Guest Artist Recital: Dr. Chris Guzman, piano

Monday, December 2, 2024
7:30 p.m.
Allendale Campus
Alumni, Community, Faculty, Staff, Students

Pianist Christopher Guzman enjoys an international performing career, showcasing a variety of styles from the Baroque era to the avant-garde. Since winning top prizes in international competitions such as the Walter M. Naumburg Competition (USA), the Seoul International Music Competition (S. Korea), and the Isang Yun Competition (S. Korea), Mr. Guzman has performed across Europe, North and South America, and Asia. As a result of winning the top prize at the Concours International de Piano d'Orléans in Orléans, France, he has toured France extensively, giving performances and teaching masterclasses.

Mr. Guzman has appeared in major international venues such as Tokyo's Suntory Hall, Leipzig's Gewandhaus, Buenos Aires's CCK, Carnegie's Weill Hall, and London's Wigmore Hall, among others. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the world's most exciting soloists in classical music, such as Ilya Gringolts, Antoine Tamestit, David Fray, and Jeremy Denk. He continually performs with members of the world's finest orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Guzman began the keyboards position in Chicago's Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in 2024.

Although Mr. Guzman has earned several international accolades for his performances of the Western canon, much of his career showcases music written after 1900; his performances have included world premieres by Donald Martino, Nico Muhly, and Paul Schoenfield. The New York Times hailed his performance of Christopher Theofanidis's Statues as "coiled" and "explosive." His CD of German and Austrian music from the past one hundred years, Vienne et après, is available on the Tessitures label; his CD of Paul Reale's compositions on the Naxos Label, "Chopin's Ghosts," was included in Fanfare magazine's Top Five releases of 2018. He has subsequently recorded two additional albums of Reale's music, including chamber music and concerti, to much critical acclaim. Mr. Guzman will release a premiere video recording of the piano works of Mexican composer Carlos Chávez in 2024.

Born in Texas, Christopher Guzman began studying piano at age nine and violoncello two years later. His teachers include Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald (The Juilliard School), Anton Nel (University of Texas at Austin), and the late Patricia Zander (New England Conservatory). In addition to performing, he is also a Professor of Piano at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. He previously taught at Penn State University and has taught masterclasses throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit christopherguzmanpiano.com.

Program:

Five Jazz Etudes Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942)
Charleston
Blues
Chanson
Tango
Toccata based on Zes Confrey's shimmy "Kitten on the Keys"

Valses nobles et sentimentales Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Modéré très franc
Assez lent avec une expression intense
Modéré
Assez animé
Presque lent dans un sentiment intime
Vif
Moins vif
Épilogue: lent

Piano Sonata n.2 George Walker (1922-2018)
Theme & 10 Variations
Presto
Adagio
Allegretto tranquillo

Carnival Scenes of Vienna, op.26 (Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Allegro
Romanze
Scherzino
Intermezzo
Finale

Location Information

Sherman van Solkema Recital Hall

Download parking map for the Allendale Campus

Contact Information

Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance
(616) 331-3484

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This event was added to the calendar by Bridgett Vanderhoof (vandebri@gvsu.edu) on Monday, August 26, 2024 at 11:46 a.m.

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