Wassermann Festival 2006 at Utah State University

The Wassermann Festival at Utah State University has a dual mission — teaching and performance. It brings the finest musicians and teachers to campus, providing an opportunity for pianists to work in lecture and master class settings. Members of the public are treated to a series of solo and collaborative performances.

The 2006 Wassermann Festival will see several changes this year, said director and music department faculty member Dennis Hirst. The festival moves from a concentrated five-day event to a series of classes and performances spread over a three-month period. Sessions take place in February, March and April. A full schedule, including registration and ticket details, is available at the festival Web site.

 

Activities take place in the newly opened Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall.

 

“We are very happy to be a part of the inaugural season in this wonderful facility,” Hirst said. “The acoustical qualities of the hall are truly extraordinary, and concert patrons will delight in this hall for many years to come.”

 

Tickets for the festival’s performances are available in advance, either through the Web site, or by calling Hirst at (435) 797-3257. Leave a name and the number of tickets requested, including a preference of seating section (by price: section A, $20; section B, $15; and section C, $10; ticket prices increase $5 for all sections for the final concert of the series). Tickets reserved by phone must be purchased at will-call between 6:30 and 7:15 p.m. on the night of the performance. Unclaimed tickets will be released for general sale 15 minutes prior to performance time. Tickets can also be purchased at the door in the Performance Hall. All seats are reserved with the exception of the March 9 performance, where tickets are general admission. All tickets for the March 9 event are $5.

 

The festival’s first guest artist is pianist Spencer Myer, who performs Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m. He presents a lecture and a master class Wednesday, Feb. 22.

 

“Spencer Myer is rapidly establishing himself as one of the outstanding pianists of his generation,” Hirst said. Critics around the globe agree.

 

“An entirely finished artist. … One hung on to every note in nearly breathless expectation,” the Johannesburg “Citizen” said in a review.

 

Myer recently captured first prize in the 2004 UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa. At that competition he also took special prizes for the best performance of Bach, best performance of the commissioned work and best performance in the semifinal round. He also won both concerto prizes in the final round. Adding to his list of accomplishments, Myer is a laureate of the 2005 Busoni, 2005 Cleveland, 2004 Montreal and 2003 New Orleans International Piano competitions.

 

The evening’s program opens with a work by Robert Schumann, “Davidsbundlertanze, Op. 6,” (1837). The work is a collection of character pieces, a common compositional form in to the Romantic period. Each “character piece” is short, and the work includes two sets of nine stylized dances. “The resulting sequence of short, lyrical pieces creates a schizophrenic mosaic, which the composer admits was ‘created in a state of the most delightful agitation that I can ever recall,’” USU music department faculty member and musicologist Eric Smigel said in program notes.

 

Next up is a work by contemporary Australian composer Carl Vine, “Piano Sonata No. 1” (1990). The work was commissioned by Graeme Murphy and the Sydney Dance Company, and it is frequently performed in conjunction with the dance. “… many of the Sonata’s complex textures are comprised of multiple layers of organic activity, creating a kaleidoscopic effect akin to that achieved by a dynamic group of dancers in colorful costume,” Smigel writes.

 

The second half of the program opens with selections from “Preludes,” (book II, 1913) by Claude Debussy. “While Debussy received thorough academic training in music at the Paris Conservatoire, his informal education in literature and painting contributed greatly to the formulation of his unique musical style,” Smigel said.

 

In this work Debussy eschews tonal stability and melodic periodicity in favor of shifting modalities, melodic arabesques, and subtle gradations in timbre, he continued.

 

The final work on the program is Samuel Barber’s “Piano Sonata, Op. 26” (1949).

 

Premiered by noted pianist Vladimir Horowitz, the Barber Sonata is a musically demanding and virtuosic work that is regarded as one of the foremost solo piano works written by an American composer.

 

The evening’s guest artist has performed throughout North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, and his performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York), WCLV (Cleveland) and WFMT (Chicago). He has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic.

 

Myer is an avid supporter of the education of young musicians and is a frequent guest artist at workshops for young students and teachers.

 

Details on Myer’s lecture and master class sessions are available at the Wassermann Web site.

 

Hirst reminds everyone that the change from the larger, former venue in the Chase Fine Arts Center, to the smaller, more intimate space in the Performance Hall, has necessitated several changes. All seats are now reserved, and early arrival and ticket pickup are encouraged.

 

Future performers and dates for the Wassermann Festival include: March 7, Roberto Plano; March 9, Roberto Plano with the Fry Street Quartet; March 21, Alexander Kobrin; and April 18, Krystian Zimerman. All performances are at 7:30 p.m. in the Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall.