Pas de Deux, America and France: A Musical Celebration Featuring Award-Winning Duo Pianists Anita Castiglione and Paul Posnak

We are fortunate to have the award-winning duo pianists, Anita Castiglione and Paul Posnak (pictured above), as neighbors. In today’s recital, they will play music of America and France in a “pas de deux.”

This concert celebrates the intertwined relationship of the United States and France, central allies and influences upon each other at the historical moments that shaped their destinies – the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and the French Revolution and the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1779.

The concert features three of the most influential musical figures in American and in French music of the early and mid-Twentieth Century: Aaron Copland, George Gershwin and William Bolcom; and Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Francis Poulenc.

The artists will share relevant, brief commentaries about the composers and the individual works in the program.

Paul Posnak’s international career as a concert pianist, recording artist, transcriber and sought-after teacher began as a child prodigy with a full scholarship to the Juilliard Preparatory School of Music at the age of eight.  Recipient of Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees at Juilliard, and of the Loeb Prize (Juilliard’s highest award), he won First Prizes in the International J.S. Bach Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York.  He has performed at the White House, The Supreme Court, and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at Carnegie Recital and Tully Halls in New York, and throughout Europe, South America, and Asia to critical acclaim.

Anita Castiglione’s career as a soloist, collaborative pianist, choral accompanist, and music educator began with piano studies in Massachusetts at the age of six.  She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Miami and a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School, both in piano performance. She was the recipient of the prestigious Juilliard Alumni Award. She earned her Doctorate in Collaborative Piano in 2002.  She is currently adjunct faculty and pianist for the Frost Chorale, Bella Voce, and Chamber Singers choral ensembles at the University of Miami Frost School of Music.