Gypsy dances and hoedowns are only two of the genres listeners will experience as the American Piano Duo performs on Friday, Jan. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Brigham Young University’s Madsen Recital Hall. Admission will be free.
The duo, comprised of BYU faculty member Jeffrey Shumway and Del Parkinson from Boise State University, call their recital “Bolero!,” and will play a myriad of dances, like the “Saturday-Night Waltz” by Aaron Copland, “Bolero” by Maurice Ravel and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Men’s Dance” and “Women’s Dance.”
Also on the program is Ernst von Dohnányi, a Hungarian composer whose “Festival Waltz" will present a Viennese waltz, a fast-paced dance that often brings to mind the bright skirts of European dancers swirling across a hardwood dance floor. Next is Paul Dukas’ “L’apprenti sorcier,” or “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
Finally, the audience will hear Rachmaninoff’s “Aleko,” his Moscow Conservatory of Music graduation piece. “Aleko” is a one-act opera based on Pushkin’s romantic poem “The Gypsies,” and was awarded the 1892 gold medal in composition.
For more information, contact Jeffrey Shumway at (801) 422-4922.
Writer: Brooke Eddington
