By: Nick McGill ~Staff Writer~

As the Xavier University Music Series heads into its summer concerts, students on campus are still able to catch one more exciting performance before heading home for break.

Simone Dinnerstein will visit the Gallagher Student Center Theater on May 3 to put on a concert as part of the Classical Piano Series component of the Music Series. Dinnerstein landed on the classical music scene in 2007 when she released a record of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” which was completely self-financed and landed atop the Billboard classical music CD sales chart.

This success came uncharacteristically late in life for classical pianists. After having set her musical aspirations aside for a short while, she raised $15,000 dollars in order to produce her own recording which was picked up by the record label Telarc. It was received incredibly well and the “Goldberg Variations” helped reignite her performing career.

Since then her recordings have repeatedly reached the top of the charts. Her performing career has landed Dinnerstein in many of the world’s most famous concert halls as well as with many of the most famous orchestras and symphonies. According to the Washinton Post, Dinnerstein brings her “personality, verve and thoughtfulness” and “arresting freshness and subtlety” to Xavier performing works by Francis Poulenc (“Suite Francaise d’apres Claude Gervaise”), Claude Debussy (Suite bergamasque) and Franz Schubert (Sonata in B-flat major).

Of the program, Dinnerstien said, “Designing a concert program is both an intellectual exercise and a voyage into the subconscious… I hope that the various works will speak to each other as I had hoped and in ways I had not even imagined.” The repertoire of the concert aims to highlight the connection between expressive color from long past up to the time of composition.

Schubert’s sonata has elements that seem as though the composer took music from the past and transformed it into the music of his own time. Debussy’s well-known “Suite bergamasque” contains the famous and well-recognized “Claire de lune.”

The concert will be held at 2:30 p.m. on May 3 in the GSCT. Tickets range from $12 to 25 and are $10 for students and $3 for children. Tickets can be purchased online at xavier.edu/musicseries.