Dr. Sin-Hsing Tsai will present a duo piano recital with guest artist Dr. Lucy Nargizyan on Saturday, March 29 at 8 p.m. in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall in the UTC Fine Arts Center at the corner of Vine and Palmetto Streets. The program, entitled “A Journey through Three Centuries in Europe,” includes music for two pianos by Mozart, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Brahms. UTC adjunct instructor of saxophone, Clint Schmitt will join the pianists for contemporary composer Graham Fitkin’s Hard Fairy. The concert is offered with no admission charge and is open to the general public.
The music for this concert encompasses three centuries of composition for the medium of duo pianos. The descriptor most commonly applied to the Mozart “Sonata in D for Two Pianos” K.448 is “elegant simplicity,” yet listening to this piece for 10 minutes was cited in the 2001 Journal of Royal Society of Medicine’s article on the “Mozart Effect” as causing a significant increase in spatial reasoning abilities. The Saint-Saëns “Scherzo for Two Pianos” was described by the composer as “having many strange things in it, difficult to read at sight, and would require much practice;” yet through his stylistic imitations of other composers it demonstrates many of the best characteristics of the French school of pianists at the end of the 19th century. The Brahms “Variations on a Theme by Haydn” are more often heard by audiences in the orchestral version, even though the duo piano version was written first. The piece is characteristic of Brahms’ love of structure (form) in music and he uses many formal patterns drawn from much earlier musical styles including counterpoint. Cornish composer Graham Fitkin’s Hard Fairy will conclude the concert, adding a soprano saxophone to the two pianos in a wildly exhilarating toccata with an unexpected coda in Latin rhythms.
Internationally acclaimed pianists, Dr. Lucy Nargizyan and Dr. Sin-Hsing Tsai, share performance resumes that span the globe. Both have won numerous distinguished competitions and both are dedicated teachers. Nargizyan is on the faculties of East Los Angeles College, Glendale Community College and Bethesda Christian University. Tsai is currently a UC Foundation Assistant Professor of Music at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Clint Schmitt is no stranger to Chattanooga audiences, having appeared onstage with such artists as the Temptations as well as appearing as a concerto soloist with the Chattanooga Symphony. Additionally he has conducted two Big Band Fever! concerts for the Chattanooga Symphony.
For further information contact the UTC Music Dept. Office, 423-425-4612.
Dr. Sin-Hsing Tsai, Dr. Lucy Nargizyan, Clint Schmitt
