THE SOUND OF LIFE: A Piano Recital with Cristian Sandrin & Jed Distler

Romanian pianist Cristian Sandrin and American pianist, composer, presenter, and critic Jed Distler come together at the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York for THE SOUND OF LIFE, an extraordinary musical encounter presented as part of The Enescu Soirees in New York, one of the Institute’s permanent programs dedicated to promoting Romanian music and musicians and fostering artistic dialogue between Romania and the international cultural scene.

At the heart of the evening is Dmitri Shostakovich’s monumental Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60, “Leningrad,” heard in a rare piano four-hands version commissioned by the composer himself. Created against the backdrop of the devastating 872-day Siege of Leningrad, the symphony stands as both a deeply personal testimony and a universal statement about survival in the face of unimaginable adversity.

Composed while Shostakovich was living through the siege—serving simultaneously as head of piano at the Leningrad Conservatoire and as a volunteer firefighter—the Seventh Symphony…