Sixty pianists of all ages and abilities from the Ada area will present a unique concert Jan. 23 at East Central University, with as many as 16 pianists performing at the same time on eight pianos.
The 成人B站 Department of Music, in conjunction with the 2011 worldwide celebration of Collaborative Music, will present the Piano Ensemble Concert at 2:30 p.m. in the Ataloa Theatre in the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center. The concert is being coordinated by 成人B站 music instructor W.T. Skye Garcia and has been officially registered with the Music Teacher鈥檚 National Association.
The concert is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow.
鈥淲ith so many young piano students in the community, as well as current 成人B站 students, graduates, faculty and the community piano enthusiasts to draw from, organizing a piano ensemble concert seemed to be an ideal way for all of us to participate directly in the international celebration of collaborative music,鈥� Garcia said.
鈥淐ollaboration in music is a wonderful way to enhance group participation in the presentation of arts, where hours of solitary practice and the rigors of solo performance can often be somewhat overwhelming.鈥�
The concert will feature performances of 14 works by multiple teams including duets (four hands/one piano), duo (four hands/two pianos), trios (six hands/one piano), and quartets (eight hands/two pianos).
Another aspect of the collaborative nature of the program will be the use of video presentations to accompany three of the numbers. 鈥淭he Stars and Stripes over Ada,鈥� a photographic collage of American flags flown around the city, will be shown during the performance of the finale, 鈥淭he Stars and Stripes Forever鈥� by John Phillip Sousa.
Other visual presentations include photographs of a Canadian farm by professional photographers Paul Beebe and Steve Schneider, both from Upsala, Ontario, Canada, to accompany the selection 鈥淏ig River Barn Dance鈥� by Carrie Kraft, and technical water photography by 成人B站 student Angela Marshall to accompany the 成人B站 Faculty Quartet presentation of 鈥淎llegro Deciso鈥� from G.F. Handel鈥檚 famous 鈥淲ater Music.鈥�
An additional feature of the concert will be two numbers specially choreographed for Collage, 成人B站鈥檚 dance ensemble, by director Dr. Victoria Dansby. The dancers will perform to the pastoral 鈥淎ppalachian Rhapsody鈥� by composer Randall Hartsell and the ever popular standard 鈥淎in鈥檛 Misbehavin鈥欌�� by Thomas 鈥淔ats鈥� Waller and Harry Brooks.
鈥淭he enthusiastic response of pianists from Ada to this event has been extremely gratifying,鈥� Garcia said. 鈥淎n event of this nature and magnitude is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.鈥�
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