Pianist and cultural advocate Marja Kaisla visited the WRTI 90.1 Performance Studio in early January to set the mood for her upcoming concert at Woodmere Art Museum's Music at Woodmere concert series. She played music by Chopin and chatted with WRTI's Susan Lewis.
Watch the performance recorded LIVE on WRTI's Facebook page.
Program for WRTI broadcast:
Paderewski: Minuet in G Major
Chopin: Polonaise c# minor op. 26 No.1
Chopin: Waltz A flat Major op. 69 No.1
Chopin: Nocturne c# minor op.20
Virtuoso pianist Marja Kaisla will open Music at Woodmere's 2019 classical season with the music of Frederic Chopin. The evening will include Chopin's glorious Sonata no.3 in B minor, Polonaise-Fantasy op. 61, Ballade no.3 and more. Born in Helsinki, Finland, Kaisla is an avid chamber musician, recitalist and orchestra soloist who has performed extensively in Europe and the United States, having had her Carnegie Hall debut in 2005.
Marja began piano studies at age three in her native Finland. Since moving to the U.S. in 1987, she has enjoyed an active concert career on stage, as a sought-after teacher and cultural advocate.
She was Finlandia Foundation National's Performer of the Year 2013 and 2014 and was awarded Outstanding Achievement in Innovative Programming as a Legend of Jazz, R&B and Gospel by the African American Museum in Philadelphia in 2016. She also received Finland's highest civilian award in 2013 for promoting Finnish and Nordic culture in the U.S.
Her latest CD is Embracing Beauty.
Marja Kaisla lectures regularly on music and memory and how it relates to neuroscience. Her interests outside of music include history, quantum mechanics and animal welfare.
