ALEXANDER SCHWARZKOPF: Piano
WITH GUEST SPEAKER: GREGORY RETALLAK


Listen to KLCC radio interview with
Alexander Schwarzkopf - composer pianist
& Deb McGhee of 350 Eugene





This event is part of ClimateKeys, a glocal initiative launching with over thirty concerts in nine countries during October & November 2017 to raise public engagement with CoP23, the 2017 UN climate talks taking place in November. ClimateKeys, founded by London-based composer pianist Lola Perrin, features concert pianists and climate change experts collaborating in performances that include a conversation with the audience about positive response to climate change. To date, over a hundred concert musicians and guest speakers in twenty countries have joined ClimateKeys. More concerts are being planned through 2018.​



8 November 2017 at 7pm
Eugene, Oregon

“Liquid Piano” is an inquiry into process, form and movement in water. Liquid Piano consists of five pieces: Blue Pool, Frigid, Deluge, Bosque and VLA. Stylistically they range from the blues of Blue Pool, to the frozen landscape of Frigid, the free-form, underwater sounds of Deluge, birdsong from the Bosque and continuous variation in VLA. Liquid Piano investigates evaporation, drought, flood, frost, birdsong and imaginary radio waves from outer space. Repetition is an important element of these compositions as it is integral to the processes of the natural and manmade world. I employ specific pianistic techniques to characterize each piece, ranging from the silent depression and sustain of specific groups of tones that cause overtones to ring, to glissandi executed with the entire forearm in combination with extensive use of the sustain pedal. Liquid Piano is a result of my need to convey thoughts on some prominent effects of climate change and the importance of music in the process of inspiring further dialogue on climate change. (Alexander Schwarzkopf, DMA)




United Methodist Church

Eugene

Oregon


$10-20 donation
(Sponsored by 350 EUGENE)





"When Lola Perrin invited me to become a part of ClimateKeys I felt an immediate desire to contribute to this effort to bring the discussion about climate change to our audiences. I thought it was a novel and well-conceived idea with only the best possible outcomes: inspired music and dialogue on the critical topic of climate change. I am premiering important new works of my own on my two concerts in November in Oregon and New Mexico." (ALEXANDER SCHWARZKOPF)


PROGRAMME
Debussy

"Reflets dans l'eau" (Images I)
Schwarzkopf

"Liquid Piano" (2017) -world premiere
Debussy

"Bruilliards" (Preludes, Book II)
Schwarzkopf

"Postulate" & "At The Water's Edge" from Dialogues (2008)
"Recycled Wheels" (2016)
Debussy

"Ce q'ua vu la Vent d'Ouest"


ALEXANDER J. SCHWARZKOPF was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Alexander has been a featured artist in concert and masterclasses throughout the United States, Brazil, Germany and Italy, where he was a finalist at the Val Tidone "Silvio Bengalli International Piano Competition.” Alexander is the recipient of the award Composer of the Year 2017 from Oregon Music Teachers Association. Alexander has held positions such as Visiting Artist on the Piano Faculty at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and faculty appointments at international festivals in Germany among others. In 2016, Alexander released his recording of Steinbach's "Figures: 17 Choreographic Etudes" on the Centaur Records label. Alexander holds the degree Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the University of Oregon, and currently lives in Eugene, Oregon.



GREGORY RETALLACK moved with his family from Hobart, Tasmania at age 4. He grew up in Hurstville and then Epping, in the suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. He attended the The King's School, Parramatta, then studied biology and paleontology at Macquarie University. He received a BSc Hons with University Medal in 1974 from the University of New England (Australia) and a Ph.D. in 1978 in geology from the same university. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Indiana University he joined the faculty at the University of Oregon in 1981. He has been a professor in the Department of Geological Sciences since 1992, and Director of the Condon Collection of the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History since 2009.





ClimateKeys



Founded by composer pianist lola perrin