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Pianist praised on four continents

International award-winner Sara Davis Buechner kicks off 2015-16 Music on Sunday series at The Old School House Arts Centre
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International award-winning pianist Sara Davis Buechner will play at TOSH in Qualicum Beach on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Pianist Sara Davis Buechner brings a lifetime of international awards and touring experience when she performs Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at The Old School House (TOSH) in Qualicum Beach.

According to a news release from TOSH, Buechner has been praised on four continents as a musician of “intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess” (New York Times), “fascinating and astounding virtuosity” (Philippine Star), and “thoughtful artistry in the full service of music” (Washington Post).

In her 20s, she was the winner of a bouquet of prizes at the world’s great piano competitions — Reine Elisabeth of Belgium, Leeds, Salzburg, Sydney and Vienna; the gold medal of the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and as a bronze medal at the 1986 Tschaikowsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. Buechner enjoys a vibrant international performance and recording career.

With an active repertoire of over 100 piano concertos, she appears regularly as soloist with many of the world’s prominent orchestras: New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Montréal, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria and numerous others. Buechner’s performs in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl; and she enjoys wide success throughout Asia where she tours annually.

Buechner continues to record prolifically, including new music and commissions from prominent composers of our time such as Larry Bell, Dorothy Chang, Dick Hyman, Henry Martin, Jared Miller and Yukiko Nishimura. She is one of the few concert pianists to actively perform piano scores to silent movies such as Ben-Hur and Battleship Potemkin. Buechner has toured extensively with the Mark Morris Dance Group, and collaborates often with Vancouver dance-mime artist Yayoi Hirano.

Appearances on radio include several U.S. profiles, as well as CBC’s Westcoast Performance and Richardson’s Roundup.

Sara Davis Buechner is a former faculty member of New York University, and has presented lectures and masterclasses worldwide, notably at the Royal Academy in London, the Juilliard School, Indiana University, and the Kobe-Yamate Gakuen in Osaka, Japan. She is a regular adjudicator for the New York Concert Artists Guild and many other international music competition.

Tickets for Sunday’s concert are $13 for members, $16 for non-members. The event is sponsored by Quality Foods.

— NEWS Staff/TOSH