MEADVILLE, Pa. – April 7, 2008 – The 2007-2008 season of the Silberman Recital Series at Allegheny College concludes with a concert by pianist and award-wining poet Oni Buchanan on Wednesday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Ford Chapel.
Buchanan's “Poetry in Piano” concerts feature music inspired by or relating to poetry, with repertoire drawn from many cultures and times throughout history.
For pieces in the concert that have been composed around or inspired by specific poetic texts, such as the first Ballade of Brahms' Opus 10 set, Buchanan will present a brief discussion of the source text, examining how the form, style and substance of the music relates to the form, style and substance of the poetry that inspired its composition.
For those piano pieces that are intended to imitate or replicate a poetic form, such as the pantoum, villanelle or sonnet, she will discuss the formal structure of the poetic form and show how this structure is rendered in the music.
The program also includes piano pieces that refer to poetry after the fact of their composition, such as several of Debussy's preludes, which he titled with lines drawn from the poetry of Baudelaire, Verlaine, Leconte de Lisle, Shakespeare and Schumann.
Finally, Buchanan will perform a selection of pieces that are titled as “poems,” such as Villa Lobos’ “Rudepoêma.” For each of these, Buchanan will seek to identify specifics that explain what the composer may have meant by titling his or her work a poem.
Buchanan is earning a national reputation for her virtuosity, inventive programming and ability to connect with audiences. She has performed solo recitals throughout the U.S. and abroad, at such venues as the Instituto Brasileiro de Administração Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, the University of Guelph as well as Conrad Grebel University College in Ontario, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Harvard University Hall Concert Series.
Buchanan received her master's degree in piano performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and her bachelor's degree in music from the University of Virginia. She conducted three years of her music studies at the University of Iowa School of Music. She has released three solo CDs featuring the work of Bach, Bartók, Beethoven, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, Debussy and Chopin and is the recipient of numerous music awards and scholarships.
Buchanan also holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Virginia and a master of fine arts in poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Buchanan's second poetry manuscript, “Spring,” won the 2007 National Poetry Series Open Competition and will be published in August 2008. Her first book of poems, “What Animal,” won the University of Georgia Press Contemporary Poetry Series competition.
The 18th season of the Silberman Recital Series is presented by Allegheny College through a gift from Mrs. Freda Silberman of Pittsburgh. Her late husband, Aaron, the founder and chairman of American Thermoplastic Co., established the series in 1990. The Silbermans were leading supporters of musical and educational institutions in New York City and Pittsburgh.
For more information about the Silberman concerts, contact Allegheny College's Office of Conference and Event Services at (814) 332-3101.
