At this year’s Women Composers Festival of Hartford, I presented a lecture-recital on the piano music of Philippa Duke Schuyler and performed a short program as part of the annual Music Marathon. Recordings of a couple of the pieces are below:
Margaret Bonds’s “Troubled Water”:
Florence Price’s “Nimble Feet”, from “Dances in the Canebrakes”:
I’ve finally uploaded new performances videos to my YouTube channel. The videos are from my lecture-recital presented at the 2015 Women Composers Festival of Hartford. Many thanks to the festival for the recording!
Florence Price’s Sonata in e minor, I
Florence Price’s Sonata in e minor, III
For my mom’s birthday this year, we presented a recital of some of her favorite pieces, including sacred, popular, and classical arrangements. Playing together was a fun experience, and attendance was much higher than we expected! I’ve included samples from the recital below. In the first recording, I’m playing an arrangement of “How Great Thou Art”. In the second clip, my mom is playing an arrangement of “The Lily of the Valley”.
Exciting news! In April, I will be presenting my research at a symposium on New Music and the North American Academy at SUNY Potsdam. I will be discussing the use of sonata form by mid-twentieth-century American composers. I’m looking forward to attending the symposium and attending the other paper presentations.
As of December 18, I will have finally completed my D.M.A. in piano performance! My dissertation topic is the use of sonata form in mid-twentieth-century American piano sonatas, and I defended (successfully) last week. I’m excited to be finished with graduate school, and to have more time to focus on performing this spring.
I recently presented my third and final DMA recital at UConn. The program included 2 Schubert Impromptus, Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 10 No. 2, Elie Siegmeister’s Piano Sonata No. 1, “American”, and Liszt’s Reminiscences de Norma (Bellini). The Siegmeister and Liszt have been posted on my youtube channel (chopingrl84). Due to some rather sudden events, I prepared this program largely on my own and without many lessons. Although stressful, the experience proved both educational and enjoyable. I’m especially pleased with the Siegmeister and Liszt pieces, despite the physical and technical challenges associated with playing such a demanding second half. I hope some of you will check out the recordings!
Now that I have completed my recital and coursework requirements, I will be taking my DMA comp exams in November and December and writing my dissertation. And of course, beginning the search for a full-time position for next year. As a result, I will most likely not be updating this site for some time. However, any comments will be forwarded to my email, so please feel free to contact me.
Updates have finally been added, and new audio/video files will soon follow. It’s been a busy school year, both personally and professionally. Last fall, I was the winner of the graduate division of UConn’s concerto competition. As a result, I had the opportunity to perform with the university’s orchestra in a concert in December. Additionally, this spring my piano trio completed a very successful concert at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. The program included a lesser-known trio by Rebecca Clarke and Paul Schoenfield’s Cafe Music. Finally, this past weekend I presented my second DMA recital, which included Beethoven’s “Eroica” variations and Chopin’s Scherzo No. 3 in C# minor and Ballade No. 1 in G minor. I will be uploading audio clips from these performances in the near future; CDs are available upon request.
I’ve added new photos to the gallery. I recently have needed professional headshots for publicity for my trio’s upcoming concert, and had these taken by a local photographer. Hopefully I will be able to add audio and video files in the near future.
Dr. Sarah Masterson, Pianist & Educator