Contemporary Piano Festival

Contemporary Piano Festival

Sarah Liebowitz
A&E Editor
svl1010@plymouth.edu

Piano music will flow through the Silver Center all day Saturday, when pianists perform and compete in PSU’s 18th annual Contemporary Piano Festival.

The festival opens at 9 a.m. Eight students in grades 7-12 will play in the competition, performing music written in the last 100 years. Performances and seminars will go on throughout the day, ending with a concert at 3:15 p.m.

“We study contemporary composers just like we study Bach, Beethoven and Brahms,” said Dr. Carleen Graff, founder and director of the festival. “A pianist and musician must be versed in the whole range of piano composers and compositions. It may be even more important to study contemporary composers, because they are of our time.”

The festival began in 1999, creating an opportunity for high school students to share their musical experiences. Grades 7-8 were added about five years later. Gaff said she wanted New Hampshire students and teachers to gain experience in 20th and 21th century music and composers.

“I felt that teachers weren’t teaching recent compositions, and students were coming to college without knowledge and experience in this area of their studies,” she said.

Graff and Constance Chesebrough, a PSU piano instructor, will judge the morning competition. They will choose 1-3 winners, and possibly runner-ups. Winners get a trophy and the chance to perform in the afternoon concert.

The competition is only a small part of the day. At 11 a.m., the PSU Piano Quartet (Graff, Chesebrough, Daniel Perkins, and Allan DiBiase) will perform five compositions on two pianos for eight hands.

“Normally, I choose one contemporary composer to feature and I play that composer’s music and talk about it,” said Graff. This year’s piano quartet is a special event.

CLOCK PHOTO/ALEX CROSSLEY

Four of the pieces were written after 2000. “The pieces on the 11:00 a.m. program are probably totally unknown to anyone participating this year,” said Graff. “Some teachers have probably heard of Eugenie Rocherolle, but do not know of her ‘Jambalaya: A Portrait of New Orleans’ that we’ll be playing.”

Two pieces written by British composers, “Ling Kub Seur”, and “8 ‘til Late” will most likely by U.S. premiers. “I don’t know they have ever been played in the U.S.” said Graff.

At 1:15 p.m., PSU music professor Dr. Jonathan Santore will give a seminar on careers in music, followed by a master class at 2:00 p.m. with Graff.

“I will work with four students who submitted possible repertoire and give them a mini lesson, so to speak, in front of an audience,” said Graff. “A master class is meant to give students and teachers a different perspective on interpretation and even technical suggestions that might improve or change their playing in one way or another.”

The day will wrap up with a concert starting at 3:15 p.m., featuring winners from the competition and PSU piano students, including Alex Ager, a junior piano major. Ager will play “January” and “April” from Judith Zaimont’s “Calendar Collection”.

“I feel that teachers and students attend because they feel there is a benefit in how one teaches or in how one interprets a piece of music,” said Graff. “It also exposes new compositions to teachers and students each year.”

The Contemporary Piano Festival is on March 5 from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. It takes place in the Recital Hall in PSU’s Silver Center for the Arts. The entire day is free and open to the public.