The photograph and the information below were provided by Catherine Patterson:

Pianist Alexander Paley (pictured above), whose performances have been lauded by the Washington Post as “superlative,” “stunning,” and “flawless,” returns to Richmond in October for three free concerts at First English Lutheran Church.  The Paley Music Festival’s fourteenth season features performances of Mozart’s complete works for piano four-hands and the American premieres of two pieces by Brazilian composer Joao Guilherme Ripper.

The 2011 Festival runs Friday and Saturday, October 14 and 15, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, October 16, at 3:30 p.m. First English Lutheran Church is in Richmond’s Fan District, at Monument and Lombardy.

Paley, introduced to Richmond as a recitalist in the Mary Anne Rennolds Chamber Concerts series, is a Moldavian-born and Russian-trained pianist who lives in New York and performs around the world. The upcoming 2011 concert season will take him to Beijing, China, for performances of all Mozart’s piano sonatas and pieces for piano four-hands. Paley will play all three Schumann piano sonatas in Hamburg, Germany. And, he will continue a three-season (2010-2012) engagement in Lithuania, performing and conducting all of Mozart’s piano concerti.

Other 2011 Paley Music Festival performers include Pei-wen Chen (piano), Charles West (clarinet), Akemi Takayama (violin), Daphne Gerling (viola), Clyde Thomas Shaw (cello), and Kathy Judd (violin).

Joao Guilherme Ripper, Director of Cecília Meireles Concert Hall in Rio de Janeiro and member of the Brazilian Academy of Music, is a prolific composer of chamber music, symphonic pieces, operas, and cantatas. “Brasilia,” the last movement from his “Chamber Symphony for Winds,” has become a wind ensemble staple.

The final concert of the 2011 Paley Festival features two Ripper works: his “Kinderszenen,” as well as a Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano.

The Festival’s 2011 “Fourteen Hands” season opens on Friday, October 14, at 8 p.m. Paley and Chen play Mozart’s Sonata in C Major, k. 521, and his Theme and Variations in G Major, k. 501, both for piano four-hands. The program also includes Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 8, in G Major, Op. 30, and Schubert’s final Piano Sonata, in B-flat Major, D. 960.

On Saturday, October 15, at 8 p.m., the Festival continues with two more Mozart piano four-hand Sonatas (D Major, k.381/123a and B-flat Major, k. 358/186c), followed by Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 105.  Prokofiev’s “Overture on Hebrew Themes,” Op. 34, is next, a work scored for the unusual instrumental combination of clarinet, string quartet, and piano.

The program ends with Faure’s Quartet No. 1, in C Minor, Op. 15.

The 2011 Paley Festival concludes on Sunday afternoon, October 16, with a 3:30 concert.  Two more Mozart Sonatas for piano four-hands (G Major, k.357—unfinished—and F Major, k. 497) begin the program.

Two pieces by Joao Guilherme Ripper follow: “Kinderszenen” for clarinet, cello, and piano with a Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano.  The concert concludes with Dvorak’s Piano Trio No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 90 (“Dumky”).

Detailed information on program and performers can be found here.

For more information call (804) 355-9185.