Margaret and I have been friends for many years. Her commissions stem from the 1980s, and include the BACH variations, now greatly enlarged into 30 variations, which I played in Paris in 1991. The Easter quintet features variations on a famous Easter tune. The last work is an overture, very festive and joyful. I am the pianist in the outer works and Margaret in the quintet. - Anthony Newman ABOUT ANTHONY NEWMAN Described by Wynton Marsalis as "The High Priest of Bach", and by Time Magazine as "The High Priest of the Harpsichord," Newman continues his 50 year career as America's leading organist, harpsichordist and Bach specialist. His prodigious recording output includes more than 170 CDs on such labels as CBS, SONY, Deutsche Grammaphon, and Vox Masterworks. In 1989, Stereo Review voted his original instrument recording of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto as "Record of the Year". His collaboration with Wynton Marsalis on Sony's "In Gabriel's Garden" was the best selling classical CD in 1997. As keyboardist, he has performed more than sixty times at Lincoln Center in New York, and has collaborated with many of the greats of music: Kathleen Battle, Itzhak Perlman, Eugenia Zukerman, John Nelson, Jean-Pierre Rampal, James Levine, Lorin Mazel, Mstislav Rostropovich, Seji Osawa, and Leonard Bernstein. As conductor, he has worked with the greats of chamber music orchestras: St. Paul Chamber, LA Chamber, Budapest Chamber, Scottish Chamber, and the 92nd St. Y Chamber Orchestras. Larger symphonic groups include: Seattle (over 40 appearances), Los Angeles, San Diego, Calgary, Denver, and New York Philharmonic Orchestras. No less prodigious a composer, his works have been heard in Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Warsaw, New York, and London. His output includes 4 symphonies, 4 concerti, 3 large choral works, 2 operas: Nicole, and Massacre (in collaboration with Charles Flowers), 3 CDs of piano music, and a large assortment of chamber, organ and guitar works. Complete works are published by Ellis Press. Newman has received 33 consecutive composer's awards from ASCAP. Newman is music director of "Bach Works," New York's all Bach association, and Bedford Chamber Concerts; is on the Visiting Committee for the Department of Musical Instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and on the board of the Musical Quarterly Magazine. As a person committed to outreach, he was a volunteer for Stamford Hospital, a member of Hospice International from 1995 to 2004. Newman is music director of St. Matthews Episcopal Church in Bedford NY. Newman is a Yamaha Artist, and a proud alumnus of Young Concert Artists. www.anthonynewmanmusician.org ABOUT MARGARET MILLS Margaret Mills, pianist"...lavishes beautiful but unforced tone on everything she plays," (Fanfare) has performed throughout the United States, Europe and in China. Awarded the Frances Walker Piano Prize upon graduation from Vassar College, she pursued her studies in Freiburg, Germany before returning to the United States to complete her Masters degree at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Among her principal teachers have been Erich Itor Kahn, Claude Frank, Eugene List, and Jerome Lowenthal. Following her debut in Carnegie Recital Hall in 1974, Ms. Mills has given additional solo recitals in such prestigious venues as Alice Tully Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York City and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She made her London debut in Wigmore Hall in 1981, the first of many European performances in cities such as Berlin, Heidelberg, Munich, Paris, and Rome among others. Closer to home, Ms. Mills has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops, Fort Myers Symphony, Schenectady (NY) Symphony, and the Fairfield Orchestra. She has been a featured pianist with the Fine Arts, Manhattan, Cassatt, and Laurentian String Quartets and has appeared as soloist in several music festivals including Music Mountain in Connecticut and the Bar Harbor Music Festival in Maine. As an advocate of American music, Ms. Mills has commissioned the American composers Anthony Newman, Ruth Schonthal, Joel Feigin, and Brian Fennelly. She has given the premiere performances of the commissioned works and recorded most of them on the Newport Classic and Cambria labels. She has also recorded on the Capstone label. Margaret Mills has enjoyed a long relationship with the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City, where over the years she has chaired the piano department, managed the Faculty Concert Series, and currently organizes the Adult Performance Workshops. Her papers and memorabilia are held in the Music Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. www.margaretmills.com