St. Mary's College of Maryland Musician-in-Residence Brian Ganz will perform his first complete piano recital in the main auditorium of the new Nancy R. and Norton T. Dodge Performing Arts Center on the college campus. On Sunday, December 11 at 7pm he will perform a program to include works of Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel and Chopin. The Dodge Performing Arts Center is at 47855 College Drive, St Mary’s City. The recital is free and open to the public. For more information, call (240) 895-4498 or visit https://inside.smcm.edu/events/2022-12-06/brian-ganz-concert-december-11.
"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. 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.”
