Jeffrey Kahane will perform at The Wallis on May 25. (photo courtesy of E.F. Marton Productions)

Pianist Jeffrey Kahane, recognized around the globe for his mastery of a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach and Mozart to the music of our time, makes his Wallis debut with his interpretation of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” long regarded as one of the most ambitious works for the keyboard, on Thursday, May 25 at 7:30 pm, at The Wallis’ Bram Goldsmith Theater. Providing the audience with a deeper understanding and appreciation of Bach’s masterwork, Kahane begins the evening by discussing and illustrating the intricacies of the work’s opening aria and the 30 different variations on it. After intermission, he performs the full work.

Kahane, equally at home at the piano or on the podium, served as music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for 20 years and has appeared as a soloist with such major orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chicago and San Francisco symphonies. He also served as the music director of the Colorado Symphony from the 2005-06 season through the 2009-10 season and for ten seasons was Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony. In 2016, he was appointed music director of the Sarasota Music Festival and currently serves as the artistic adviser of the Sarasota Orchestra. Since making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1983, he has given recitals in many of the nation’s major music centers.

A highly respected chamber musician, Kahane collaborates with many of today’s most important chamber ensembles. In May 2017, Kahane completed his 20th and final season as music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He is now the orchestra’s conductor laureate. A native of Los Angeles and a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Kahane was the First Prize winner at the 1983 Rubinstein Competition, a finalist at the 1981 Van Cliburn Competition and the recipient of a 1983 Avery Fisher Career Grant. An avid linguist who reads fluently in a number of ancient and modern languages, Kahane received a master’s degree in classics from the University of Colorado in 2011. He is currently a professor of keyboard studies at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.

Tickets, priced $39 to $99, are on sale now. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. To purchase tickets and for information, call (310)746-4000 or visit thewallis.org/kahane.