An intimate evening of world-class classical piano, drinks, and dessert
The Lilacs begins its new season on Saturday, September 26. You are invited to a private recital by pianist Michael Davidman in our home in New York City, followed by drinks and dessert with the pianist. Michael appears as winner of the 2025 American Piano Awards and Christel DeHaan Fellowship.
Michael closes the evening with Rachmaninoff’s Second Sonata — by the composer whose song “Lilacs,” Op. 21 No. 5, gives this series its name.
The program
F. Schubert: Piano Sonata in C minor, D. 958
F. Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
Intermission
C. Franck: Choral No. 1 in E major
I. Albéniz: “Málaga” and “Jerez” from Iberia, Book 4
S. Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 36 (1931 version)
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Doors 7:00pm · Recital 7:30pm · Reception until about 10:00pm
100% of the proceeds go to the pianist
The address is sent with your ticket confirmation.
To RSVP, go to the Eventbrite page here.
About Michael
Michael began piano at five at the Greenwich House Music School in New York, went on to the Manhattan School of Music with Efrem Briskin, then to the Curtis Institute, where he studied with Robert McDonald and Ford Mylius Lallerstedt, and to Juilliard, where his teachers were Jerome Lowenthal and Stephen Hough. Michael is currently finishing an Artist Diploma studying with Stanislav Ioudenich at the International Center for Music (ICM) in Kansas City.
In 2025 he won the American Piano Awards in Indianapolis, together with the Christel DeHaan Fellowship, after having been a finalist in the same competition’s previous cycle. He took third prize and the orchestra prize at the 2022 Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris, won the Gina Bachauer Competition at Juilliard in 2019, and took first prize at the New York International Piano Competition the year before.
He has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Monterey Symphony, and the Orchestre Symphonique de la Garde Républicaine in Paris, and has played at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, Salle Cortot, and the Théâtre du Châtelet. He has been heard on WQXR and on NPR’s “From the Top,” and Lang Lang, after hearing him play, told him: “You play beautifully and are technically brilliant!”
An opera enthusiast from a very young age, Michael delights in uploading historical and rare opera recordings to his YouTube channel called PucciniMD and accompanying opera singers.
Hear Michael play
New to The Lilacs? We are a small nonprofit series presenting world-class pianists in a private New York home a few times a year, with a drinks and dessert reception after each recital. See photos and videos of past recitals.