ST. MARY’S CITY, Md. – On October 18 at 11:30 a.m., St. Mary’s College of MD Musician-in-Residence Brian Ganz will continue his series on “Chopin’s Virtuosic Summit,” in the Recital Hall of the Dodge Performing Arts Center on the college campus.
The performance will be the second of the four-part series and will feature a discussion and performance of Etudes 5, 6, 7 and 8 from the set of 12 Etudes, Op. 25. The program is free and open to the public. For more information call (240) 895-4498 or visit https://bit.ly/2YCPDKS
“Chopin’s 250 or so works are almost without question the most beloved ever composed for piano,” pianist Ganz said recently. “Many of them are within the technical reach of advanced amateur pianists,” he continued. “But about half of them are supremely demanding for even the most seasoned professionals. This year I am setting out to tackle the pinnacle of those demanding works, the 12 Etudes, or Studies, Op. 25.
What is truly miraculous about them is that despite the fact that they are so hard to play, it is their beauty that the listener notices above all. For Part 2 I’ll be playing Etudes 5-8, which includes the two hardest of the 12 for me, the one in thirds, number 6, and the one in sixths, number 8. It will be great fun to take a deep dive with the listeners into the challenges and beauties of these 4 etudes.”
Ganz has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the National Philharmonic, the Baltimore and the National Symphonies, the City of London Sinfonia, and L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. He has performed in many of the world’s major concert halls and has played under the baton of such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pinchas Zukerman, Jerzy Semkow and Yoel Levi. A critic for La Libre Belgique wrote of Ganz’s work: “We don’t have the words to speak of this fabulous musician who lives music with a generous urgency and brings his public into a state of intense joy.”