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Irwin Shung in Recital: The Goldberg Variations

Friday, April 10, 2026

11:30 PM

Location shared upon purchase of ticket(s).

Plymouth Church UCC, Herr Chapel 

2860 Coventry Rd, Shaker Heights, OH 44120

Pianist Irwin Shung presents Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations. In a pre-concert talk, Shung offers a glimpse beneath the surface, illuminating the work’s inner world—from the near-grotesque “Black Pearl” Variation to the fantastical hand-crossing arabesques and the farcical Quodlibet.

See hors d’oeuvres menu

Pianist Irwin Shung presents Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations. In a pre-concert talk, Shung offers a glimpse beneath the surface, illuminating the work’s inner world—from the near-grotesque “Black Pearl” Variation to the fantastical hand-crossing arabesques and the farcical Quodlibet.

See hors d’oeuvres menu

Program

Goldberg Variations BWV 988  Johann Sebastian Bach

Soloist

Irwin Shung

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Dr. Irwin Shung, whose playing has been praised by State Magazine for its “ease, technique, and musicianship,” has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.  Shung teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University, in addition to serving as Artistic Director of The Resonance Project ever since its roots were originally put down in Seattle.  Shung maintains an active musical profile both on the West Coast and in Cleveland, where he was recently selected as Height Arts' Artist of the Month.  Currently in his third year as President of the Northeast Ohio Music Teachers Association, Shung's leadership over the organization has seen the development of dynamic new programs for hundreds of regional precollegiate music students in Cuyahoga, Geauga, and Lorain Counties.


Shung received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music in January, 2015, where he studied with Dr. Daniel Shapiro. He has also received instruction on piano from distinguished teachers such as Marian Hahn (Peabody Conservatory), Leon Fleisher (Peabody Conservatory), Herbert Stessin (Julliard School), Gabriel Chodos (New England Conservatory), and Victoria Bogdashevskaya (Moscow Conservatory). Awards received include the Pauline Favin Memorial Award from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and prizes in the Darius Milhaud Competition as well as the Young Artist International Piano Competition.


Appearances in 2023-24 include workshops and concerts in Bellevue, WA; Victoria, British Columbia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Singapore, and numerous cities in Ohio.  His complete recording of the first book of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier is available online, with the second book and the Goldberg Variations currently in-progress.  Current projects include the construction of a chamber recording studio at the Artist House in South Euclid, as well Crescendo Cleveland, a music program for pre-college musicians.

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