Music lovers in the St. Mary's College of Maryland community have much to look forward to on Nov. 13. At noon, Musician-in-Residence Brian Ganz will perform the second recital in his fall series "Chopin: Spirit of Poland," entitled "The Heroic Chopin." The program, which will take place in St. Mary's Hall on the college campus, will feature a Chopin masterpiece, the "Heroic" Polonaise, as well as the rarely heard E-flat minor Polonaise, Op. 26, No. 2. Ganz will also play the work Chopin himself stated would be the first he would perform in an independent Poland, the virtually unknown Allegro de Concert, Op. 46.
Then at 7 p.m. that evening, also in St. Mary's Hall, Chinese pianist Ying Wang will offer a full length piano recital, including Chopin's "Funeral March" Sonata and Bach's Partita No. 1 in B-flat major. Wang will also be joined by St. Mary's College student Rie Moore in a performance of Franz Schubert's Rondo in A major for piano four hands. Both the noon recital and evening recital are free and open to the public.
"I'm excited to play the Allegro de Concert at this moment in history, just as Poland is about to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its independence on November 11," Ganz said in a recent conversation. "Chopin invested the piece with an extraordinary spirit of celebration, and felt the piece would be perfect for his first performance in a free and independent Poland," Ganz continued. "Sadly, he never got that opportunity. But we can honor his deep love for his homeland by playing that piece to commemorate the centennial."
Wang recently received his master's degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Ganz. Wang's evening program will also include movements from Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata and Samuel Barber's magnificent Sonata, one of the 20th century's greatest works for piano. About the centerpiece of his program, Chopin's majestic "Funeral March" Sonata, Wang recently stated: "It can be interpreted as a life cycle – the first movement is filled with life’s loving yet suffering; the second movement forms an encounter between good and evil forces; the third movement represents an archetypal evocation of death, while the last movement is described by Anton Rubinstein as the ‘wind howling around the gravestones.'"
Moore is in her final year of study at St. Mary's College, where she is majoring in music and studying piano with Ganz. In demand as one of the area's most popular and frequently heard performing artists, she will be featured later this semester as the pianist in the college's production of Amahl and the Night Visitors.
