Brian Ganz, the Musician-in-Residence at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, will perform his first complete piano recital in the main auditorium of the new Dodge Performing Arts Center on Sunday, December 11 at 7pm. Ganz’s program will include works of Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel, and Chopin. The recital, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the Recital Hall of the Dodge Performing Arts Center at 47855 College Drive, St. Mary’s City.
“It’s been a long time since I played a full length recital at the college with works of any composer but Chopin,” Ganz said recently with a laugh. “As much as I adore the works of Chopin, it’ll be good to branch out a bit. And Chopin lovers needn’t worry… There will be plenty of Chopin on the program too!”
Ganz will begin the program with a transcription of the beloved Bach cantata movement known by the title “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” “Lovely as that title is,” Ganz observed, “it isn’t the title Bach gave it. I didn’t know until recently that the true title is equally lovely: ‘Jesus Remains My Joy.’ Then I’ll move on to one of my favorite Beethoven sonatas, the so-called ‘Hunt Sonata,’ Op. 31, No. 3, so named because the last movement is chock full of ‘catch me if you can’ high jinks. After intermission, I’ll explore two works the great French masters Debussy and Ravel composed on the theme of water, and then round out the program with some of my favorite works of Chopin.”
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.
For more information about the recital, call (240) 895-4498 or visit https://bit.ly/2YCPDKS.