MIDDLETOWN: CHOPIN SPREE

Pianist Gerd Nowaczyk — pictured at left, with flautist and Monmouth Symphony associate conductor Lucian Rinando — performs a solo concert at Middletown Township Public Library on Tuesday afternoon.

“Whoever planned the library must have had a great knowledge and love for music,” the Monmouth Conservatory of Music exec director Vladislav Kovalsky said of Middletown Township Public Library, in a 2008 interview here on redbankgreen. “It seems to go against all laws of acoustics and building materials, but it’s been a wonderful place for music.”

Over the past several years, the Red Bank-based MCM and the MTPL have continued to make beautiful music together, via an ongoing series of free afternoon and evening chamber concerts in the library’s Community Room — a slate of offerings designed to bring many of the region’s first-quality classical performers to a broadly based, all-ages audience. The series continues at 3 pm this Tuesday, April 22, with an encore by acclaimed keyboard artist (and Conservatory faculty member) Gerd Nowaczyk.

It’s the first of two local appearances this week for the German-born pianist, who’s performed previously at MTPL in solo, duo and ensemble contexts. He’ll be featured in a program of pieces by Chopin and others, with no advance registration required to attend and enjoy. Nowaczyk returns on Saturday, April 26, for a 4 pm solo recital at the Monmouth Conservatory’s own performance space on White Street (adjacent to Trinity Episcopal Church). Then on Sunday the 27th, MCM celebrates 50 Years of Excellence in Education and Performance, during a 4 pm gala at Rumson Country Club, with live music by the Elysian Trio, and additional details here.