By Signe Hammer
We open our second summer season with the return of internationally acclaimed pianist Brian Ganz, beloved by San Miguel audiences for his lively technique and his open way of engaging with us during his concerts. He will play in St. Paul’s Church on Sunday, July 17 at 5pm. Standard COVID-19 hygiene protocols will be in place and face masks are required.
A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Leon Fleisher, Bruno is a laureate of both the Marguerite Long Jacques Thibaud and the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Piano Competitions. He has soloed with orchestras including the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra and the City of London Sinfonia. He has performed internationally in such concert halls as the Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Rotterdam’s De Doelen, Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. A gifted teacher, he is a faculty member and Artist-in-Residence at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, as well as on the piano faculty of the Peabody Conservatory.
In 2011, Brian began what he called “extreme Chopin,” a multi-year project to perform the complete piano works of Chopin in public for the first time; The Washington Post called his opening recital “masterly.” For everything he plays, he has made it his mission to join vivid music-making with warmth and intimacy onstage to produce a listening experience in which great works come to life with authentic emotional power. As La Libre Belgique’s music critic put it, «We don’t have the words to speak of this fabulous musician who lives music with a generous urgency and brings his public into a state of intense joy.»
The first half of the program takes us from Bach to Beethoven, via Mozart. Bach’s beautiful Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring is a familiar chorale prelude whose original melody had been composed in the previous century by Johann Schop. Mozart’s Minuet in D has strong dynamic contrasts; his Adagio in B minor evokes the wistfully sad melody of his D major Flute Quartet, while Eine Kleine Gigue in G major is a remarkably cheery fugal work. Beethoven’s Sonata in E flat-major reflects the keyboard mastery of the composer; its finale has a lively, happy hunting-horn quality.
The second half consists of Four Ballades by Chopin, who pioneered this musical form. The first is dedicated to Baron Stockhausen, ambassador to France, who’s beautiful, talented daughter Brahms relinquished as a student when he found himself falling for her. No. 2 is dedicated to Robert Schumann, who «told [Chopin] that I like it best of all his compositions.” No. 3, an especially familiar work, is dedicated to Chopin’s student Mlle. Pauline de Noailles. No. 4 was a wedding gift to a former student, Madame la Baronne de Rothschild. Tickets for the concerts at St. Paul’s are 200, 400 and 600 pesos donation each, and are on sale through our website, and at the concert 45 minutes before performance time. Details of all Pro Musica’s concerts and Patron Membership are on our website, www.promusicasma.org, or contact us at promusicasma@aol.com.
Pro Musica Summer Concert Series
Brian Ganz, Piano
Sun, Jul 17, 5pm
St. Paul’s Church, calle Cardo
Tickets 200, 400, 600
