Utah Symphony Pianist in Solo Recital at USU

Acclaimed pianist Jason Hardink presents a solo recital in the Utah State University’s Performance Hall Thursday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. The recital is presented by the Department of Music in the Caine School of the Arts at USU.

 

Tickets are available in the Caine School of the Arts Box Office (Fine Arts 139-B, 435-797-8022), online or at the door. Admission is $8, USU students are free. Please, no children under the age of 8.

 

A pianist of unusual versatility and depth, Hardink holds the position of principal symphony keyboard at the Utah Symphony.

 

Much sought after as a chamber musician, Hardink has appeared at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Music on the Hill and the Cascade Head Chamber Music Festival. Hardink formerly served as the pianist for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and is currently in his first season as the artistic director of NOVA, Utah’s critically acclaimed chamber music series.

 

Hardink’s Logan recital program includes works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Bruce Quaglia.

 

The program opens with Mozart’s Sonata in F Major, K. 332. Published in Vienna in 1784, this sonata is part of a set of three sonatas that were likely written for Mozart’s Vienna students. It is a three movement work that showcases the piano as both a lyric and a virtuosic instrument.

 

The program continues with 15 Variations and Fugue in E-flat Major, Op. 35 by Beethoven. Composed in 1802, the variations were written as Beethoven struggled to come to grips with his increasing deafness, one of the darkest periods of Beethoven’s life. The variations are commonly known today as the “Eroïca Variations” based on the fact that Beethoven later used the same theme in the finale of his Eroïca Symphony.

 

Following intermission, Hardink performs Venire dall Passaggio Scuro, a work by University of Utah associate professor lecturer of music theory Bruce Quaglia.

 

The recital concludes with Franz Schubert’s epic Fantasie in C Major, D. 760 (“Wanderer Fantasie.”). Written in 1822, Schubert drew the musical material for the work from his earlier lied “Der Wanderer.” The “Wanderer Fantasy” is viewed by many as Schubert’s most technically demanding piano composition; Schubert himself commented that “the devil may play it.”

 

Hardink’s Logan recital, presented by the USU Piano Program, Music Department, and the Caine School of the Arts, represents an extraordinary opportunity for northern Utah audiences to hear this virtuoso pianist performing masterworks in a solo setting.

 

 

Source: USU Piano Program, Department of Music

Contact: Dennis Hirst, (435) 797-3257, dennis.hirst@usu.edu