We decided to catch up with what the fabulous Joel Fan will be doing this summer and came across a fun festival concert that we just had to mention. Also in our search we found some great customer reviews of “West of the Sun: Music of the Americas” on Amazon.com that we hadn’t seen before!

On July 22, Joel Fan will be performing with the Northport Community Band at the 45th Annual Huntington Summer Arts Festival. He’ll be performing “Great Band Music Under the Stars” with the community band at 8:30. We’re happy to share this with you because if you are in the Huntington area, you can’t miss the opportunity to see Joel Fan live, and outdoors, and for free! For more information on the festival, check out their website at http://www.huntingtonarts.org!

And here are the Amazon.com reviews we recently came across:

Incredible
By Evelyn Chien (Paris, France)

This review is from: West of the Sun: Music of the Americans (Ocrd) (Audio CD)
A rare thing: a classical pianist who makes the music so alive you could dance to it!
He’s an amazing player–energetic, larger than life, and also emotionally at one with the pieces. If you can see him in concert, go.

A lyrical tour de force
By Tres

This review is from: West of the Sun: Music of the Americans (Ocrd) (Audio CD)
A dazzling album. I bought `West of the Sun’ after seeing the pianist perform in NY last year at a thrilling concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Fan is as superb with the classics (i.e. Beethoven, Liszt) as he is with lesser-known 20th century composers. In this album, he concentrates more on the latter, especially on Latin American composers, to his credit. The Nazareth, Piazzolla and the Ginastera are marvelous, with jazzy rhythms and rich, multi-layered textures, and they provide a lighter, breezy counterpoint to a truly bravura performance of the Barber sonata. The entire album is a powerful and exuberant paean to the music of the Americas, and a joyous addition to today’s sometimes pallid contemporary classical music scene.

Outstanding piano album!,
By Bethany Davis “Bethany Davis” (Hoboken, NJ)

This review is from: West of the Sun: Music of the Americans (Ocrd) (Audio CD)
I saw Joel Fan at his recent New York solo recital where he launched West of the Sun. He is a thrilling and moving performer and this feeling comes through on the album as well. My favorites on this album are the Piazzolla Flora’s Game Prelude which is just plain gorgeous, and the Bolcom Nine New Bagatelles, which are really cool and unique. I also highly recommend the the Ginastera and Barber sonatas for serious piano-philes. This album is always fresh sounding. I definitely recommend it for anyone who loves the piano!

Superb!!!
By T. Van Pelt (Charleston, SC United States)

This review is from: West of the Sun: Music of the Americans (Ocrd) (Audio CD)
This is a must have for anyone who loves music, especially piano. Transcendent, exciting, totally enjoyable. I listen to it everyday. Joel Fan’s playing is amazing. He’s fluid and supple and wonderfully expressive. It’s the best album I’ve bought this year. The pieces are new and fresh and different but also accessible. I highly, highly recommend West of the Sun.

Make sure you have your copy of “West of the Sun: Music of the Americas” by visiting http://ReferenceRecordings.com