From NYTimes.com:
Taka Kigawa (Monday) This powerful, interpretively incisive young pianist has made his name finding the emotional core in difficult, thorny music. This time he tackles Boulez’s Sonata No. 2, Kaija Saariaho’s Ballade and Prelude and Stockhausen’s Klavierstück X. At 7:30 p.m., Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, near Thompson Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 505-3474. lprnyc.com; $25 in advance and $30 at the door. (Allan Kozinn)
Mano-a-Mano Piano Festival (Sunday through Tuesday) Several shades of ivory come into focus during this new piano-centric series programmed by Jed Distler, a witty, congenial and adventurous pianist and composer. On Sunday, Jerome Kuderna, a respected San Francisco Bay-area pianist, tackles modern works by Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, Robert Helps and Mr. Distler. On Monday, William Komaiko, a Mannes College faculty member, tickles jazzy keys alongside the bassist Dick Sarpola. And on Tuesday, Mr. Distler and Jung Lin share the keyboard in Simeon Ten Holt’s Minimalist epic “Canto Ostinato.” At 8:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; $10 cover, with a $10 minimum. (Smith)
Music Mountain (Sunday) This longstanding chamber music festival continues on Sunday with the St. Petersburg String Quartet performing Brahms’s Cello Sonata No. 2 in F and Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 9 in E flat. The pianist Alexander Mekinulov joins for Schnittke’s Piano Quintet. At 3 p.m., Gordon Hall, Music Mountain, 225 Music Mountain Road, Falls Village, Conn., (860) 824-7126, musicmountain.org; $30; $27 in advance; free for under 18 when accompanied by ticket holder. (Schweitzer)
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