Pianist Clipper Erickson will open the Westminster Conservatory 2017-18 Faculty Recital Series with a performance titled “The Russian American Connection” on Sunday, September 17 at 3 p.m. in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton. Admission is free.

The program will include music by Russian and American composers, including Modest Mussorgsky’s monumental Pictures at an Exhibition. Other works include David Finko’s Sonata No. 1, which was inspired by the Yiddish Jewish World and its culture, particularly by the Moscow State Jewish Theater and its leading actor Solomon Mikhoels; and Amy Beach’s Ballad, Op. 6. He will also perform Sonata Notturna, composed by Richard Brodhead for Clipper Erickson. The composer wrote about the work, “The sonata is cast as a series of night images, contrasting in character but closely related in their underlying material. Together, these images form a 15-minute musical span that contains strong elements of both variation and fantasy. ”

Erickson studied at The Juilliard School, Yale University, and Indiana University, training with the British pianist John Ogdon and Alexander Fiorillo. Erickson has won top prizes at international competitions such as the Busoni and William Kapell, and he performs as a soloist with orchestras throughout the United Sates, as well as a recitalist in venues including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Hall, and Symphony Space in New York.

Learn more about this performance at www.rider.edu/arts or by calling (609) 921-2663.