Music festival honors historic composer

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Composer Franz Liszt will be honored this weekend in a three-day festival where students and pianists from around the world will perform his works.

Pianists from Hong Kong, Russia and China will perform this weekend, as well as University students.

Steven Spooner, assistant professor of piano, is on the board of directors for the American Liszt Society and helped bring the festival to the University.

American Liszt Society National Festival Events

Friday, April 3 — Performances by Federic Chiu, Adam Gyorgy and others at 7:30 p.m. at the Spencer Museum of Art.

Saturday, April 4 — Master classes by John Perry in Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall — Piano recital featuring local pianist Koji Attwood — Recital of Romantic piano transcriptions — Evening banquet

Sunday, April 5 — Performances of Liszt’s “Transcendental Etudes” by 12 KU students at the Lied Center — Solo Recital by John Perry — Lecture by keynote speaker, Jonathan Kregor — Concert by the KU Concert Chorale — Recitals by Stephen Ackert and KU organists in the Bales Organ Recital Hall

For more information about tickets and performances, go to http://www.continuinged.ku.edu/programs/liszt/info.php

Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer and pianist in the 19th century. He was hugely important in the Romantic movement of the era and many consider him the greatest pianist of his time.

“I thought the school had a lot of connections to Liszt and it would be a natural fit,” Spooner said.

The last grand piano Liszt owned, built especially for his last tour in England, resides in the Spencer Museum of Art. Musicians will play his music on it Friday.

Levi Larson, Idaho Falls, Idaho, piano graduate student, will be performing one of Liszt’s “Transcendental Etudes” Sunday.

“The pieces the students are playing are some of the hardest in the piano repertoire,” Larson said.

Kezia Schrag, Valley Center piano doctoral student, is housing a pianist from Hong Kong whom she met at a music festival in Poland last summer.

Though Schrag is not playing in the festival, she is volunteering to usher events, register attendees and shuttle performers from the airport.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet a lot of people and network with professionals and hear high-class performances and music,” Schrag said.

John Perry, former School of Fine Arts faculty member, will teach master piano classes Saturday.

Spooner said the festival is usually held in larger cities. Last year it was held at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

“In a major city you could be there a year and not get the quality and number of performances that you could get in this festival,” Spooner said.

Larson said he practiced his piece for six hours a day and had been doing so for nine months.

“Most people talk about Liszt’s music as being very technically challenging,” Spooner said. “It’s more than just that — it’s incredibly clear and it usually depicts another story.”

— — Edited by Melissa Johnson

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