Pianist Ursula Oppens strolls the red carpet at the 2016 GRAMMY Awards with her artistic and personal partner Jerome Lowenthal. Oppens was nominated for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for the Cedille Records release featuring her recording of Frederic Rzewski’s “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!” (which Oppens premiered, and also recorded in an earlier version for Vanguard Records, which also received a GRAMMY nomination). Oppens and Lowenthal’s world-premiere recording of a new Rzewski work, Four Hands, a duet commissioned by and written for the pair, is also on the album.
Shortly before the GRAMMY ceremony, Oppens performed the solo version of “The People United…” at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center:
“It is probably safe to say that no single performer has done more for the cause of American piano music than Ursula Oppens…The ease with which Oppens accomplishes all this stems, on one hand, from the depth of her musicality and, on the other, from the sheer courage of her convictions.”
– THE WASHINGTON POST, Feb. 5, 2016