Piano Scholarship Fundraiser Featuring John Milbauer Presented Jan. 20 at CSU, Chico
Former CSU, Chico piano professor John Milbauer will be joined be Chilean pianist Paulina Zamora for John Milbauer Returns, an intimate concert of Russian piano duets, Sunday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. in Rowland-Taylor Recital Hall.
John Milbauer Returns is a scholarship fundraiser for Chico State piano students. Works performed will include a duet by Anton Arensky, Rachmaninoff’s “Second Suite,” and Stravinsky’s “Petrouchka.” Milbauer and Zamora first performed this concert to great acclaim in spring 2007 in Santiago, Chile.
“In this concert dedicated only to Russian composers — and only with works of enormous difficulty — both musicians demonstrated once again their extraordinary strength and heat...and made the audience explode in ovation,” wrote Gilberto Ponce in El Mercurio.
Milbauer has performed often throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. His live, radio, and television performances have earned him recognition from the Institute for International Education, the Hungarian Ministry of Culture, and The Juilliard School. He also received the biennial Laird National Leader in Arts Award in 2001 and the Wolodarsky prize from the Banff Centre in 2006.
As an enthusiast of contemporary music, Milbauer has presented many pieces by living composers. When he is not performing, Milbauer teaches at the University of Arizona School of Music.
Paulina Zamora also has had a vibrant performance career; she teaches at the ‘Escuela Moderna de Música’ in Santiago, Chile.
As a native of Antofagasta, Chile, Zamora has experienced success in the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East for her solo and chamber music performances. She has also played for the National Public Radio and the Swiss-French Radio and collaborated with many other musicians. In an effort to help non-profit Chamber Music Unbound, Zamora played in the Felici Piano Trio for four years.
Works being performed are by three revered Russian composers.
Arensky, a composer, pianist, and conductor at the St. Petersburg conservatory in the mid-1800s, was influenced by the works of Tchaikovsky as well as other composers of the day. He wrote several pieces for orchestra as well as chamber music. The best known of Arensky’s compositions, according to a website honoring the composer, is his “Piano Trio in d, op.32,” the first of two of his piano trios.
“Second Suite” was one of Rachmaninoff’s few works that were actually meant for piano. Because his first symphony failed to gain popularity or even musical appreciation upon its premiere, Rachmaninoff’s embarked on a different path and wrote his piano suites, which were influenced by his mentor, Tchaikovsky.
Stravinsky’s work for the ballet “Petrouchka” is about a straw and sawdust puppet as he searches for a normal human life full of passion. Stravinsky uses repetitive dissonant chords throughout the piece to represent the cruelty that Petrouchka, a sort of Russian Pinocchio, is subjected to. Although it was different from the typical piano works of the time, “Petrouchka” garnered much musical appreciation.
Advance tickets, at $15 general and $13 senior citizens and students, are available at the University Box Office, 898-6333. Add $2 for tickets purchased at the door. For disability-related accommodations, please call 898-4325.
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— Hillary Feeney
