After an acclaimed recital last spring at the Italian Academy ("The Bel Canto Piano," March 13), Peloquin returns. His performances, says the NY Times, are “energetic...refreshing...alive; with remarkable definition and clarity.”
PROGRAM
Introduction and Aria: Caro Nome from Rigoletto (1851)
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1903)
(transcribed for piano by Yvar Mikhashoff)
Piano Concerto, Op. 38 (1962)
Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
II. Canzone: Moderato (transcribed for piano by Marc Peloquin)
Virtuoso Alice (1984)
David Del Tredici (1937–2023)
Rubinstein in Berlin (2008)
Frederic Rzweski (1938–2021)
Portrait of Madame Butterfly (1992)
Yvar Mikhashoff (1941–1993)
An operatic sonata-fantasy on themes of Puccini in four parts
Prelude
Scherzo: Flower Duet
Nocturne
Finale
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Check-in for registrants begins 30 minutes before the event.
This event is in-person only.
The organizers do not intend to make a video recording for publication.
ABOUT THIS PERFORMANCE
The term bel canto means beautiful singing and is the name given to a vocal style that originated in Italy and flourished in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Bel canto singers and composers were dedicated to the beauty of melody and emphasized the long, sustained line of the music.
This program features music for solo piano that exemplifies the essence of the bel canto style.
It is hard to imagine the bel canto repertoire without the immortal operas of Puccini and Verdi. The art of piano transcription, which flourished in the nineteenth century and continues to this day, has created an entire repertoire inspired by these bel canto masterpieces. Yvar Mikhashoff contributed to this repertoire with his stunning reimaginings of famous moments from Madame Butterfly and Rigoletto. Samuel Barber was one of the great melodists of the twentieth century, who created a significant catalog of songs and operas. With his Canzone he allows the piano to sing in a modern bel canto style. David Del Tredici composed a wildly imaginative tour-de-force fantasy on the memorable and richly romantic Acrostic Song from his 1976 orchestral work, Final Alice. Frederic Rzewski was so moved by the diaries of the great pianist Artur Rubinstein that he composed a work that intertwines spoken excerpts from the diaries with his own abstract ruminations, culminating with the haunting posthumous Nocturne in C sharp minor by Frédéric Chopin.
