FARMINGTON – ArtsFarmington invites the public to join us online for Keyboard Festival, a three-performance virtual series featuring the following artists:
April 10 at 7:30 p.m. – harpsichord, Rebecca Pechefsky, affiliated with Brooklyn Baro- que
April 17 at 7:30 p.m. – fortepiano, David Kim, Associate Professor of Music at Whitman College
April 24 at 7:30 p.m. – pianoforte, George Lopez, Beckwith Artist-in-Residence at Bowdoin College
Each concert will be in the form of a lecture/recital performed on the initial presentation date with viewing available for 30 days. Sign up now for the whole series or individual concerts. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.artsfarmington.org – $10 per household for an individual concert, or $25 for the series.
There will also be a Live Zoom Panel Discussion with the three artists on May 2 from 4:00 to 5:30 pm. This will be a time to learn from the artists and ask questions. The discussion will be moderated by Aaron Wyanski, Assistant Professor of Music at UMF. This live event is available free of charge to those who register for the series or any individual concert. You will receive the necessary link to participate in the discussion by separate email 24-hours prior to the discussion date.
Artist Profiles:
April 10 at 7:30 p.m. – harpsichord, Rebecca Pechefsky, affiliated with Brooklyn Baroque
Well known as a harpsichordist in the New York area, Rebecca Pechefsky has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and the 18th-century Morris-Jumel Mansion, where she and her ensemble Brooklyn Baroque perform in a yearly series. Recent European engagements include recitals in Milan (Sforza Castle), Bologna, Amsterdam, Berlin, Basel, Tallinn, London (Handel House), and Paris (Les Concerts dan les Copeaux). Among her recordings for Quill Classics are the complete harpsichord music of François d’Agincour; Bach and His Circle, Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Books 1 and 2, and Johann Ludwig Krebs @ 300. She has premiered works by Mark Janello, Graham Lynch, Frank J. Oteri, Johnny Reinhard, and others. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, Erik Ryding, with whom she coauthored Bruno Walter: A World Elsewhere. For more information, visit rpechefsky.com.
Program
Rebecca will present a lecture-recital on five different harpsichords which are reproductions of harpsichords from the 16th through the 18th centuries. She will discuss the different instruments and play several pieces by different composers of the period.
The program will include pieces by J.S. Bach, François Couperin, Girolamo Frescobaldi, and William Byrd, as well as several other composers, some of whom are rarely heard today, such as Christophe Moyreau of Orléans.
A recording of her concert will be available for one month following the initial showing. She will be available for questions and answers as part of the live Zoom panel discussion with the other two artists in the series on May 2 from 4:00 to 5:30.
April 17 at 7:30 p.m. – fortepiano, David Kim, Associate Professor of Music at Whitman College
Hailed by Malcolm Bilson as a musician “who will doubtless make an important contribution to the musical life of this country,” pianist and fortepianist David Hyun-su Kim holds degrees from Harvard, Yale, and Cornell Universities, and a doctorate from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He has performed internationally, with past appearances throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Australia. His concerts have been praised as “emotionally expansive” and “idiomatically perfect,” and, after a 2013 performance, Camilla Cai, Professor Emerita of Music at Kenyon College, wrote that “his interpretations are spectacular.” More information about David can be viewed at: davidkimpiano.com
Program
David will present a lecture-recital introducing us to a 5-octave fortepiano, that would have been familiar to Beethoven, showcasing some of its distinctive technical features. This particular piano was built by world-renowned builder Rodney Regier in Freeport, Maine, and is a Walter replica ca 1800, Vienna. (For more information, please visit: rjregierfortepianos.com). The fortepiano preceded the development of the modern-day piano (pianoforte), and David will illustrate some of the central differences. He will present an all-Beethoven program specifically selected to take advantage of the expressive possibilities unique to the instrument.
A recording of his concert will be available for one month following the initial showing. He will be available for questions and answers as part of the live Zoom panel discussion with the other two artists in the series on May 2 from 4:00 to 5:30.
April 24 at 7:30 – pianoforte, , Beckwith Artist-in-Residence at Bowdoin College
The Beckwith Artist-in-Residence at Bowdoin College, George Lopez has been a dynamic performer and educator for over 25 years. He is known on several continents for his performance of the standard repertoire as well as being a champion of newly written works. He recently premiered a piano concerto composed for him here in Maine and is comfortable in styles of music ranging from jazz and ragtime to more contemporary improvisation. He performs regularly to capacity crowds and conducts the Bowdoin Symphony Orchestra
Program
George will present a concert/lecture on the piano and perform the following pieces:
Beethoven Eroica Variations op. 35 (1802)
Schumann Humoreske op.20 (1839)
Rachmaninov Corelli Variations op. 42 (1931)
A brief talk will precede each piece discussing the significant changes that occurred from the time of Cristofori until the beginning of the 20th century. The talks will include a description of the escapement, tuning and fingering, expansion of the keyboard compass, the double escapement, the single iron caste frame, and cross-stringing. George last played in Farmington in 2019 when he presented the wealth of Cuban music to us with “A Night in Havana!” His concert on the 24th is not to be missed.
A recording of his concert will be available for one month following the initial showing. He will be available for questions and answers as part of the live Zoom panel discussion with the other two artists in the series on May 2 from 4:00 to 5:30.
This program is sponsored by ArtsFarmington at www.artsfarmington.org, an affiliate of University of Maine at Farmington.
