro-American Composers.” The suite tells the story of the soul’s journey, with Summerland a metaphor for entering into heaven.

A laureate of the Pro Musicis International Award and the Ackerman Chamber Music Competition, Alexandria Le has performed at Paris’ Salle Cortot, Carnegie Hall, French Embassy, Juilliard School and appears frequently with the Las Vegas Philharmonic as principal keyboard. Her breadth of expertise ranges from harpsichord performances in Baroque ensembles led by Harry Bicket, to contemporary music ensembles as a pianist in collaboration with Susanna Mälkki, John Corigliano, Steve Reich, and Caroline Shaw, among many others. A winner of over 20 first prize piano competition awards, Le earned a coveted fellowship position with Ensemble Connect in 2012. She holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and SUNY Stony Brook, where she received her Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance.

Tickets for Alexandria Le’s concert are $35 ($25 Parrish members, $20 for students and children) at parrishart.org. Other upcoming Salon Series concerts include Wynona Wang performing on May 12, and Ching-Yun Hu performing on May 19.

Parrish Art Museum is at 279 Montauk Highway, Water Mill.