Glencairn Museum presents Elizabeth Pitcairn in concert March 22

Acclaimed American violin virtuoso Elizabeth Pitcairn returns to Bryn Athyn to perform in concert with her legendary “Red Violin” in the Great Hall at Glencairn Museum on Sunday, March 22.

Returning to Glencairn to accompany Ms. Pitcairn is dynamic collaborative pianist Louise Thomas. Dr. Thomas is director of Keyboard Collaborative Arts for College of Performing Arts at Chapman University in Calif.

The concert program includes Beethoven’s Sonata No 8 in G Major, The Red Violin Chaconne by John Corigliano, Saint-Saëns’s Sonata No. 1 in D minor and music by Gershwin/Heifetz, Elgar, Sarasate, Paganini and Bazzini.

The concert begins at 3:00pm (doors open at 2:30) and seating is limited. General admission $20, $15 students & Basic Members, free for Gold and Patron Members. Advance tickets, and reserved seating for Patron Members only, available through 5pm on Thursday, March 19, at GlencairnMuseum.org, 267.502.2990 or at the Museum. After March 19, tickets may be available at the door subject to availability for this popular annual performance.

Celebrated as one of America’s most beloved violin soloists, Pitcairn has toured the world with her 1720 Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius. As an artist and performer, she is known for musical interpretations that touch audiences on a deeply emotional level.

For more information, visit www.glencairnmuseum.org or call 267.502.2990. Glencairn Museum: 1001 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

Elizabeth Pitcairn
Ms. Pitcairn—great-niece of Glencairn’s visionary architect, Raymond Pitcairn—began her violin studies at age three and performed her first concerto with orchestra at 14. Her path led her to study violin in Los Angeles with Robert Lipsett at the USC Thornton School of Music. She made her New York debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in 2000 with the New York String Orchestra. She has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Fisher Center and the Kimmel Center.

Ms. Pitcairn is president, CEO and Artistic Director of the Luzerne Music Center Festival, a summer camp for gifted young musicians ages 9 to 18 in the Adirondacks. A Bucks County native, she now resides in Los Angeles and is currently a member of the distinguished faculty at the Colburn School of Performing Arts.

The 10th Anniversary edition DVD of the 1998 film The Red Violin features Ms. Pitcairn and her Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius in a special feature called “The Auction Block.” Although the movie itself is largely fictional, the instrument is the very real and mysterious violin built by Antonio Stradivari around 1720. Renowned for its distinctive sound and playability, the legendary violin went missing for 200 years before resurfacing in Berlin in the 1930s. After a succession of owners, it came to Elizabeth Pitcairn as a 16th birthday gift from her grandfather, Theodore Pitcairn. He purchased the Red Mendelssohn at a Christie’s auction in 1990 for a reported $1.7 million.

GLENCAIRN MUSEUM, a National Historic Landmark and part of the Bryn Athyn Historic District (including Cairnwood, built 1892-95, and Bryn Athyn Cathedral, 1913-19), houses a collection of religious art and artifacts from around the world and serves as a museum of the history of religion. Glencairn itself, built in the Romanesque style between 1928 and 1939 by Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn for their family’s home, was given to the Academy of the New Church in 1980 after Mildred Pitcairn’s death. A treasure now open to the public, Glencairn Museum offers tours of its tower and 6 floors depicting world religious history as well as a glimpse into the family’s personal life, exhibitions, workshops, concerts, seasonal programs and its popular annual “Christmas in the Castle” tour featuring outstanding examples of Nativity art. For more on the Museum or becoming a member: 267.502.2600, info@GlencairnMuseum.org or www.GlencairnMuseum.org.