St. Mary’s College of Maryland musician-in-residence Brian Ganz will kick off the 2014-15 Arthur and Alice Fleury Zamanakos noon concert season on Thursday, Sept. 11, at the college’s Auerbach Auditorium, St. Mary’s Hall (18952 E. Fisher Rd St. Mary’s City, MD 20686) with a continuation of his “Trailblazers” series featuring works of Ludwig van Beethoven and Claude Debussy.
The program will include one of Beethoven’s late masterpieces, the Sonata in E major, Op. 109 and Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse. “Both Beethoven and Debussy profoundly affected the course of music,” said Ganz. “In this series I play works that demonstrate how they accomplished that. Beethoven’s work reaches for the stratosphere in a kind of ecstasy that was new to listeners of his day. Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse continued that effort to push the boundaries with music that whips wildness and excitement into a kind of luminous frenzy.”
Also featured on the program will be two movements of Debussy’s Images, Book 1, entitled Hommage à Rameau and Mouvement. “This latter piece strikes me as a prophetic musical depiction of the constant activity of sub-atomic particles,” Ganz continued.
This will be a ticketed event. St. Mary’s College students will be admitted free of charge; college faculty and staff, as well as St. Mary’s Arts Alliance members, will be charged a $5 admission fee; general admission will be $7. Tickets can be purchased at the door. Email events@smcm.edu or call 240-895-4310 for more information.