Brian Ganz – photo credit Jay Mallin
St. Mary’s City, MD – St. Mary’s College of Maryland Musician-in-Residence Brian Ganz will continue his popular “PianoTalk” series on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at noon in the Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall on the college campus. The program is entitled “Chopin the Traveler; Chopin the Virtuoso,” and will feature rarely heard works of Chopin alongside perennial favorites. The program is free and open to the public. For more information call (240) 895-4498 or visit http://www.smcm.edu/events/organizer/music-department/.
“Chopin’s dances are among his most beloved and well-known works, especially his polonaises and waltzes,” pianist Ganz recently said. “But very few listeners know his Tarantella and his Bolero. The Tarantella is full of wild energy and the Bolero is incredibly beautiful. I join the two with one of his ‘blockbusters,’ the ‘Military’ Polonaise in A major, in a portion of the program I am calling ‘Chopin the Traveler.'” Mr. Ganz continued, “Then in ‘Chopin the Virtuoso’ I’ll play 6 of the most beautiful études (studies) from his set of 12, Op. 25. The 6 include one that is almost never played and is quite charming and lovely, the F major, Op. 25, No. 3.” Among the 6 will also be the challenging “Winter Wind.” “It’s one of the most difficult études ever composed for the piano,” Ganz said. “But you can’t really breathe a sigh of relief when it’s over, because the next one is almost equally hard!”
Ganz recently performed his 7th recital at the Strathmore Music Center in North Bethesda in his decade long journey through the complete works of Chopin, a project he has undertaken in partnership with the National Philharmonic. He began his “Extreme Chopin” quest at Strathmore in January of 2011 in a sold out recital that launched the ambitious endeavor to perform the composer’s approximately 250 works. The next recital in the series will take place on February 10, 2018.
Ganz has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the National Philharmonic, the Baltimore and the National Symphonies, the City of London Sinfonia, and L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. He has performed in many of the world’s major concert halls and has played under the baton of such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pinchas Zukerman, Jerzy Semkow and Yoel Levi. A critic for La Libre Belgique wrote of Ganz’s work: “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.”