Pam Tanowitz / Simone Dinnerstein

New Work for Goldberg Variations

In 2007, pianist Simone Dinnerstein rocked the music world with her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. She raised the money for the project herself and rented the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall for a concert. Her gamble paid off, with glowing reviews of her “expressive force” and “timeless, meditative, utterly audacious solo debut.” Now ready for a new challenge, Dinnerstein wanted to match the music with movement, so it was time to roll the dice again. She proposed her project to acclaimed choreographer Pam Tanowitz.

Both women were intimidated by the challenge of reinterpreting Bach’s towering, beloved classic, but they decided their hesitation was the exact reason to proceed. “Working together we’ll invent our own world,” Tanowitz decided, “and create something inherently dangerous for both of us as artists.” The result is New Work for Goldberg Variations, with Dinnerstein center stage at the piano in expressive dialogue with the dancers moving all around her to Bach’s glorious music.

Pam Tanowitz is the 2016 Juried Bessie Award Winner “for using form and structure as a vehicle for challenging audiences to think, to feel, to experience movement; for pursuing her uniquely poetic and theatrical vision with astounding rigor and focus…

Simone Dinnerstein is “an utterly distinctive voice in the forest of Bach interpretation.” New York Times