Monster Piano Concert

Happy Spring from East Lansing!  It's the last week of what has been a very exciting semester in the piano department at the Michigan State University College of Music which, in addition to the stimulating piano pedagogy activities outlined in previous posts, was also recently highlighted by a visit from renowned pianist and pedagogue Russell Sherman, Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at the New England Conservatory, who gave an inspiring performance of the Liszt Transcendental Etudes and a moving masterclass last week.

 

We're celebrating the end of the academic year with a rousing "Monster Piano Concert" this Sunday at 3pm at the Wharton Center on the campus of Michigan State University.  Eight pianists, including me, Panayis Lyras, Deborah Moriarty, Alan Nathan, Ron Newman, Kyomi Sugimura, George Vatchnadze and Ralph Votapek, will be performing 8-piano arrangements of great works.  Here's the program:

Brahms:

Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80

Bach: 

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring

Aria

Sheep May Safely Graze

Wagner:

Tannhäuser Overture

Saint-Saëns:   

Danse Macabre, Op. 40

Dvořák:   

Slavonic Dance in D major, Op. 46, No. 6

Slavonic Dance in G minor, Op. 46, No. 8

Chabrier:   

España

Joplin:   

The Entertainer

Stoptime Rag

Sousa:   

Stars and Stripes Forever

Additionally, three of my students, Albie Feeny (1st prize in the 9th and 10th grade division), Nolan Feeny (first prize in the 5th and 6th grade division), and Rachel Symanzik (first prize in the 3rd and 4th grade division) will be performing movements from classical period Sonatas and Sonatinas as winners of their respective divisions in the Eileen Keel competition held earlier this semester.   This performance will also be at the Wharton Center, and will begin at 2pm.  Tickets are available from Wharton Center's box office by calling (517) 432-2000, or (800) WHARTON.  Here's a link with more information: https://www.whartoncenter.com/boxoffice/performance.aspx?pid=684

I hope you'll join us---judging by our rehearsal last night, this should be a lot of fun!

Graduate Seminar Update

We are now almost 3 months into our Graduate Seminar in Piano Pedagogy with student-subject Melody Gruber, so it's been a while since you've had the chance to see her progress.  Please see the following clip for highlights of some of Melody's very quickly progressing playing, as well as some beautiful teaching by Justine Sasanfar and Ann Chen, both students in this Seminar.