Cristian Budu's Moonlight: Our Mini-Festival Opener!

This last weekend of October isn't just scary because it's Halloween weekend -- with a full moon to boot. It's scary because it's just a couple days before our rather high-stakes presidential election, and folks will no doubt be holding their breath, wracked with anxiety.

And that is why we've decided to organize a mini-festival for the weekend -- to keep people engaged in community, in transcendent works of beauty, in our trans-historical togetherness at this volatile moment. So, by all means, help get out the vote, knock on doors, phone bank, but also remember that you've got a melodious virtual home with Groupmuse that can serve as a refuge from it all.

Moreover, this weekend will be the last of our Groupmuse Foundation launch cycle, so all of the money raised at all of the events in the mini-festival will be tax-deductible and will go to the Foundation so we can keep doing this important work. Eternally many thanks to all of the brilliant artists who have donated their time to the cause.

And oh boy do we have a potent opener:
Cristian Budu. The leading Brazilian pianist of his generation. 1st Prize Winner of Clara Haskil in 2012. Winner of the Editor's Choice award from Gramophone Magazine. And he's prepared an evening of his dazzling virtuosity and humbling depths to kick off our festival.

We'll start with his strikingly original interpretation of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata - a dark and brooding warhorse that befits a Halloween Weekend. The second half of the program is one of Budu's signature masterworks: Chopin's 24 Preludes -- a recording of which made it on Gramophone's list of "Top 10 Chopin Recordings.

Because this is a Premier the video performance, made specially for our community, will be prerecorded -- which means no tech hazards! And Cristian will join for both the Zoom chat before and the Q and A .

Can't wait to see you there!