Location: DACOR Bacon House, 1801 F St NW, Washington, DC 20006
Event Description
Join us for "Magical American Impressions: Duo Musicaux ~ Piano Magic for Four Hands~", a Musical Celebration for America's 250th!!
From classical elegance to sparkling American color, Duo Musicaux presents an imaginative program filled with rhythmic vitality. Opening with a classic sonata, Mozart's four-hand arrangements set an early standard of charm for 18th-19th c home musicians in Europe as well as in early musical America. Today Mozart's Sonata in C major, K. 521, is still considered one of the most brilliant and joyful works in the piano four-hands repertoire.
Voices of musical America follow in Samuel Barber's "Souvenirs," a sprightly suite of dances that recall the light-hearted glamour and early jazz of the ballroom era. Leonard Bernstein's energetic "Candide" Overture bursts with theatrical wit and is followed by Aaron Copland's reflective "Variations on a Shaker Melody" from his "Appalachian Spring," transforming the familiar folk tune into music of luminous serenity.
Less familiar is Amy Beach's "Summer Dreams," a suite of playful compositions that evoke childhood. The program concludes with an orchestral showpiece, The "Sorcerer’s Apprentice" of 1897 by Paul Dukas. Originally based on a poem by Goethe, it was Disney's 1940 film "Fantasia" that transformed the mischievous Apprentice into Mickey Mouse that everyone remembers. Let not the famous cartoon lull us into thinking it was one-dimensional -- this piece of genuine Americana is rife with technical pianistic challenges in a dazzling four-hand arrangement that brings the recital to a rousing finale.
Duo Musicaux was formed in 2006 when the two artists were classmates studying at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. Hanchien LEE, piano primo, and Wenyin CHAN, piano secondo, were both born in Taiwan and showed early promise, winning top prizes in their teens. Dr. Lee went on to receive her degree from and continues to teach at the Peabody Conservatory, while Dr. Chan received her doctorate from Yale University and maintains a private studio while teaching at the Levine School. Both are mothers of young children and are actively pursuing their professional careers as teachers and concert pianists. At Curtis they were classmates of Lang Lang and Yuja Wang.
Come join us at DACOR Bacon House for an exciting afternoon of music and cordiality. Tea & sherry are served at intermission, and children under the age of 18 are free when accompanied by an adult.
