Lander University professor emeritus of music Dr. Anthony Lenti and associate professor of music Dr. Robert Kelley invite the public to Lander's 2012 Piano Ensemble Concert, at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 15, in the Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center Auditorium.
The event is an annual presentation of the piano ensemble class taught by Lenti and Kelley.
This year's event will showcase the talents of Matt Miller, of Greenwood; Tyler Lambert, of Chapin; Joseph Chabek, of Anderson, Kelsie Burgin, of Abbeville; Haley Shelton, of Ninety Six; Brandon Hipkins, of Fort Mill; Markela Dandy, of Graniteville and Kevin Baggett, of Greenwood. Lenti and Kelley will also play, as will professional pianist and organist Carol Johnson and Lander music graduates Anne-Marie Kemp and Kelly Hammond.
The class exists to give pianists, whom Lenti called "essentially solitary folks," the "opportunity to make music with others." Audience members will be treated to performances which include two players at one piano, two players at two pianos and four players at two pianos.
Playing with another person, as Lenti puts it, "is one thing. Playing with three other people at one time is an entirely different skill."
The concert, which is free, will feature works by such diverse musicians as French composer Jacques Ibert; Austrian composer Anton Diabelli; Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev; Czech composer Antonin Dvorak; French composer Maurice Ravel; and Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
One of the highlights will be an arrangement for two pianos of American composer George Gershwin's "Three Preludes for Piano," featuring Lenti with Chabek, Shelton and Miller. Lenti and Kelley will play two parts of Ravel's "Mother Goose Suite," and Kelley and Burgin will offer an interpretation of Ibert's "The Little White Donkey."
Also notable is the finale, a waltz by German-Jewish composer Moritz Moskowski, which will be performed by four players at two pianos. Lenti called it a "wonderful exploitation of the resources of the piano," featuring "lyrical melodies, big masses of sound, rhythmic verve, elegance."