Renowned Pianist Douglas Humpherys at HSU

 Internationally renowned pianist Douglas Humpherys performs a solo recital of works by Liszt, Schubert, Haydn and Ravel in the Van Duzer Theatre at HSU on Saturday September 28.

 Humphery’s concert career has spanned three decades and four continents, with recent tours of Asian cities. HSU Music professor and pianist Daniela Mineva praised Humpherys for his “great musicianship and inspiring artistry.”

 “It truly will be a great event to hear an artist of this caliber play our new Hamburg Steinway concert grand piano,” Mineva said. 

 At HSU he will perform Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor, noted as the composer’s most important piano work. “The Sonata ends on a B-major chord—a true heavenly light,” writes pianist Milen Kirov, “which we finally see after feeling the tumultuous cleansing power of this monumental work of art.” 

 Humpherys also plays Haydn’s Fantasia in C Major (described as a “madcap work of scintillating virtuosity”) and Schubert’s Sonata in A Minor, rarely performed because of its difficulty. (Music writer Tom Service calls it “extreme.”) 

 A noted educator as well as performer, Dr. Humpherys is currently professor of piano and chair of the piano department at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, as well as the director of the Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition and Festival, and newly appointed artistic director of the Gina Bachauer Foundation.  He will also conduct a master class at noon on September 27 in the Van Duzer Theatre. It is free and open to the public. 

 Pianist Douglas Humpherys performs an HSU Music Department Guest Artist concert on Saturday September 28 at 8 p.m. in the Van Duzer Theatre at HSU. $10/$5 students and seniors, from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. 

Douglas Humpherys: The Program

Haydn - Fantasia in C Major H. XVII: 4
Schubert - Sonata in A Minor D. 784
Allegro giusto
Andante
Allegro vivace

 Ravel - Sonatine 
I Modere
II Mouvement de Menuet
III Anime

 Intermission

Liszt - Sonata in B Minor

Douglas Humpherys Biography

Since winning the gold medal at the first Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, Douglas Humpherys’ concert career has spanned more than three decades across four continents. He is now in his first year as artistic director of the Gina Bachauer Foundation.

 During recent years, he has concertized in many of the major cities of Asia. A frequent guest artist in Beijing, he has performed at the National Center for the Performing Arts, the Beijing Concert Hall, and the Forbidden City Concert Hall. In addition to concerts in the cities of Hong Kong and Chongqing, he has presented concerts and lecture-recitals throughout the Chinese conservatory and university system, including the Central Conservatory, the China Conservatory, the conservatories of Shanghai, Wuhan, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Cheng-Du, Xian, Dalian, and Xiamen, the Shenzhen School of the Arts, Peking University, and Renmin University. In 2002 he made his Korean debut in Seoul at the Kumho Art Hall, and during a 2007 tour of Taiwan, he performed in the cities of Taipei, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.

 In Europe, Mr. Humpherys has presented solo concerts in the cities of Moscow, Novgorod, Berlin, Hamburg, Prague, Venice, and Dublin, with additional concert engagements in Germany, the Czech Republic, Montenegro, and Serbia. He has performed throughout the United States and Canada at numerous universities and festivals, and is frequently a guest artist at conferences of the Music Teachers National Association.

 He has recorded for the Gina Bachauer Piano Foundation, American Public Radio, and has been featured in live performances on affiliates of NPR and PBS. During the summer of 2012, he will travel to Buenos Aires to teach and perform with Teachers del Norte-Pianists del Sur, a project sponsored in part by the United States Embassy in Argentina. He is currently listed on the artists’ roster of Steinway and Sons.

 Mr. Humpherys completed graduate degrees at the Juilliard School (MM) and the Eastman School of Music (DMA), where he is currently Professor and Chair of the Piano Department. During his student days, he studied with Nelita True, Martin Canin, and Robert Smith. In high demand as a teacher, he has been appointed to visiting residencies or professorships at the Middle School of the Central Conservatory in Beijing, Yonsei University in Seoul, and the University of Michigan. His students have won numerous competition prizes including the Honens, Cleveland, Hilton Head, Osaka, and Pacific International Competitions, as well as two recent national winners of the MTNA/Steinway Young Artists Competition.

 He has taught literally hundreds of master classes at universities and conservatories including the Central Music School of the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, most of the major conservatories in China, Seoul National University, National Taiwan Normal University, Northwestern University, the Oberlin School of Music, and Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary. He has served on the faculty of many summer festivals such as the Beijing International Festival and Academy, the Chinese National Pedagogy Convention in Shanghai, the Chinese-American International Piano Institute associated with the Sichuan Conservatory at Cheng-Du, the South Bohemia Music Festival in Prague, and the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina. In addition, he has presented lectures to the European Piano Teachers’ Association, the Music Teachers’ National Association, the World Conference on Piano Pedagogy, and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.

 A frequent adjudicator, he has served on the jury of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition fourteen times, and has also adjudicated the Cleveland International Piano Competition, the Rachmaninoff International Young Artists’ Piano Competition in Novgorod, Russia, the Ricardo Viñes International Piano Competition in Spain, the PTNA National Piano Competition in Tokyo, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and the Bösendorfer International Piano Competition. His experience in this regard led him to create and direct the Eastman Young Artists’ International Piano Competition, which is held biennially in Rochester, New York.

China and the West Meet in Song at HSU

Chinese musician and teacher Zhu De-Hai and HSU pianist Daniela Mineva explore contrasts and common ground in western and traditional Chinese music in a Guest Artist concert on Saturday September 21 in the Van Duzer Theatre.

Born in Beijing, Mr. Zu attended the Xi’an Music Conservatory College and has been a teacher and vocal performer in China. He is director of art and performance for the music college of a Chinese regional university. His program at HSU features Chinese songs (including “Jasmine Flower” and “The River Runs Forever”) as well as familiar western melodies.

   Accompanied by pianist Daniela Mineva, vocalist Zhu De-Hai performs in the Van Duzer Theatre at 8 p.m. Tickets for this Guest Artist concert are $10/$5 students and seniors, available from the HSU Box Office (826-3928) and at the door.  

Zhu De-Hai Biography

Zhu De-Hai was born in Beijing. His father was an office manager and mother was a worker in a hotel. He is the youngest of 7 siblings. When he was a toddler, his parents moved the family to the city of Xi’an, which is the capital of Shaanxi province and one of the oldest cities in China.

Overcoming illness, he finished elementary school and became active in music performance during high school. Colleges were closed during the Cultural Revolution, so he worked in a factory. When colleges reopened, he was accepted into Xi’an Music Conservatory College.

His performance career and career as a high school music teacher were interrupted by a traumatic injury that eventually resulted in an amputation. His students encouraged him to resume teaching from his home. Soon he had students ranging in age from 8 years old to students in their 60s.

  In 2003, the Music College in the Regional Modern University offered Mr. Zhu the positions of vice president and Director of Art and Performance. He also took charge of evaluation and admission of music students. He started performing music on stage again.

A Musical Welcoming

 HSU Music faculty members welcome students back to campus for the new school year with their annual potpourri of performances called the Welcome Concert.

 As usual there will be a mixture of solo and ensemble performances. Among faculty players participating this year are soprano vocalist Elisabeth Harrington, Nicholas Lambson on guitar, Virginia Ryder on clarinet, Karen Davy on viola, Dan Aldag on trombone (all pictured), Brian Post on carillon, Gil Cline on cornet (pictured below), Laura Snodgrass on flute, Paul Cummings on clarinet, and pianists Daniela Mineva, Robin Miller and Greg Granoff.  Program information is below.

 A reception follows the early evening concert where students and other concertgoers can meet Music Department faculty.

 The Welcome Concert, part of the Faculty Artists Series, is performed on Saturday September 14 at 5 p.m. in the Van Duzer Theatre at HSU. Tickets are $10/$5 students and seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.

Welcome Concert: The Program

(not necessarily the final program order)

Elisabeth Harrington, soprano; Robin Miller, piano:

Selections from Parodies by Seymour Barab
 “As some traditional jump-rope rhymes might have been set to music by the Masters”
 1. I’ll never go to Macy’s (George Frederic Handel)
 2. Miss Lucy (Gaetano Donizetti)
 4. Poor Old Lady (Modeste Moussorgsky)

 Laura Snodgrass, flute:
aubade by Libby Larsen

John Post, carillon:
 Song For Miniature Carillon  by J. Brian Post

Virginia Ryder, clarinet; Karen Davy, viola; Robin Miller, piano:

Trio in Eb major, K.498 by W.A. Mozart
 Andante
 Menuetto
 Allegretto

Paul Cummings, clarinet; Daniela Mineva, piano:

Work for clarinet and piano by Robert Schumann

Gil Cline, cornet in Bb:

Concoctions (1977) by John Cheetham
1. Velociped
 2. Innoculum
 3. Polemix
4. Ecologue
 5. Redundrum
6. Frenzoid
 7. Entreaticle
 8. Dictumn

Nicholas Lambson, guitar:

Works by Dusan Bogdanovic
From 7 Little Secrets: No.3 Chiaro e semplice c
From 6 Balkan Miniatures - Zalopojka (Lament)
From Easier Polymetric Studies - Reversible Cowboy
 From 7 Little Secrets - No.2 Molto improvisando e ritmico
 From Easier Polymetric Studies - Hommage a Jacques Tati

Dan Aldag, trombone; Greg Granoff, piano:

Trio in Eb major, K.498 by W.A. Mozart
Andante
Menuetto
 Allegretto

Welcome Concert: Some program notes

composer John Cheetham

Gil Cline, Cornet in Bb (unaccompanied, and unrestrained) on Concoctions by John Cheetham:

   Each movement is very short ! -- 30 to 65 seconds each. Total running time --with silence between-- is about 6 minutes.

A few salient points: 1- I'll be performing this piece on my 1914 Cornet --- so, a sort of "Centennial" Cornet --- which I obtained locally about 30 years ago. I like to think that it may have been used here on campus in the teens, 20s, or '30s.

 2- On a personal perspective, this work was composed during the year of my first year teaching at HSU; returning to HSU five years later, I performed it as an audition work for the full-time job I now hold. So, = old vs new vs old!



Nicholas Lambson on Dusan Bogdanovic:

All works are by Dusan Bogdanovic. I studied with Dusan in a few different capacities while at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music working on my Masters, but he was mainly my guitar professor. I was very familiar with his work before meeting him, and he was one of the reasons I chose the Conservatory. I have played a number of his works, and will be doing a world-premiere recording of one of his suites.

composer Dusan Bogdanovic

 Dusan is a very unique artist who incorporates jazz, classical, and World Music influences in his works. In addition to being an incredible composer, he is a virtuoso guitarist who has toured worldwide as a soloist and ensemble member. He also published a book on modal counterpoint. I will be playing selections from three different collections of very short pieces which, in addition to being amazing pieces, do a good job of conveying his diversity. There will be jazz, classical, and World Music elements as well as an unusual extended technique and some humor!

 Here is his bio from Doberman's website: A richly gifted composer, improviser and guitarist, Dusan Bogdanovic has explored musical languages which are reflected in his style today a unique synthesis of classical, jazz and ethnic music. As a soloist and in collaboration with other artists, Bogdanovic has toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Japan and the United States. His performing and recording activities include work with chamber ensembles of diverse stylistic orientations: the De Falla Trio; harpsichord-guitar duo with Elaine Comparone; and jazz collaborations with James Newton, Milcho Leviev, Charlie Haden, Miroslav Tadic, Mark Nauseef, Anthony Cox, and others.

 Dusan Bogdanovic's recording credits include several albums, on Intuition, Sony/Global Pacific, M.A Recordings, ESS.A.Y, Concord Records, GSP and other labels, ranging from Bach Trio Sonatas to contemporary works. His compositions are published by Doberman-Yppan, Canada, Berben Editions, Italy and Guitar Solo Publications in the US. Among his most recent commissions are a ballet-poeme Crow, premiered by the Pacific Dance Company and performed at the Los Angeles Theater Center; a sextet Sevdalinka, written for the Newman-Oltman guitar duo with the Turtle Island Quartet; Over the Edge, composed for the Lafayette Trio, as well as solo guitar works written for Alvaro Pierri, David Starobin, Eduardo Isaac, Scott Tennant and William Kanengiser.

 Bogdanovic was born in Yugoslavia in 1955. He completed his studies of composition and orchestration at the Geneva Conservatory with P. Wissmer and A. Ginastera and in guitar performance with Maria Livia São Marcos. Early in his career, he received the only First Prize at the Geneva Competition and gave a highly acclaimed debut recital in Carnegie Hall in 1977. He has taught at the Geneva Conservatory and the University of Southern California and is presently engaged by the San Francisco Conservatory.

  As one would expect, this maverick presents himself here as a musical world-builder. He is at home in the most diverse ethnic milieus, which are perfectly matched by his musical knowledge. Dusan Bogdanovic is a composer with an exuberant creativity and great power of originality. (Gitarre & Laute, Germany, 1999) Profoundly original, the personality of Bogdanovic dares to re- read the classics of the repertoire. It is simply that the palette of Bogdanovic is immense: with colors, timbres, energies, nuances. Between the rustle of silk paper and the burst of machine gun, he knows how to do justice to the orchestral vocation of the guitar without taking away its intimate dimension of shared soliloquy. (Tribune de Genève, Switzerland, 1984)