Solo Piano with Lee Dionne: Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit -- Thursday, March 14th

Pianist Lee Dionne performs a program of Bach, Mozart and Ravel, culminating in Ravel's piano masterpiece, the brilliant and fantastical Gaspard de la Nuit.

From Lee:

"Gaspard is a thrilling and highly unusual work. The first movement depicts a water nymph "Ondine," whose siren song invites the listener to a alluring but menacing home beneath the waves. The second movement depicts the silhouette of a hanged man against a scorching sunset. The third is "Scarbo," whose title character laughs and dances at us from the shadows: a sort of 19th-century horror movie villain.

In each movement, Ravel employs musical wizardry to conjure atmospheres and textures we can hardly imagine from the piano. The effect is a rare combination of joy and terror. I am interested in the place these extreme emotions have in the Bach and Mozart as well, earlier works that nonetheless feature many highly extraordinary moments and a rare degree of creative risk-taking."

Audiences aged 12 and up. 

Program:

Bach: Sinfonia from Partita No. 2 in C Minor
Mozart: Piano Sonata in F Major, K. 533/494
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit