EDMOND—Renowned Jewish pianist Menahem Pressler joined forces with the New York Chamber Soloist Orchestra to perform for an audience of 350 on March 18 at Armstrong Auditorium. The Armstrong International Cultural Foundation’s eighth event of the 2013-14 season lasted more than two hours and included pieces by Beethoven, Mozart and Copland.

To open the first half, violinist Curtis Macomber starred in two Beethoven romances, accompanied by the rest of the 20-member New York orchestra. In the first romance, Macomber exhibited dexterity and precision while resonant cello and bass notes underscored pleasant violin and viola forays and surging volleys of bass, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and horn accompaniment.

The second romance seemed mournful yet hopeful. Rapid, passionate, increasingly urgent-sounding violin solos mixed with authoritative string intervals in the alternating staccato and legato piece before concluding with three soft wind notes.

Pressler made his debut next, performing a solo Mozart Rondo in A Minor before the chamber orchestra concluded the first half with Aaron Copland’s famous, colorful, evocative Appalachian Spring.

The second half featured the diminutive Pressler in a B-flat Major piano concerto. Although dwarfed by the Steinway piano onstage, he caressed its keys and soothed the audience with crystal clear, cheerful notes. The audience then pleaded for two encore performances from Pressler, the second of which was a lullaby that possibly indicated his desire for rest. Afterward, he caused the audience to laugh when he happily folded his music score and closed the lid over the piano keys to prevent yet another encore.

Despite being scheduled to depart at 4 a.m. the next day for Switzerland, Pressler took time to talk with several notable audience members backstage following the concert. Foundation founder and chairman Gerald Flurry joked with the 90-year-old Pressler, asking him, “How do you stay motivated?” Pressler responded lightheartedly by saying his problem isn’t motivation—it’s walking. Valery Kuleshov, an award-winning Russian pianist who performed at Armstrong Auditorium in 2012, also greeted Pressler backstage.

The New York Chamber Soloists Orchestra is in its sixth decade. The group consists of 12 string, wind and keyboard musicians plus guest artists. It possesses a repertoire of more than 250 works and has performed with musical greats including clarinetist Richard Stoltzman and pianists Anton Kuerti and Pressler.

Menahem Pressler, one of the founders as well as a pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio for all of its 51 years, is a chamber and solo pianist. He is known as an outstanding teacher and serves as a distinguished professor of music at Indiana University. In 1939, his family fled Germany to escape the Nazis and settled in the land of Israel, where he received most of his musical training. Though in the midst of a career that spans six decades, he has no thoughts of retiring to enjoy an easy life on the golf course, telling an interviewer for the Guardian, “I can’t find pleasure in getting a little ball into a little hole.”

The 2013-14 concert season continues on April 24 when acclaimed violinist Midori visits Armstrong Auditorium fresh off her 30th anniversary tour.