Praised by The New York Times for her “penetrating musical intelligence,” her playing acclaimed as “tempestuous” and “Imbued with a luminous calm”, Australian pianist Sarah Grunstein performs internationally as a concert artist. Born in Sydney, her career has included concerts in the United States, Austria, Hungary, Italy, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.
 

A graduate of The Juilliard School and holding a doctorate from the City University of New York, Sarah Grunstein is fervent about historic pianos, and Bach improvisation. She has presented master-classes on historic and modern instruments in Europe, England, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. 
 

Living in New York and currently touring her homeland Australia with performances, master-classes, and Bach workshops at the universities throughout Australia, Ms. Grunstein isdelighted to present her first Salon Series at Berkelouw, Paddington.
 

Location:          19 Oxford St, Paddington
Dates:               Saturday October 18th, Sunday October 26th; 7:30pm
Tickets:             $30 per performance I Includes glass of wine

Buy:                    www.eventbrite.com.au I Advance reservation recommended
Park:                  St. Vincent’s Hospital
Contact:            Berkelouw (02) 9360 3200 I Dinner: Berkelouw Café

 

THE BERKELOUW CONNECTION

Sarah Grunstein’s beloved father, Binem (Bill) Grunstein (1921-2013), was a renowned Australian artist. A Polish survivor of fourteen concentration camps including Dachau, he had spent his first two immigrant years in Australia at an Australian army camp in Liverpool NSW, washing dishes. He wished to pursue his career as an artist but understood he couldn’t raise a family on “four guineas a month”. He then took a job with a furrier in Sydney. Binem Grunstein could do anything with his gifted eyes and hands. One day he decided to create a pattern for some dresses. Binem and his wife Hania stayed up all night, cutting and sewing thirty dresses on the floor of their flat in Bondi Junction, that same tiny one-bedroom flat which would one day also accommodate their two children and Binem’s brother. The furrier said he would buy those thirty dresses, and then requested another hundred dresses. Through the furrier’s first orders, Binem and Hania Grunstein began their dress manufacturing business. Binem Grunstein became a respected businessman,  a  prolific  artist,  and  benefactor.

After Binem Grunstein passed away last year, a friend suggested Sarah contact Robert Berkelouw to see if he might be interested in the special art books from her father’s collection. Robert came to the family home. As their conversation unfolded they realised that Robert Berkelouw's great uncle, Leo Berkeley, a furrier, was in fact the same furrier who had first employed Binem Grunstein. Leo Berkeley had been not only the sponsor of Sarah's parents in their garment business but was also a great mentor in their lives.

Astonished, Robert and David Berkelouw and Sarah Grunstein recognised that they shared not only a history, but a vision. Their vision was to create a salon, something of the kind that had existed in Europe in the 19th century -- an intimate environment often hosted by eminent women, where musicians and artists would engage in a dialogue with their audience, and share their work and  passion.

Sarah Grunstein’s two Paddington Salon recitals are the outcome of the artistic vision she shares with the Berkelouw brothers, and a cyclical salute to a small piece of Australian history.

@SarahGrunstein
www.sarahgrunstein.com