PIANO AND PERCUSSION: Cristina Altamura, left, will perform at Princeton United Methodist Church in a program on July 14 that collaborates with members of So Percussion, which is directed by Adam Sliwinski, right. (Photo by Maria Grazia Facciolá)
By Anne Levin
Each summer since founding Altamura Legacy Concerts in 2023, pianist Cristina Altamura has collaborated on a concert with Sō Percussion Summer Institute (SōSi), the program at Princeton University directed by her husband, Adam Sliwinski. This year’s event, at Princeton United Methodist Church (PrincetonUMC) on July 14, explores the music of late 19th century composer Sergei Rachmaninov and 20th century composer Steve Reich.
Altamura will play Rachmaninov’s Six Morceaux, Opus 11, Four Hands with Italian pianist Enrico Pace. Jason Treuting and Eric Cha-Beach, who make up half of the Sō Percussion ensemble, will perform Reich’s Piano Phase.
“We like to find the connection — what we have in common,” said Altamura. “We’re exploring every possible pattern.”
Altamura was speaking by phone this week from a break in rehearsals in Italy, where she was performing, at a villa, in a two-piano arrangement of Bach’s The Goldberg Variations. She was struggling to cope with the sweltering weather.
“We’re practicing in places without air conditioning, and it’s really difficult,” she said. “I’m trying to keep drinking water and make sure I don’t get weak.”
The temperature should be more comfortable for the concert at PrincetonUMC. In addition to the Rachmaninov work for four hands at one piano, and the Reich piece on two instruments, the program will include performances by students from SōSi, who are also taking part in free public concerts next weekend at several locations throughout town (visit sopercussion.com for specifics).
“These concerts are meant to provide an opportunity for youth,” said Altamura. “They are the future, and by having them perform, it’s like we’re holding a space for them — for their future.”
Sō Percussion has been in residence at the University since 2014, performing and commissioning new music. SōSi, in its 18th year, is a two-week, intensive gathering of young, emerging composers and percussionists working at the edges of classical, contemporary, and experimental work.
Altamura founded the Legacy Concerts series after inheriting a Steinway “B Grand” piano, restoring it, and installing it in the Sanford Davis Room of PrincetonUMC. Since then, she has presented twice yearly performances at the church, in different musical genres.
She will appear alongside her longtime friend Pace, an Italian pianist with an international reputation, for the piece by Rachmaninov. “We’ve studied together. We’re almost like siblings,” she said. “He has a break in between festivals, so he’s able to come.”
The two works on the program are “amazing, sweeping pieces,” she said. “These are two epic works written for piano, but one uses it practically as a percussion instrument.”
The concert on Tuesday, July 14 is at 7 p.m. at PrincetonUMC, located at Nassau Street and Vandeventer Avenue. Tickets are $40 ($10 student), available at the door, with a limited number available in advance. Visit legacyartsinternational.org.