PROGRAMS

Poets of the Piano is a narrative-recital series featuring a wild variety of piano music collected under common themes. The usual format is a 30 minute talk followed by a 60-70 minute recital. Any of the below programs are available.

Each season the programs change; for particular requests please feel free to send me an email.

Art by Cheryl Jacobsen

2019-2020

I. The Cosmopolitan Pianist

This program explores cultural identity in piano music - composers who adopted a new homeland; expressed their native language in a foreign place; or enriched their own art through exposure to new sounds and musical ideas.

Godowsky - The Star-Spangled Banner ; Bach - Italian Concerto ; Dinos Constantinides - Variations on an Ancient Greek Melody ; Chopin - Mazurkas, op.24 ; Quentin Kim - Variations on an Ancient Korean Melody ; Liszt - Spanish Rhapsody

II. A night at the theater

Music written for the dramatic stage comes alive in a new form for piano solo - this program is the story of artistic transformation, and how one composer’s music inspired another to a new creation.

Bach-Hess - Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring ; Mozart - Variations on a Theme of Paisiello ; Liszt - Paraphrase on Verdi’s Rigoletto ; Prokofiev - Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet ; Stephen Hough - My Favorite Things ; Gershwin - Selections

III. phantasmagoria

Ghosts, illusions and demons haunt the music of this program - music that tells a story, and music that is haunted by the past.

Bach-Busoni - Toccata and Fugue in d minor ; Beethoven - ‘Moonlight’ Sonata ; Debussy - Selected Preludes ; Liszt - Mephisto Waltz

IV. Acts of faith

The piano became an outlet for religious expression and function - composers created music of spiritual depth and drama to express this faith on the concert stage. This program features not only music of Christianity, but also music inspired by Judaism and Buddhism.

Bach-Busoni - Prelude and Fugue in D major ; Philip Glass - Mad Rush ; Bach-Busoni - Ich ruf zu dir, Herr ; Judith Shatin - Chai Variations on Elyahu HaNavi ; Bach-Busoni - Wachet auf ; Liszt - St Francis of Paolo Walks on the Waters