FARMINGTON – Dr. Laura Kargul, director of the keyboard program at USM, will present an “All-Liszt Bicentennial Celebration Recital” at the University of Maine at Farmington on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 7:30 pm. The concert will take place in Nordica Hall of the Merrill Auditorium. Admission is $10 at the door. The recital is FREE for youngsters 16 and under as well as UMF students with student ID.
Laura is known especially as a Liszt interpreter and is one of very few artists ever invited to perform a full recital on Liszt’s own Bechstein piano at the Liszt-Haus in Weimar, Germany. She has received widespread critical acclaim for her performances: “Franz Liszt wanted everything from the piano. Laura Kargul is up to the task…. she seems to dissolve, absorbed by the music, floating through the most treacherous passages with elegance…. The evening was dominated by the virtuoso calm of this pianist. To her it was like child’s play, but of a very serious sort…. equipped with sparkling brilliance, clean double octaves, and perfectly executed leaps.” (Hessische/Niedersachsische Allgemeine, Kassel, Germany) “a world class pianist: This is playing that belongs on our great concert stages…. almost feverishly inspired, so controlled and so thrilling.” (Haagsche Courant, The Hague)
Pianists especially will know that Liszt was the pre-eminent piano virtuoso of the 19th century and renowned for his innovations in piano technique. He is now considered to have been one of the most influential and original composers of his era, having introduced the symphonic poem and the revolutionary concept of atonality, as well as foreshadowing the colors and harmonies of the impressionist style.
The program is devoted to a wide variety of selections including the stunning poetic masterpiece “Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude” (Blessing of God in Solitude) and the virtuosic tour de force, the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12. Included in the program are several of Liszt’s transcriptions of works by other composers, including the monumental “Liebestod” of Wagner, Schumann’s “Widmung,” and the dazzling opera paraphrase of “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Donizetti.
Please bring your young students since ADMISSION IS FREE for 16 and under. For further information, phone: Milton Kidd, 491-0768
