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"dazzlingly prodigious technique" (Musical Times)
Saturday
March 19, 2016 Free (donations welcome)
Westmoreland Church
1 Westmoreland Circle
Bethesda, MD 20816
Program
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J.S. Bach
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Partita No. 2 in c minor, BMW 826
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Haskell Small
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Two improvisations
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John Tavener
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Pratirupa
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Haskell Small, a pianist and composer well-known for his innovative programming, will perform Bach's c minor partita coupled with the Washington, D.C. premiere of John Tavener's "Pratirupa". Between these pieces, Mr. Small will create two improvisations of his own at the concert. The first improvisation will be a set of micro-short "structured" improvisations followed by a longer free improvisation. The "Pratirupa" by John Tavener is an exotic piece that unfolds like a Hindu ceremony and, in the composer's words, "presents a series of self-reflecting resonances, harmonies, melodies and rhythms, which attempt to reflect the Divine Presence which resides in every human being."
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 a member of the piano faculty of the Washington Conservatory of Music.
Join us for a post-concert Meet-the-Artist reception
in the lower level social hall.
More information:
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The Washington Conservatory 2015-16 Concerts
 Piano, Plus!
FREE (donations welcome)
Westmoreland Congregational UCC Church
1 Westmoreland Circle, Bethesda, MD 20816
Edvinas Minkstimas, piano
Saturday, April 2 at 8 pm
Schumann (Davidsbundler), Piazolla, Liszt
Julia Bogorad, flute
Lydia Artymiw, piano
Saturday, April 23 at 8 pm
In memory of Hope Bogorad
Sunday, May 22 at 4 pm
New Music Ensemble in Residence
All programs subject to change.
For more information:
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Spring Semester for Individual Lessons
Glen Echo Park &
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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