This is a past event
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The Amherst College Department of Music presents an honors thesis in piano performance, Kaleidoscope, by Phuong-Nghi Pham '18. The recital takes place on Sunday, Nov. 12, at 3 p.m. in Buckley Recital Hall in the Arms Music Center at Amherst College. It is free and open to the public; seating is by general admission.

Each piece of music is its own universe, with distinctive patterns, quirks, colors and vocabulary. In putting together a recital program, the performer does a strange thing: she plucks out a handful of these universes, juxtaposes them in an arguable order, and brings them into collective perception at a specific time and place. Because the act of listening to music or playing music is so bound to the present unfolding of sound, is a recital more of a journey, where moments linger and coalesce into something bigger than themselves, or is it a series of snapshots capturing current action and feelings? Although the performer inhabits these eclectic universes, the audience, in traveling along, also gets to interact with the kaleidoscope that is this particular landscape of sound. In this recital, Phuong-Nghi hopes to explore these moments of play and the playful dynamics that define a live performance.

Serving as the dramatic and emotional anchors at the beginning and the end are the two biggest works in the program: one of Schubert’s final piano sonatas and Chopin’s final ballade. The rainbow offering in the middle highlights the unexpected resonances among the five composers who hail from different countries and span four centuries of music.

Program:

Schubert - Sonata D.959 in A Major
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Scarlatti - Sonata K.1
Ligeti - Etude No.5 "Arc-en-ciel"
Langa - Refraction
Albéniz - Evocación from Iberia
Debussy - Etude No.12 "pour les accords"
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Chopin - Ballade No. 4 in F minor

The recital will last for 90 minutes (including intermission), followed by a reception.

Contact Info

Alisa Pearson
(413) 542-2195
Please call the college operator at 413-542-2000 or e-mail info@amherst.edu if you require contact info @amherst.edu