by Daniel Hathaway
Michael Lynn, Oberlin Conservatory Professor of Recorder and Baroque Flute, founded the Medici Charitable Foundation in 2012 following a liver transplant that restored him to health and allowed him to continue his career as a performing artist and teacher.
The organization presents concerts by distinguished musicians to help raise funds for medical charities and research organizations. “Encore,” Medici’s next concert at Akron Civic Theatre on October 18 at 7:30 pm will benefit Lifebanc, a non-profit organization devoted to organ, eye and tissue recovery in Northeast Ohio. The performers will be the husband and wife piano team of Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Emanuela Friscioni.
Sponsored by Steinway & Sons, the concert will include Franz Schubert’s four-hand Fantasy in f, op. 103, selections from Pompa-Baldi’s recent Steinway & Sons CD, The Rascal and the Sparrow: Poulenc Meets Piaf, and works by Nikolai Rubenstein and Franz Liszt.
Italian-born Antonio Pompa-Baldi took first place in the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1999 and won a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn Competition in Fort Worth. He settled in Cleveland after winning CIPC, where he teaches on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music between international touring engagements.
Emanuela Friscioni, also an Italian native, is founder and director of the Cuyahoga County Community College Classical Piano Performance Academy and the Tri-C Classical Piano Series at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Also a faculty member at CIM, Friscioni has won national and international prizes at competitions and performs both solo recitals and duo-piano concerts with her husband.
Lifebanc has pursued its mission of saving and healing lives through organ, eye and tissue donation in Northeast Ohio for nearly three decades. More information about the non-profit organizations goals and activities can be found on Lifebanc’s website.
Tickets for the October 18 benefit concert can be reserved online. General admission tickets are $25, and VIP and preferred seating tickets are also available.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com October 7, 2014.
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