Holy Cross Music Professor and Acclaimed Pianist Tours Europe and Australia

WORCESTER, Mass. – Acclaimed pianist Sarah Grunstein, assistant professor of music at the College of the Holy Cross, has returned from an exhilarating concert and teaching tour in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

In Italy on July 6, Grunstein performed Bach’s encyclopedic Goldberg Variations, as part of the series of the XIV International Music Festival at Rocca Grimalda, Alessandria organized by the Comune of Rocca and the Regione Piemonte.

From there she traveled to Durham University, England, presenting a lecture-recital at the conference, “Performing Romantic Music: Theory and Practice.”  Her lecture titled “Playing the Changing Face of Chopin's Score,” investigated Frederic Chopin as improviser. Her performance-demonstration included her own improvisation between preludes.

In Norway she presented a master-class for the Piano Forum at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo.

In New Zealand, Grunstein was Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at the University of Auckland, where she presented classes, master-classes, studio teaching, piano classes, and a recital featuring Chopin, Debussy, Beethoven,  and Schumann. From there she returned to Australia to give a master-class at Monash University, Melbourne.

Grunstein's international career has included concerts in the U.S., Austria, Hungary, Italy and the United Kingdom. In Australia, she has appeared as soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the State Orchestra of Victoria, and the Melbourne Musicians.

Grunstein holds a doctor of musical arts degree from the City University of New York, and a bachelor and master of music degrees from the Juilliard School where she held a Teaching Fellowship for four years following graduation.

A member of Holy Cross faculty since 2002, Grunstein has taught at the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the City University of New York, Fordham University, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and the Victorian College of the Arts. At Holy Cross she founded and leads the monthly student-faculty performance forums, has presented colloquia on her 18th-century fortepiano, founded the Annual Chamber Music Festival, and is co-director of the Chamber Music Program. Grunstein has received acknowledgement from the Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute as the first professor to bring college students to Carnegie Hall’s Professional Training Program. She has led study tours to the Frederic Historic Piano Collection where she has created and directed festivals featuring Holy Cross students performing on historic instruments. She has also recently been elected as the first board member in performance for the Northeast Region of the College Music Society.