New York, NY (Top40 Charts) On April 13, Gallagher concludes THE 88 CONCERT TOUR that spanned over four years, throughout 7 continents, visiting 30 countries and 341 performances. He will be catching his breath and playing with the fervor and sensitivity he is best known for at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. Following the concert, he will be announcing his new non-profit organization, discussing its platform and introducing the board members at a private reception. A charismatic troubadour, an entrepreneur and visionary, Gallagher and his impressive list of supporters and donors are devoting time and energy to introducing and sustaining classical music around the world. He has shown the power of classical music as a bridge between cultures and classes.
If you had told
Boston native Kimball Gallagher in 2001 that he would be partly responsible for a fifteen-year-old pianist, Elham Fanoos in Afghanistan, being the recipient of a new piano in 2013, he would have been very surprised. In 2001 music was illegal in Afghanistan and Gallagher was working on his Master of
Music degree as a pupil of Robert McDonald at The Juilliard School in New York. Fast forward to 2015, Gallagher now 34, is feeding his insatiable desire to introduce Chopin, Beethoven and Liszt to world audiences and provide instruments when possible, for those who are unable to afford them.
THE 88 CONCERT TOUR started out when Gallagher decided to auction off each of the 88 keys to fund the purchase of his piano. He did not literally take apart a piano keyboard; he simply allocated each key to each eager donor until all 88 keys were auctioned off. This clever way of making his work relevant to each person he connects with, inspired Gallagher to create unique experiences for the many listeners he hoped to engage with on his tour. He began researching cultures, regional issues and its people in such places as India, Taiwan, and Afghanistan. In addition to traditional concert halls Gallagher brings music to a variety of venues around the world including primary and secondary schools, universities and most importantly, private homes, where he performs intimate salon-style concerts. Among his many accomplishments, a portion of Gallagher's concerts are dedicated to partnering with local musicians, philanthropists, and NGO's to raise money for local communities while engaging locals in classical music.
Gallagher conceives his global projects in unexpected and creative ways. In his 2012 trip to India, in each of six cities, a concert paired a local music foundation with a local NGO supporting waste pickers, some of the poorest people in the world. Musical workshops with the waste pickers preceded each concert. The tour of
India featured three new commissioned works blending Indian and Western classical music. In order to make a meaningful link between classical music and environmental issues that the wastepickers deal with on a daily basis, Gallagher identified the notion of Economy of Means or as he describes, making the most of any particular resource. During the concerts Gallagher also demonstrated how Beethoven created a musical masterpiece from just three notes.
Gallagher has a diverse and exciting program planned for the concert at Zankel Hall. Two of his favorite compositions will be featured: Bela Bartok's OUT OF DOORS and Franz Liszt's PIANO SONATA IN B MINOR. Both Bartók and Liszt traveled extensively throughout Europe: Bartok collecting folk melodies and Liszt giving concerts and incorporating diverse influences into his own compositions. Gallagher, inspired by both Bartok and Liszt, finds a parallel with how his own work is spreading music globally. In addition to these works by Bartok, Liszt and Chopin, the program includes the following works of living composers with whom he has collaborated throughout his journey.
Elham Fanoos's PRELUDE, Elham is a gifted pianist and composer living in Afghanistan. PRELUDE is his first work which Gallagher has performed in 20 countries;
Jaloul Ayed's JASMINE, Jaloul Ayed was the finance minister of Tunisia after the Jasmine revolution and is currently one of the nominees vying for the head of the African Development Bank and who has been composing since his youth;
Michael Harrison's JAUNPURI (World Premiere), with Mashkoor Ali Khan from Kolkata,
India on vocals and Nitin Mitta on tabla;
Gallagher's Prelude for Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel peace prize winner and host of a private concert in Myanmar as part of Gallagher's MYANMAR MUSIC FESTIVAL, a festival he co-founded in 2014;
Gallagher's PRELUDE FOR VICTOR AND SONO, Victor Elmaleh, a prominent arts patron, was a long time patron of Gallagher who passed away in November 2014 at age 95. Gallagher is dedicating the final concert on April 13th to Elmaleh.
Gallagher's presence amongst the New York City classical music scene is supported by his local salon concerts, his music series COCKTAILS AND COUNTERPOINTS and his recent inclusion in Ethan Hawke's documentary film "Seymour: An Introduction," a portrait of Seymour Bernstein, an 87 year old concert pianist and teacher. Hawke knows Gallagher on a personal level as he employed Gallagher to teach piano to his children for over four years. Gallagher's own piano teacher, Joseph Smith was a student of Bernstein's and Gallagher was honored to have been asked to appear in the film. Gallagher shares Hawke's admiration for Bernstein, a man that changed the lives of aspiring pianists with his insight and wisdom.
Gallagher's non-profit organization will continue to develop and facilitate music festivals, performances, educational programs and intimate home concerts that are centered on the ever relevant and historical genre of classical music. He will now be carrying out these goals under a more formal setting with his new non -profit status and his board members to help guide and advise him. As Gallagher reflects, "I am grateful every day for the array of people around the world that have stepped forward to support classical music and in particular, the work of young artists. There is a keen understanding that the arts are crucial for the balance and development of all societies. My goal is to help to ensure that classical music, its composers and their repertoire remain in our urban vocabulary. Monday night is going to be both an end and a beginning. As we complete THE 88 CONCERT TOUR, we will be officially launching the non-profit project worldwide. It will be as if, I'm leaping out of the starter's gate, having just finished a race. This time the starting gate has no definitive finish line, as my hope is the work we start today continues on for years to come. My journey continues, as does my vision, supporting classical music and its 88 keys, all over the world."
About Kimball Gallagher - Kimball Gallagher earned his undergraduate degree at Rice University in the studio of Jeanne Kierman-Fischer, and completed his Master of
Music degree under scholarship as a pupil of Robert McDonald at The Juilliard School in 2004. Gallagher's sold-out 2008 debut at Carnegie Hall launched his international THE 88 CONCERT TOUR, which seeks to revive salon culture. A resident of New York City, he enjoys composing, writing and exploring various musical genres. His work has taken him to distinguished venues and intimate gatherings all over the world, from the Kennedy Center to Kabul, Bombay, Boulder, Chicago, Shanghai, Tuscany and Tunisia. Highlights of recent tour seasons have included Gallagher's debuts at the Cairo Opera House, the
National Recital Hall in Taipei, the United Nations in New York, and the World Bank, as well as in private homes and more exotic venues throughout Paris, Alexandria, Burma, Dubai, Thailand, Fiji, India, Antarctica and more. In Afghanistan, he performed at the German
Embassy and taught master classes at the Afghanistan
National Institute of Music.
His life began as one of two siblings growing up in the suburbs of
Boston and Philadelphia. His father, Tag Gallagher, an Irish Catholic from Philadelphia is a film historian who earned his PhD from Columbia and authored two major biographies of film directors, JOHN FORD A MAN AND HIS FILMS and THE ADVENTURES OF ROBERTO ROSSELLINI. His mother, Phoebe Gallagher, is a Mennonite, from Lancaster County PA, where she grew up on a farm the 6th of 8 children. She was the first of her family to attend college and later joined the Peace Corps (Malaysia). Eventually she enrolled at FIT and spent the majority of her career as a textile designer. His younger sister Gillian is a linguistics professor at New York University. For tickets please visit www.carnegiehall.org, call CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or visit the Box Office at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue. For more information about Mr. Gallagher and the program for his upcoming concert, please visit www.KimballGallagher.com.
Promotional video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7LlpxIgOV8
Kimball Gallagher's The 88 Concert Tour
Zanke; Hall Concert April 13, 2015 In Memory of Victor Elmaleh and Joseph Smith
