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Connoisseur
Series recital to feature young pianist
Pianist
Christopher Taylor has come a long way since age 8, when he came
to his piano teacher Julie Bees, armed with the first movement of
Beethoven’s "Moonlight" sonata. Bees, now a WSU piano
professor, was then a doctoral student at the University of Colorado.
Taylor
will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3, in Wiedemann Recital Hall
as part of WSU’s Connoisseur Series.
In
the past few years Taylor has emerged as one of the nation’s
foremost young musicians. Audiences and critics alike hail the intensity
and artistry he brings to the works of masters ranging from Bach
and Beethoven to Boulez and Bolcom. The Washington Post, for instance,
deems Taylor "one of the most impressive young pianists on
the horizon today."
His
program includes works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Olivier Messiaen
and Robert Schumann.
Numerous
awards have confirmed Taylor’s high standing in the musical
world. He was named an American Pianists’ Association Fellow
for 2000. He also received an Avery Fischer Career Grant in 1996
and the bronze medal in the 1993 Van Cliburn International Piano
Competition (where he was the first American to receive such high
recognition in 12 years). In 1990 he took first prize in the William
Kapell International Piano Competition and also became one of the
first recipients of the Irving Gilmore Young Artists’ Award.
In
recent seasons Taylor has performed in France, Korea, Spain, the
Philippines, and the Caribbean. In the United States he has appeared
with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic,
Detroit Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Houston
Symphony, Utah Symphony and Boston Pops, and has toured with the
Polish Chamber Philharmonic.
As
a soloist he has performed in such venues as New York’s Carnegie
and Alice Tully Halls, Washington’s Kennedy Center, and dozens
of others. His most recent recording features works by present-day
American composers William Bolcom and Derek Bermel.
Taylor
says he owes much of his success to several outstanding teachers,
including Russell Sherman, Maria Curcio-Diamand, Francisco Aybar,
and Bees. In addition to performing, he is currently assistant professor
of piano performance at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
His extra-musical activities include mathematics (in which he received
a summa cum laude degree from Harvard University in 1992), philosophy,
computing, linguistics, and biking.
Call
978-3233 to reserve tickets. Prices for the Connoisseur Series event
starts at $16 with discounts available.
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Compiled by Julie Rausch
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