GT. BARRINGTON, MA – On Saturday evening, March 15 at 8 p.m., MusicWorks in the Berkshires and the South Berkshire Concert Series at Simon’s Rock will  present “American Classics,” featuring chamber works of pivotal American composers of the twentieth century and recent compositions by their students.  The program will conclude with the world premiere of David Post’s Quintet for Piano and String Quartet dedicated to pianist Simone Dinnerstein and the Hawthorne String Quartet. Participating in the pre-concert panel discussion at 6:30 p.m., will be composers Daron Hagen and David Post, Flautist Fenwick Smith, MusicWorks director Mark Ludwig, and Simon’s Rock College Professor Laurence Wallach.

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein will be making her Berkshire debut.  Ms. Dinnerstein has fast been gaining international attention as a commanding and charismatic artist, and as one of the most compelling women pianists performing today. Since being featured by The New York Times as an artist “poised for a breakthrough,” Ms. Dinnerstein has performed to a sold-out audience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, debuted with the American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein, and signed a recording contract with Telarc International, which released her much-anticipated recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations worldwide in August of 2007. The CD earned the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Classical Chart in its first week of sales and has remained highly ranked since then. It was called “precisely the kind of playing that the early 21st century most needs, infused as it is with a deep and pervasive sense of beauty and tenderness of heart which is often profoundly affecting,” by Piano Magazine.