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Don't miss this special night: the world premiere of A Journey in Silence: Reflections on The Book of Hours, performed by the composer, pianist Haskell Small and including poetry read by Robert Aubry Davis, coupled with J.S. Bach's magnificent Partita No. 6 in E minor.
Musically Yours, Kathy Judd Artistic & Executive Director |
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 "dazzlingly prodigious technique" ( Musical Times)
Robert Aubry Davis, Narrator
Saturday
May 16, 2015 Free (donations welcome)
"Wine & Words"
immediately follows.
Westmoreland Church
1 Westmoreland Circle
Bethesda, MD 20816
Haskell Small, a pianist and composer well-known for his innovative programming, will present the world premiere of his most recent composition, A Journey In Silence: Reflections on The Book of Hours, coupled with Partita No. 6 in E minor by J. S. Bach.
A Journey in Silence: Reflections on The Book of Hours is the third composition in a series of contemplative works by Haskell Small that encapsulate his fascination with music that is primarily quiet, spacious and of a mystical nature. Small explains "I am drawn to the idea of playing as quietly as I can - as quiet as humanly possible on the piano - to seek the edge of sound as it borders on silence, while searching for the silence within." This composition is inspired by The Book of Hours, a devotional book of the Middle Ages. Performed in one continuous movement, the sections are titled: Introduction, Vigils, Lauds-Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline and The Great Silence. Interspersed between the sections of the music will be reflective writings and poetry read by television and radio personality Robert Aubry Davis, producer and host of Millennium of Music, heard on public radio stations nationwide, and a frequent lecturer and arts commentator.
Following in the tradition of 18th- and 19th-century pianist/composers, Small often performs his own works. Hailed by England's Musical Times for his "dazzlingly prodigious technique" and praised for his "rich imagination" Small has concertized with great success in major European capitals, South America, Japan and China, and has been enthusiastically received by American audiences in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Spoleto Festival. He recently participated in an American Music Festival in Iceland. A prize winner in the Johann Sebastian Bach International Piano Competition, Small has received numerous awards and has been featured in the nationally broadcast PBS special, "A Celebration of the Piano."
Small has received notable commissions as a composer including a request from The Phillips Collection to compose a work to celebrate the return of their beloved Renoir painting, Luncheon of the Boating Party, in 2005. His The Rothko Room: Journeys in Silence received its world premiere at the Phillips Collection in 2011. Formerly Composer in Residence with the Mount Vernon Orchestra he produced three orchestral works. The noted pianist Soheil Nasseri commissioned Small to compose Lullaby of War, a setting of six war poems, which has since been performed in New York, Washington, cities in Germany and Poland, and was released on Naxos Records.
Small has recorded a number of CDs, among them Mompou's Musica Callada (declared "A Golden Silence" by the Washington Post), a Gershwin disc, a children's CD with narrator Robert Aubry Davis, and Bach's Goldberg Variations.
Small received his musical training at the San Francisco Conservatory and Carnegie-Mellon University, and has studied piano with Leon Fleisher, William Masselos, Harry Franklin, and Jeanne Behrend, and composition with Roland Leich and Vincent Persichetti. A Washington DC native, he is Chair of the Piano Department at the Washington Conservatory of Music.
More information:
301-320-2770 or online
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The Washington Conservatory Upcoming 2015 Concert
Piano, Plus!
FREE (donations welcome)
Westmoreland Congregational Church
1 Westmoreland Circle, Bethesda, MD 20816
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Michael Adcock, piano
Friday June 5 at 7:30 pm
Orchestra in a Piano: The Art of Transcription
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All programs subject to change.
For more information:
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The Week @ WCM
Honors Recital Auditions
Fri, May 15, 2015
Westmoreland Circle
Haskell Small, piano
Sat, May 16, 8 pm
Westmoreland Circle
Student Recital
Sun, May 17, 2 pm
Westmoreland Circle
Adult Student Recital
Sun, May 17, 4 pm
Westmoreland Circle
The Washington Conservatory is a nationally accredited community music school serving the greater Bethesda, MD and Washington, DC area since 1984.
NOW ENROLLING
Serving students of all ages - kids, teens, and adults - beginners to advanced. No audition.
301-320-2770
Two locations:
Glen Echo Park &
Westmoreland Circle, Bethesda, MD
Serving the Greater Washington DC
Capital Region
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