NewsRelease

(Posted 5-17-04)
Contact: Tiffany Aumann, 336-334-5371

Music of J.S. Bach Celebrated during Focus on Piano Literature June 3-5

GREENSBORO – Guest artist Sergey Schepkin of the New England Conservatory and Bach scholar Christoph Wolff of Harvard University will perform and lecture at this year’s Focus on Piano Literature symposium. The keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach will be the topic of the 13th annual symposium, Thursday through Saturday, June 3-5, at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

The three-day symposium attracts approximately 150 teachers, students and music lovers from over 20 states. Each symposium has featured, in addition to UNCG's resident piano faculty, outstanding guest artists and pedagogues and has included recitals, lectures, demonstrations, dance classes, and a gala banquet.

Founded in 1990, Focus on Piano Literature is a biennial summer symposium of concerts and lectures focusing on a particular segment of piano literature.  Past symposia have featured the piano music of Schubert, Mozart, Brahms, Chopin and Beethoven.  Excerpts from the series have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.”

This year, guest pianist Sergey Schepkin will perform a recital of Bach’s music, as well as conduct a master class.  Schepkin, hailed by the American Record Guide as “the major Bach pianist of his generation,” divides his time between Boston and Pittsburgh, where he serves on the faculties of The New England Conservatory and Carnegie-Mellon University.

Dr. Andrew Willis, keyboard professor and director of this year’s series, discovered Schepkin on a recording held in the UNCG School of Music library and decided to recruit him to come to UNCG.

“I was impressed with his playing. It was stylistically up-to-date and imaginative,” Willis said.

Schepkin will perform Friday night at 8 p.m. in the School of Music Recital Hall. His program will include “Partita No. 5 in G major,” “Partita No. 4 in D major,” “The Well-Tempered Clavier” and “Preludes and Fugues 17-24.”

On Thursday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., UNCG faculty and guests will present Bach favorites, as well as the “Concertos in C major and C minor for 2 Claviers,” which will feature two pianos on stage simultaneously, accompanied by an ensemble of stringed instruments. These concerts will also be held in the School of Music Recital Hall.

Guest speaker Christoph Wolff will present two lectures on Bach’s keyboard music.  Wolff, author of the acclaimed recent biography “Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician,” is on the faculty of Harvard University.

Other presenters are UNCG School of Music piano faculty Dr. Joseph DiPiazza, Dr. George Kiorpes, Dr. Andrew Willis, and Dr. John Salmon, faculty performers Inara Zandmane, Deborah Egekvist and Nancy Walker, and music history faculty Dr. Gregory Carroll and Dr. Carol Marsh.  Sessions include performances by all piano faculty members, as well as:

• an introductory lecture by Carroll
• “Improvising in Bach,” a lecture by Salmon
• Bach performance practice, a lecture by Willis
• Baroque dance instruction by Marsh
• Demonstrations of Bach’s keyboard instruments (clavichord, harpsichord, fortepiano, and organ), and a documentary video on Bach’s life and world.
• Performance of Bach’s 15 “Inventions,” led by Dr. Paul Stewart, keyboard division chair, and performed by outstanding North Carolina pianists of high school age.

Registration is under way for the symposium, which is intended for the general public, piano teachers, and students.  The cost for the symposium is $120 if received by May 20, ($130 thereafter); students pay $90 ($100 after May 20).  Separate fees are charged for the Friday banquet and Saturday luncheon.

Tickets for individual evening concerts will go on sale May 24. Cost is $15.

For more information, visit the web site at http://www.uncg.edu/mus/community/focus/focus.html, or contact Dr. Andrew Willis at (336) 334-5508 or aswillis@uncg.edu.

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