Premier Piano Performances
THE INTERNATIONAL PIANO SERIES at the College of Charleston has become one of the city’s most cherished performing arts institutions since 1990, which is when distinguished pianist and C of C Artist-in-Residence Enrique Graf founded it. This year’s schedule includes four superb pianists and five concerts that you don’t want to miss.
As a sometime pianist and piano music devotee myself, I’ve been attending and writing about IPS for nearly a decade. I can attest that even most major metropolitan areas don’t offer as star-studded, diverse, or well-supported a piano series as this.
Previous series have brought us legendary keyboard greats like Leon Fleisher, Earl Wild, Abbey Simon, Ann Schein, and Jorge Luis Prats—plus notables like Anne-Marie McDermott, Andrew von Oeyen, Stephen Prutsman, Awadagin Pratt, and Sergey Schepkin, among others. Enrique, as one of the piano world’s most respected pedagogues, and a frequent judge at leading international competitions, has also seen to it that we have heard the cream of the world’s emerging young artists over the years, including a few of his own prize-winning students like Eunjoo Yun, William Villaverde, and Sean Kennard.
In the past, appearances by Enrique’s students were sprinkled among the established artists. But the upcoming season will, for the first time, be devoted entirely to his top protégés past and present. Young German keyboard wizard, Hartmut Sauer, studied with Enrique as recently as last year, and emerging Spanish virtuoso, Roberto Berrocal, was his star student nearly a decade ago. Perhaps the most remarkable recital you’ll hear this season will be from a bona fide prodigy: fourteen-year-old Charlestonian, Micah McLaurin. Micah has been studying with Enrique for nearly two years now, and this amazing young man has international superstar potential.
The 2009–2010 series will also include a choice program from Enrique himself, plus an extravaganza of Bach concertos for multiple pianos, performed by a bunch of Enrique’s finest students. We at CharlestonToday hope that the five sets of program notes which we will present here one week prior to each performance (and which will be published in the IPS season brochure) will enable regular attendees to learn about the music beforehand, thereby enhancing their understanding and enjoyment of the performances. Hopefully the notes will also inspire readers who are not among the series’ regular supporters to come see—and hear—for themselves what all the fuss is about.
SCHEDULE for 2009 – 2010
Monday • OCTOBER 26
Hartmur Sauer plays Schubert, Hoiby, and Chopin
Tuesday • NOVEMBER 10
Roberto Berrocal plays Haydn, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and de Falla
Tuesday • FEBRUARY 9
Micah McLaurin plays Bach, Chopin, Haydn, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev
Tuesday • MARCH 16
Enrique Graf plays Haydn, Rachmaninoff, Tosar, and Liszt
Tuesday • APRIL 27
Bach concertos for two, three, and four pianos and orchestra
All concerts • 8 PM • Sottile Theatre • 44 George St.
Five concerts for $80. Individually for $20. C of C students and those under 18 attend for free. Reservations and information at (843) 953-6575 or www.internationalpianoseries.org.
FEATURED PIANISTS
Enrique Graf is College of Charleston Artist-in-Residence. After winning all the national competitions in his native Uruguay, he attended the Peabody Conservatory to study with Leon Fleisher. He won first prize in the William Kapell International Competition, the National Ensemble Competition, and the East and West International Competition. And he has given recitals and has been a soloist with orchestras all over the world.
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Enrique’s all Poulenc CD with the Charleston Symphony was a pick of the month by the Sunday London Times. He has also made recognized recordings of Bach Suites, Mozart Sonatas, the Liszt Sonata, works by Mendelssohn and Mussorgsky, the Grieg Concerto, Edward Hart’s Tidal Concerto, Gershwin’s Concerto in F, and two Beethoven Concertos, which have been called “ideal performances” by Fanfare.
Hartmut Sauer has performed throughout Europe, Russia, and the United States. His prizes include the Jugend Musiziert Competition in Germany, the Anton G. Rubinstein International Competition, and the Johannes Brahms International Competition in Austria. He has appeared in the Im Agricoli Festival in Poland, the Schubertiaden and Dreiklang festivals in Germany, and Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston. Hartmut received his Artist Certificate from the College of Charleston where he studied with Enrique Graf. He is currently on the faculty at the Conservatory of Music in Dresden, Germany.
Roberto Berrocal won first prize in the Henry Janiec Competition, the Southeastern Community College Competition and the Arthur Fraser Competition—all while a student at The College of Charleston. He has been a soloist with major orchestras in South Carolina, including the Greater Spartanburg Philharmonic, the Greenville Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. He was a finalist twice in the Princess Cristina National Competition in Spain and a semifinalist at the Hilton Head International Competition.~ ~ ~
Roberto has performed in Europe and North and South America, and is currently pianist and coach for the Florida Grand Opera, as well as the Music Director at Saint Hugh Catholic Church in Coconut Grove. He also teaches at the New World School of the Arts in Miami.
Micah McLaurin, a 14-year-old Charleston native, has already been recognized in regional and international competitions. In 2008, he won second prize in the International Institute of Young Musicians Competition and first prize in the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerto Competition. He also won fourth prize in the 2009 Blount-Slawson Young Artists Competition in Alabama. Micah has been an annual winner of the South Carolina Music Teachers Association Pre-College Auditions. He performed twice on SCETV as a representative of the SC Piano Festival Association, received the Critic’s Circle rating five times in the National Guild Auditions, and was the winner of the 2007 SCMTA competition. He is on a Charleston Symphony Orchestra Scholarship and is a student of Enrique Graf at the Charleston Academy of Music.
Lindsay Koob writes regularly for the Charleston City Paper. Read his blog: Eargasms.
Email him at scorpsinger@aol.com.
