Press Contact:   Debra Strick
Millers River Educational Cooperative 
strickdebra@yahoo.com 978-263-9425 C 978-844-0120
www.campcaravan.org High-resolution images available 

Interviews available with pianist Elan Sicroff
Please email to arrange appointment elan@sicroff.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WARWICK PIANIST ELAN SICROFF TO PERFORM “TOWARDS THE FIRST DAWN” MUSIC OF G.I. GURDJIEFF AND THOMAS DE HARTMANN, IN LONDON, ENGLAND 

   	 LONDON, ENGLAND  — Saturday, January 30, Local Warwick pianist, Elan Sicroff performs at London’s St. John’s Smith Square at 7:30 p.m.  Known in the Pioneer Valley as a dedicated music instructor, Sicroff is acclaimed worldwide as the leading interpreter of sacred music of  G.I. Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann. He is also known for his performances of the compositions of Thomas de Hartmann written in the classical idiom. Residents of Warwick heard the world premiere of a similar program that also featured German violinist Katharina Paul, at Warwick Town Hall in fall of 2009. Paul will repeat this performance with Sicroff at St. John’s.

“This concert is the beginning of a series to honor a promise I made in 1974 to Madame de Hartmann to have her husband's music made more widely accessible”, says London concert agent Peter Dodd.  “Previously cloistered and hidden, we are bringing the music of Gurdjieff and deHartmann into its rightful place—the public domain. This wonderful music has the capacity to speak with everyone. We have a great venue; a potentially huge audience and the best possible launch pad into the future.”
On January 16 Sicroff performed for a sold-out audience at the JOSPfest near Vatican City in Rome, and will perform at the Via Indipendenza in Pontedera, (Pisa) Italy on January 24 before the St. Johns premiere.

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 Page two, continued from Gurdjieff/de Hartmann concert with Elan Sicroff

St Johns is one of the major London concert halls, more intimate than the Royal Albert Hall and Festival Hall, and musicians believe it possesses the best acoustics in the city. Built in the early eighteenth century, it is located 200 yards from Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. A large turnout is expected for the concert. 

“Performances of this quality and intentionality are exceedingly rare”, says rock legend Robert Fripp of the music of Elan Sicroff. Currently living in Warwick, Massachusetts, and coaching piano and teaching the Suzuki music method, Sicroff studied at the Juilliard School with Jeaneane Dowis. He worked directly with Mme Olga de Hartmann, wife of the composer, towards insightful interpretation of the repertoire, combined with exceptional technique for a 
Transforming listener experience. Sicroff’s CD recordings, Sicroff plays Gurdjieff  and Journey to Inaccessible Places, samples of his music, and a performance schedule are available at www.sicroff.com, with a new recording due out this season.  

G.I. Gurdjieff spent much of his life seeking answers to questions of meaning, and was one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, with students including Frank Lloyd Wright, P.D. Ouspensky, Jane Heap, Katherine Mansfield, and J.G. Bennett. Known for bringing the “wisdom of the east to the energy of the west,” Gurdjieff collected music during his travels to a multitude of cultures in Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, all synthesized by de Hartmann into a unique sound intended to transport the listener into a deeper level of experience. In addition to their collaborative works, this program provides an opportunity to hear rarely performed classical compositions by de Hartmann. A close friend of the painter Wassily Kandinsky, and a student of Rimsky-Korsakov, de Hartmann was an active composer in his native Russia and then France. In 1916 he met Gurdjieff and dedicated his musical work to that collaboration through 1929. 

For those interested in the ideas and music of Gurdjieff, Elan Sicroff and the Millers River Educational Cooperative invite participation at Camp Caravan in Royalston, Massachusetts. Those interested may also access an online group at webmaster@campcaravan.org. Visit www.campcaravan.org for more.   			                     END