Apple Hill exists to perform, teach and broaden the appreciation of chamber music— cultivating connection and understanding among people of diverse backgrounds, cultures, playing levels and ages through music performance and education centered around the values of acceptance, inclusivity, creative expression, and encouragement.

Steven Max, a New York City native, is a pianist specializing in 20th and 21st century music and the works of American composers. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, he enjoys performing works which push boundaries and blur the lines between genres. He has performed as a soloist and collaborative pianist at venues such as Weill Hall, The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, and Tanglewood’s Seiji Ozawa Hall.  

In addition to his work as a musician, in 2018 he became a Registered Piano Technician with the Piano Technicians Guild after attending Boston’s North Bennet Street School to study piano tuning, regulation, and repair. This work has expanded and deepened his understanding of the instrument and brought him a new appreciation for its musical possibilities. When he is not playing music or tuning pianos, he is an avid chess player and stand-up comedy fan.

Program notes:

An epic, sprawling, historical journey, “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!” was written by American composer Frederic Rzewski in 1975. The piece is in the form of a theme and variations based on the song “¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!” by Sergio Ortega. The song, an anthem of the Chilean left-wing political alliance Unidad Popular, became known around the world after the US-backed overthrow of the Chilean government in 1973. Rzewski composed the piece in solidarity with the Chilean people, invoking their struggle against the new Pinochet regime.

The piece has a highly eclectic nature, drawing on diverse influences including popular music, Romantic-era pianism, jazz, minimalism, and the avant-garde. Still, its tightly constructed form lends the work a powerful unity and narrative arc. The 36 variations are grouped into six sets of six. The final variation of each set recaps and expands the materials heard in the previous five. The last set of six instead recaps the entire piece. The effect of this is that the listener hears ideas recurring and taking on new significance throughout the work, memories of the past transformed and propelled forward in the ongoing struggle for justice.

MASKS ARE REQUIRED.