Monday, December 22, 2025
12 PM
Barry Davis Salwen is an international concert pianist giving performances and master classes in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Asia. He gave two weeks of master classes at the Shanghai Conservatory in China, among many other places. As the recipient of a prestigious Fulbright Scholars Grant, he gave a semester's seminar at the Music Academy in Freiburg, Germany, one of the leading music institutions in the country.
Among his 10 CDs is the first recording of the complete solo piano music of the American master Roger Sessions; he is the first artist to record all of these works. Along with his recording of Sessions' piano concerto, it is on the Albany Records label. Both are available on streaming platforms as well.
As a long-time professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Dr. Salwen has led master classes and more recently the annual Piano Day, which have been attended by students from across eastern North Carolina. Last year, Teal Music Productions, the label of the UNCW Department of Music, released Dr. Salwen's recording of piano works by Sameer Ramchandran and Joel Suben. Like his Sessions recordings, this is available on CD and on major streaming platforms.
Free concerts at noon every Monday year-round . . . no wonder the Mini-Concerts are the longest-running and one of the most popular classical music series at the library! This series was founded by Glenna Hazleton in 1970 at the Athenaeum, and has been going strong ever since. The concerts feature both local and touring musicians, prize-winning students, university music faculty members, local chamber ensembles. . . and the repertoire also includes jazz, folk, and world music. There are no reservations, no tickets . . . just line up at the side door of the Athenaeum before noon. (Donations are always welcome!) Mini-Concerts take place every Monday at noon and last about an hour.
The concerts will be in person at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. There are no physical tickets for these events. Doors open at 11:40 a.m. Last entry is at 12:10 p.m. or once capacity is reached. Seating is first-come; first-served. Reservations are not necessary, but seating is limited.