Monthly Archives: March 2016
Pianist Avguste Antonov will be Guest Artist for New Music Guild Spring Concerts
Pianist Avguste Antonov will visit Youngstown once again under New Music Guild, Inc. sponsorship, March 18–20th, 2016 for the Annual Spring Concerts. He will appear on the Youngstown State University campus at the Dana School of Music's 11:00am Friday, March 18th Convocation in Bliss Recital Hall. Later that day he will present a master class in Jefferson, Ohio for local pianists under sponsorship of Jefferson's First Congregational Church (UCC) with the support of the Ashtabula Arts Center. He will play a recital at 7:00pm Saturday March 19th at the First Congregational Church in Jefferson. The main concert of his residency will take place at 4:00pmSunday March 20th , 2016 at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Holy Apostles Parish, 421 Covington Street in downtown Youngstown. There will be an after party with refreshments served in the basement Fellowship Hall of the Church following the event.
Avguste Antonov
Antonov last visited Youngstown for recitals in late August 2015 and also was here to celebrate the release of his new CD, An American Journey on New York City's Hartshorn record label. Several of the composers featured on the CD came to the Saints Peter and Paul Church recital, as did Dennis Daugherty, President of Hartshorn Records. Four Ohio composers appeared on the CD, three of whom were New Music Guild, Inc. members. These included three Youngstowners: Samantha Hogan, a YSU graduating senior; Richard Zacharias, a local composer from Struthers; and Robert Rollin, Emeritus Professor of Music and former Chair of Composition at the Dana School of Music.
Antonov's unique appeal lies in his strong advocacy for music by living American composers. This parallels the mission of the New Music Guild,Inc. Nineteenth Century concerts normally contained approximately 75% works by living composers and a small percentage of older compositions. Modern concerts now reverse this relationship, presenting only one or two token new works. This practice does not serve to support the living music of today. Antonov attempts to rectify this imbalance in his recitals and recordings.
Website: www.avgusteantonov.com
Program
Antonov will perform George Gianopoulos' Preludes 1 and 2 from the Twenty-Four Chorale Preludes. Gianopoulos is Assistant Manager of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Antonov will play several of Rollin's works, including the jazz-related Blue Fantasy, from the Hartshorn recording; Night Thoughts Ⅱ, an intricate-but-short character piece based on Williams Blake's manuscript illuminations of Edward Young's poem, Night Thoughts; and Romance, a fast paced filigree surrounding the Mexican folk song, “Roman Castillo”, and dedicated to Bernardo Colunga, a composer friend from Guadalajara. Antonov will also present Ohio composer Mathew Saunders' Venus, Earthly Hope, and Stillness at the Edge from his Starry Wanderers. Saunders is Orchestra Director and Music Department Chair at Lakeland Community College in Metropolitan Cleveland.
Antonov also will feature several ragtime related compositions including University of Michigan Emeritus Professor William Bolcolm's Graceful Ghost Rag and The Serpent Kiss; Gregory Hutter's Farewell Rag and Redline Shuffle; and University of Colorado Professor Carter Pann's The Bills, a portrait of his Michigan colleagues Bill Bolcolm and Bill Albright. The gospel song, “Lord I Want to be a Christian” as set by Vermont composer Brad Nix also appears on Antonov's programs. Admission is free to the three concerts and the master class.
New Music Society 