March 28, 2024
Annapolis, US 47 F

Brian Ganz and Piano Talk

On Friday August 22 at 8 pm in Annapolis, Brian Ganz and Friends will present his first Piano Talk of the series “Six Ways to Say Goodbye:  An In-Depth Exploration of Chopin's Mazurka in B-flat minor, Op. 24, No. 4.”
On Friday August 22 at 8 pm in Annapolis, Brian Ganz and Friends will present his first Piano Talk of the series “Six Ways to Say Goodbye: An In-Depth Exploration of Chopin’s Mazurka in B-flat minor, Op. 24, No. 4.”

On Friday August 22 at 8 pm in Annapolis, pianist Brian Ganz will present his first Piano Talk of the series Fourth Fridays with Brian Ganz and Friends. The Piano Talk,  will include performance as well as conversation. “Six Ways to Say Goodbye:  An In-Depth Exploration of Chopin’s Mazurka in B-flat minor, Op. 24, No. 4.” will take listeners on a journey inside the composer’s creative process in preparation for his performance of the Mazurka and other works. ” Ganz noted that there are special moments of awareness (the “Ah Hah” moment) when he notices a pattern or process that was previously invisible.  Ganz will take listeners behind the scenes, reveal his “Ah Hah” moments, and then perform the pieces with the new insights freshly in mind. The Piano Talk will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis (UUCA), at 333 Dubois Road. Tickets to Fourth Friday concerts are $15 individually or $60 for a series ticket, good for 5 concerts. For more information visit www.uuannapolis.org or call 410-266-8044.

When I attend a performance of any kind, even a sports event, I always wonder what the performers or athletes are thinking about,” Ganz said. “What, exactly, are they excited to share or demonstrate or accomplish? By what process or strategy did they come to those goals? My Piano Talk presentations arise out of my eagerness to give listeners just such a glimpse of the process itself.”

“Chopin was an extraordinary craftsman,” Ganz continues. “There is so much happening in his music that isn’t immediately apparent even to highly trained eyes and ears. So his music is a particularly rich field of exploration, a veritable diamond mine of ah-hah moments. I will go into great depth with the Mazurka in B-flat minor and show how Chopin experiments with almost every kind of cadence, or musical punctuation mark. That’s where the title ‘Six Ways to Say Goodbye’ comes from. But I’ll also play another incredibly beautiful Mazurka and show how it was a kind of seed for one of his most popular compositions, the Prelude in E minor. I’ll also play a nocturne that reveals, I believe, Chopin’s great love for his country, Poland, and his religious faith.”

Ganz is especially well qualified to take listeners on a journey into the creative processes of Frédéric Chopin.  Widely regarded as one of the leading pianists of his generation, Ganz began his “Extreme Chopin” quest to perform all of the composer’s works three and a half years ago. His sold out recital at the Music Center at Strathmore in January of 2011 launched his ambitious endeavor to perform the approximately 250 works of Chopin over the next decade.  The next concerts in the series will take place at Strathmore on February 7 and 8, 2015.

This “Brian Ganz and Friends” program is part of a ticketed concert series offered monthly on 4th Fridays at 8pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis (UUCA) to benefit the church’s work.  Next month the concert will take place on Friday, September 26 with “20th Century Classical Masterpieces” for flute and piano with Karen Johnson and Brian Ganz. On Friday, October 24 – “Listening to the Paintings with David Hildebrand and Brian Ganz:  An Exploration of Art and Music of the 19th and early 20th Centuries”. Then on Friday, November 28 – Italian Classical Guitarist Flavio Sala will perform.

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