Classical pianist Alexander Tentser and his wife, Anna Gendler, a violinist with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, will perform classical and romantic works by Mozart, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Chopin in a concert to benefit Interfaith Community Services. The duo will perform on Saurday, Sept. 21 at 3 p.m. at Rincon Congregation United Church of Christ, where Tentser is the accompanist.
“We want to help Interfaith Community Services, a nonprofit organization, with its programs to assist those in need, particularly disadvantaged children,” says Tentser. The concert is free but a suggested donation of $15 per person will benefit ICS programs for children and families in financial crisis, including emergency food, homelessness prevention, school supplies and enrichment activities.
Tentser and Gendler have been involved in music education in Tucson since they emigrated from Moscow in 1990, including teaching at the Symphony Women’s Association Music Center, helping low-income children to learn music.
Tentser began studying piano at the age of 4. A native of Kiev, Ukraine, he studied at the Gnesin Music College in Moscow and the Russian Academy of Music. He has performed with New York Philharmonic violinist Anna Rabinova and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. He received a doctorate from the University of Arizona and was one of the organizers of the 2013 Shaol Pozez Memorial Fine Arts Symposium “The Jewish Experience in Classical Music: Shostakovich and Asia” in January 2013 at the UA School of Music. Tentser teaches music at Pima Community College and directs the Pima Community College Orchestra.
Born in Russia, violinist Gendler received her musical education at the Moscow Conservatory and began her tenure with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in 1991. Gendler is a faculty member at Pima Community College and has served as a teaching artist for numerous organizations, including the Opening Minds Through Arts Foundation and the Symphony Women’s Association. She performs locally as a member both of the Tucson Symphony String Quartet and its Flute Trio, as well as nationally. She is a founding member of Daystar Chamber Players.
