Rising 19-year-old pianist, composer and Young Steinway Artist Thomas Nickell will make his Chicago debut on Saturday, April 14 at noon, accompanied by the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago (OSC) under Maestro Mina Zikri, at the Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave., as part of its celebrated Music Under Glass classical concert series. Nickell’s Chicago performance is part of his Spring 2018 tour which includes a debut in Boston and culminates in a debut for both Nickell and OSC in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on June 3. The tour program features orchestral works by Beethoven, Liszt, and Nickell’s own compositions.

Thomas Nickell (Photo courtesy of Thomas Nickell)

Nickell garners praise for his strong interpretations and insightful readings of some of the piano’s most demanding literature. An array of accolades marks the progress of his career, among them his having been named a Young Steinway Artist. Selection for the prestigious honor—one shared by less than eighty other pianists throughout the world—came to Nickell at the age of fifteen, a year before he was even able to accept it because of Steinway’s minimum age requirement of sixteen years.
 
Tickets for this Music Under Glass presentation by Thomas Nickell and the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago are $25, including a reception, and are available at garfieldconservatory.org.