Sara David Buechner
(Photo by Yukiko Onley)

Sara David Buechner joins the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) for performances of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15 the weekend of May 11-12. Music Director Rossen Milanov conducts the program which includes John Luther Adams’ Become River and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120.

The concerts take place on Saturday, May 11 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 12 at 4 p.m. at Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University. The Sunday performance will be preceded by a 3 p.m. pre-concert talk hosted by Milanov, which will include Ms. Buechner, and augment a Mother’s Day outing to the concert hall.

Buechner recently performed with Milanov with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, of which Milanov is music director. “Patrons will be riveted by Sara’s technical expertise and exceptional artistry prominently on display in performance of this first concerto by Beethoven,” he said.

Buechner was the Gold Medalist of the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and a Bronze Medalist in the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. With an active repertoire of more than 100 piano concertos, she has been soloist with many of the world’s prominent orchestras, and given recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Hollywood Bowl. She is the most prominent transgender musician appearing on the classical concert stage today. She received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award of Brandeis University, and is a member of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She often presents talks and workshops to LGBTQIA+ groups, and has received praise for her solo autobiographical theater show “Of Pigs and Pianos,” which premièred at New York City’s TheaterLab in 2021.

Visit princetonsymphony.org for tickets.