Under the surface of the virtuoso technique required by Debussy’s Études, they also demand a kind of virtuosity in interpretation to get to the heart of Debussy’s insistence on the intrinsic relationship between beauty and mystery. This talk will be a process of discovery and an experiment in interpretive listening as we unpack Debussy’s last major work for solo piano.
ACCESSIBILITY
Wheelchair accessible. Assistive Listening Devices available, ASL available upon request. Click here to learn more about accessibility at Hannaford Hall.
Aaron Wyanski, composer, pianist, and speculative musicologist, combines elements of jazz, classical, mid-century lounge, and free improvisation to create a deeply personal artistic voice that explores memory, perspective, and vulnerability.
His song cycle Three Benedictions was premiered at Carnegie Hall by Yoon Sun Choi and Jacob Sacks, and he has been a featured composer at New Music Miami and the Hartford New Music Festival. He has been commissioned by many ensembles and performers including Duo Refracta, Plus-Minus Ensemble, Roger Zahab, Krista Kopper, and the Amaranth Quartet. Wyanski has been awarded several residencies by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, as well as grants from the Richard Kountz Fund and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.
Wyanski coined the title “speculative musicologist” to describe his ongoing project Schoenberg in Hi-Fi–a series of albums that explore a speculative reality in which Schoenberg’s music was intentionally marketed as “new sounds” as part of the LP boom in midcentury America. The project has been described as “a truly unexpected development,” “a party I’m sorry I missed,” and “a true masterpiece of sonic exploration” by the blogs Transitional Technology, Slippedisc, and Planet Singer respectively.
An active educator, Wyanski is currently Assistant Professor of Music Composition at the University of Maine at Farmington, and maintains a small private studio. He is also Director of Education for the Monson Seminar, a residential course for Pell-eligible and first-generation college students that he co-founded with Kristen Case, in partnership with Monson Arts. Previous positions include adjunct faculty at Sweet Briar College and the Hartt School. He holds a DMA in Music Composition from the Hartt School, an MFA in Music Composition from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, a BM in Jazz Studies from Purchase College, and an AS in Music Performance from Schenectady County Community College, where he was selected as one of fifty distinguished alumni as part of SCCC’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
2024-25 Chamber Pre-Performance Lecture Series curated by George Lopez
Pianist George Lopez, Bowdoin College’s Robert Beckwith Artist in Residence, has been a dedicated and dynamic performer, educator, and lecturer for 30 years. Known in Europe, South America and the US for his “…kaleidoscopic colors and clarity of conception…” (LA Times) in the standard repertoire as well as being a champion of newly written works, Mr. Lopez is also comfortable in styles of music ranging from jazz, ragtime to more contemporary styles of improvisation. His concert seasons have included tours of New England and New York, the Bay Area, Seattle, New Orleans, Boulder, Colorado, Vermont, Massachusetts, Mexico, with concerts in France, Holland, Switzerland and Italy. He was invited to Cuba just before the embargo was lifted to give masterclasses and concerts as a member of the Aries Trio. Mr. Lopez initiated his “Music in the Museum” series at Bowdoin College that consistently sells out to audiences who enjoy his creative and engaging lecture recitals on the relationship of music to art and ideas.
He has taken up the baton and built up the all-student Bowdoin College Orchestra which performs full symphonic programs each semester. He resides in Brunswick, Maine.
