A memorial service celebrating the life of Christopher Falzone will be held at 11 a.m. Jan. 26 at the Catholic Church of the Epiphany, 11000 Smoketree Drive in
Chesterfield County.Falzone, the Richmond-bred pianist and composer who studied locally with Joanne Kong and subsequently with Leon Fleisher and Claude Frank at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, went on to win the Gilmore Young Artist Award, the gold medal of the Gilels Competition in Odessa, the Martha Argerich Les Virtuoses du Future competition in Switzerland, and other major prizes. A burgeoning international career was cut short by his death at age 29 on Oct. 21 in Geneva.
Falzone’s death is among the notable losses to classical music in 2014 cited in an article on National Public Radio’s Deceptive Cadence blog:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2015/01/09/375630332/swan-songs-classical-musicians-we-lost-in-2014
The family advises that memorial contributions in Christopher Falzone’s name may be made to the chamber music programs at the Academy of Music, 4200 Dover Road, Richmond, VA 23221; Midwest Young Artists, 878 Lyster Road, Highwood, IL 60040; or the Levine School of Music, 2801 Upton St. NW, Washington, DC 20008.