Pianist Timothy Smith, professor of piano and head of piano
studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage, will play a recital
in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall (UCSB) at 8 p.m. Friday, February 10.
A “Liszt specialist,” Smith will play the Sonetto 123 del Petrarca
from Années de Pèlerinage, Vol. 2, “Italie,” Vallee d’Obermann from
Années de Pèlerinage, Vol. 1, “Suisse,” Au bord d’une source, and
Mephisto Waltz. He will also perform Beethoven’s Sonata No. 31 in
A-flat Major, Opus 110 and Silam Inua by the Alaskan composer,
Craig Coray.
This is a generous program, particularly for those who adore the
music of Franz Liszt (most pianists still seem to, and for good
reason). The Beethoven Sonata is honored more by musicologists than
by performances, but don’t let that put you off. It is a lyrical
masterpiece of the very highest order, and Beethoven was deaf when
he wrote it.
Tickets to this recital are $12 general admission, $7 for
students, and are available only at the door.
At 3:30 p.m. this Sunday, February 12, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
Church (1300 East Valley Rd), the faculty and outstanding students
of the UCSB Music Department will play a very special chamber music
concert to benefit the Music Affiliates Student Scholarship Fund.
Since Valentine’s Day will be just around the corner, the theme of
the concert will be love and/or romance. The matinee entertainment
is called “Hearts for the Arts: A Valentine Serenade.”
We will hear the gifted violinist Yuval Yaron play J. S. Bach’s
Chaconne; the dazzling violist Helen Callus, with pianist Hee-Kyung
Juhn, performing Felix Mendelssohn’s Sonata in C Minor (1824);
master pianist Paul Berkowitz playing a brace of Impromptus from
Franz Schubert’s Opus 90; pianist Philipp Richardsen in Franz
Liszt’s Concert Paraphrase of Verdi’s “Rigoletto”; the Fantasie for
Four Violas by York Bowen, performed by the UCSB Graduate Viola
Quartet (Jennifer Eberhard, Sarah Carsmen, Leah Lucas, and Alison
Bolton); Karl and Franz Doppler’s Hungarian Phantasy, with Shivhan
Dohse and Jill Felber, flutes, Sarah Broomell, piano; and Bach’s Es
Danken Dir, Gott, played by faculty hornist Steven Gross and the
UCSB Horn Ensemble (Kelli Johannesen, James Riehl, Pat Rappleye,
Zack Bertges, Scott Taylor, David Hoffman, Betty Shyu, Jeff
Phaklides, Aaron Jones, Nick Walls, Myron Deale, George Gelles, and
Richard Blades).
Tickets to this event are $25 general, $10 for students, $50 for
patrons ($85 for patron couple), and can be purchased in advance at
the Office of Community Relations (893-4388), or at the door on the
day.
Finally, I must note that I should also, in this column, be
telling you about the second and final concert of this season’s
series by the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra’s Chamber Players.
Unfortunately, this concert and the one scheduled in January have
been cancelled due to a funding “shortfall.”
I consider this dark and ominous news. Here is what you won’t be
hearing next Tuesday in Fleischmann Auditorium: Mozart’s
Divertimento in B-flat for Two Clarinets and Bassoon, K. 229
(439b), Anton Reicha’s Woodwind Quintet No. 5 in A minor, Op. 100,
and Leos Janacek’s exquisite wind sextet Mladi (“Youth”).
The orchestra says it’s only a temporary suspension. Let us hope
so. If you want to help, give them a call at 966-2441