Piano & Cello: Piatigorsky's Legend - Beethoven & Brahms featuring Evan Drachman, cello & Wan-Chi Su, piano
We open our 31st Fall season with Beethoven and Brahms, two giants of the grand tradition. Beethoven loved variations and the amusing aria "Bei Männern...(Men who feel love have a gentle heart)" from Mozart's beloved opera, The Magic Flute, resulting in 7 charming variations on the theme for cello and piano. The centerpiece of the program will be Brahms' Sonata for Cello and Piano, No. 1 opus 38, a magisterial conversation between the two instruments in three movements.
Pianist Wan-Chi SU joins forces with Evan DRACHMAN, grandson of the legendary cellist Gregor Piatigorsky (1903-1976). The duo will speak about the music and perform without intermission. Please join us for tea & sherry following an afternoon of stirring and delightful music. This Musicale represents the first collaboration between DACOR and the Piatigorsky Foundation, founded by Mr. Drachman, and the Tea4Soul Cultural Group, who recommended the artists.
Cellist Evan Drachman, Founder and Artistic Director of The Piatigorsky Foundation, has combined musical talent with artistic vision to create a rich and varied career. Mr. Drachman spends much of his time performing recitals, concerti and chamber music in the United States and abroad. As Artistic Director of The Piatigorsky Foundation, he has become one of this country’s most respected authorities on the presentation of live classical music to diverse audiences. The Foundation’s mission is to make live classical music a part of the fabric of everyday life for underserved communities throughout the United States. The organization is named for Mr. Drachman’s grandfather, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.
Mr. Drachman received his BMA from The Curtis Institute of Music in 1988. His teachers have included Luis Garcia-Renart, Orlando Cole, Laurence Lesser, William Pleeth and Stephen Kates. In 1994, Mr. Drachman performed with the Odessa Philharmonic in Odessa and Kyiv. In 1997, at the invitation of Mstislav Rostropovich, Drachman traveled to Russia to perform as soloist with the St. Petersburg Symphony under Maestro Rostropovich.
In 1999, Drachman recorded his first CD, A Frog He Went a Courting, with pianist Richard Dowling. The Baltimore Sun’s Steven Wigler wrote of the recording: “Drachman possesses in abundance two qualities for which his grandfather was revered: the ability to make the cello imitate the human singing voice and, even more important, the ability to tell a story.” Following this success, Drachman and Dowling released two more recordings titled, Infinity in 2004 and Romance and Revelation in 2007. In 2012 Evan Drachman released Full Circle with pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion. Their latest recording, Fantasy, was released in 2018.
Evan Drachman currently lives in Maryland with his wife Joan and their two sons, Eli and Oliver.
Praised by the American Scholar for having "…played with sensitivity and imagination," pianist Wan-Chi Su has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Asia, Europe, and the United States. She has played major venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Salle Cortot in Paris, and Taiwan National Concert Hall.
A founding member of Duo Sorolla, Dr. Su has toured the Eastern United States, appearing in concert series in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. She also travels for the Piatigorsky Foundation, connecting with new audiences in unconventional venues throughout the entire United States. Dr. Su works often with venerated musicians, having performed with various members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, violinist Hebert Greenberg, cellist Michael Kannen, baritone William Sharp, trumpeter Joe Burgstaller, pianists Seth Knopp and Benjamin Pasternack.
Dr. Su performs the full range of classical repertoire. She has premiered music by active composers, such as Ying-Chen Kao, William Weigel, and Aaron Malone. She has also worked with celebrated composers like George Walker, Curt Cacioppo, and Aaron J. Kernis. Versed in many styles, she accompanies dozens of instrumental and vocal recitals each year. Currently, she serves as the organist for Memorial Episcopal Church. A dedicated educator, she enjoys sharing music with students at Georgetown University and Loyola University Maryland, while also maintaining a private studio.
Decorated with numerous awards, Dr. Su won first prize in the Taiwan Cultural Cup Invitational Piano Competition. On the collegiate level, she won first prize in the Taiwan National Student Music Competition in Piano. She has also been a semi-finalist in the San Jose International Piano Competition, the Art of Duo Competition, and the Liszt-Garrison Duo Competition, and a finalist in the Harrison L. Winter Piano Concerto Competition. She has been invited to numerous international music festivals, including the Taos School of Music, the Beethoven Institute, both the Icicle Creek Piano Festival and the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival, the NTSO International Piano Program in Taiwan, and the Paris Piano Program in France.
Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Dr. Su began her musical journey at age four. She earned a bachelor’s degree in piano while minoring in French horn, at the National Kaohsiung Normal University in Taiwan. She holds a Master of Music, a Graduate Performance Diploma, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, studying principally with Seth Knopp and Benjamin Pasternack. Dr. Su currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband, and cat named Sanji.
Location
Setting: In-Person DACOR Bacon House 1801 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 UNITED STATES
