For our Saturday, March 18 staged reading of Shostakovich, or Silence, we are thrilled to present live music by Shostakovich during the production, performed by Grace Burns. She performs at Local Lab at Diary Arts Center following a performance this winter at Carnegie Hall.

Grace is a musician with widely ranging interests, equally comfortable with standard piano repertoire as she is with experimental music. Her musical experience continues to be enhanced by her work with living composers, chamber ensembles, and combining the disciplines of art, music, and theater into unique performances.

“I’ve always loved to play Shostakovitch’s music, and these works deserve to be showcased in a new and interesting way. No work of art exists in a vacuum, and I’m excited to be part of a production that immerses his music into the context of his life and historical events.”

— Grace Burns, on performing during Local Lab

Grace is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree at the University of Colorado - Boulder, where she is studying with Dr. David Korevaar. Previously, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Rice University with a degree in Piano Performance, where she studied under Jeanne Kierman Fischer. She has performed for a wide variety of master clinicians in both solo and chamber music, including Richard Goode, John Perry, Paul Kantor, and Howard Karp, among others. In November of 2016, she represented the University of Colorado-Boulder keyboard department in a showcase performance at Carnegie Hall.

As co-founder and pianist of the Meraki Trio, Grace commissioned and premiered new works of music for the piano-flute-viola ensemble. A generous grant from the Friends of Flutes Foundation enabled the trio to commission and perform nine new works for the ensemble in the 2014/15 season. In recognition of this work, Rice University granted Grace the graduation honor of “Distinction in Research and Creative Work.”

See her perform the music of Shostakovich live during our reading of Shostakovich, or Silence, on Saturday, March 18 at Dairy Arts Center as part of Local Lab. Limited tickets remain here.