What: Alon Goldstein, pianist, playing Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata, Brahms’ “Intermezzi,” and Ginastera’s “Argentinian Dances” (and more)
When: October 6, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Mitchell Auditorium, College of St. Scholastica, 1200 Kenwood Ave.
Tickets and Box Office info: $18 adults / $6 students, call 724-8115; also available at the door at 7 p.m. For shuttle bus to Mitchell, call 525-9413.

Why go? Alon Goldstein is a master of the Romantic piano repertoire, but more than that, he finds the intoxicating virtues of the Romantic in other periods as well. The music he’s programmed for his visit to Duluth promises to be ravishing: passionate work from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries-a kind of short course in music and feeling.

Goldstein has soloed with many major orchestras. In 2008, he was enthusiastically received when he was heard with Hebert Blomstedt and the Israel Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, the same concerto he played the year before in his return engagement with the great Philadelphia Orchestra. The Philadelphia Inquirer went nuts: “Alon Goldstein, who made a superb Philadelphia Orchestra debut last summer, showed even more depth and style in Saturday’s performance….You wanted encores-preferably, his entire repertoire.”

To read the writings of this warm and intelligent man, go to his blog at http://www.alongoldstein.com. His analyses of the works he performs, and his wonderful descriptions of other musicians and friends, are most engaging. This is a musician of great depth and humanity.

After Goldstein’s October 6 performance, go to our Facebook page and post your take on his music in the comments. We’ll pick the most interesting one to win a pair of free tickets to our next concert, the November 17th return to Duluth of the popular Minneapolis Guitar Quartet. The foursome earned this encomium from Classical Guitar Magazine: “Flawless, musical and witty, this quartet is able to do anything it sets its mind on.”