MUSIC

The University of Houston's Moores School of Music presents the 2011 International Piano Festival.

Celebrated for more than 25 years as a breathtaking weekend of recitals and master classes with the world's greatest keyboard virtuosos, the International Piano Festival is led by festival founder Abbey Simon, University of Houston Cullen Professor and one of the most recorded classical artists of all time.

The 2011 line-up includes:

Di-Wu – International Piano Festival Discovery Artist “A superbly equipped artist, and one with flair.” – Dallas Morning News

Chinese-born pianist Di Wu made her professional debut at 14 with the Beijing Philharmonic and has toured widely in Asia, Europe, and the United States. Recent orchestral engagements include appearances with the National Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Wu has given recitals in the Cleveland Playhouse, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Bass Performance Hall in Texas, among others.

Festival appearances include the Portland International Piano Festival, Ravinia Festival, Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund, Klavier Festival Ruhr, and the Busoni International Piano Festival. In 2009 she made her New York Alice Tully Hall recital debut as the winner of Juilliard’s William Petschek Piano Debut Recital Award and was named Artist of the Month by MusicalAmerica.com. That same year she was also awarded a Vendome Virtuosi prize at Lisbon’s prestigious Vendome Competition as well as one of the coveted prizes at the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Other competition credits include the Astral 2007 National Audition, first prize at the 2005 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and the 2000 Missouri Southern International Piano Competition. Ms. Wu came to the United States in 1999 to study at the Manhattan School of Music with Zenon Fishbein. From 2000 to 2005 she studied at the Curtis Institute with Gary Graffman, subsequently earning a Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School under Yoheved Kaplinsky, and in 2009, an Artist Diploma under the guidance of Joseph Kalichstein and Robert McDonald. www.diwupiano.com

Danny Driver - “Danny Driver's performances are masterly, stylish and full of dazzling pianism.”–The Daily Telegraph

Repeatedly cited for his musical intelligence, imaginative artistry and technical excellence, Danny Driver first attracted public attention in the United Kingdom by winning both the Royal Over-Seas League Competition Keyboard Award and the BBC Radio 2 Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2001. He subsequently went on to distinguish himself at the Ester Honens (2003), Brant (2004), Scottish (2004), and Dudley (2005) international piano competitions. Mr. Driver has performed acclaimed recitals at Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, and Symphony Hall in Birmingham, and also has appeared at numerous universities, festivals, and concert societies.

His first CD for Hyperion Records features English composer York Bowen's 3rd and 4th Piano Concertos with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Martyn Brabbins. Driver released his eagerly awaited survey of York Bowen's Piano Sonatas in 2009, and recently released a disc of C. P. E. Bach's keyboard sonatas in June 2010. Future recording projects include the complete piano music of York Bowen contemporary Benjamin Dale, selected works of Mily Balakirev, and piano concertos by the Scottish composer Erik Chisholm. Mr. Driver has collaborated with orchestras such as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Tel-Aviv Soloists, American Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, and the New Professionals.

A founding member of the Linden Trio, he has toured in central Europe and Scandinavia and has enjoyed collaborations with the Linos Wind Quintet, clarinetist Sarah Williamson, violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, cellist Oliver Coates, and clarinetist Michael Collins. His principal teachers include Alexander Kelly, Piers Lane, Irina Zaritskaya, and Maria Curcio. Danny Driver was appointed Artistic Director of London's Hampstead and Highgate Festival in 2009. www.dannydriver.co.uk

Abbey Simon, University of Houston Cullen Professor of Music and one of the most recorded classical artists of all time. Abbey Simon has been hailed as a super-virtuoso whose appearances in the concert halls of the world are eagerly anticipated not only by music lovers, but also by professional musicians who come to hear him spin his own particular magic. He is recognized as one of the grand masters of the piano.

Boston Globe critic Richard Dyer wrote, “Simon’s recital offered more than a glimpse into the fabled golden age of piano playing…His virtuosity is marked not only by speed, power, lightness and accuracy but also by intricate interplay of voices and lambent colors.” And critic Scott MacClelland reported from the West coast “when they’ve written the final chapter on great pianists of the 20th century, the name Abbey Simon will be included. Indeed, that name might well mark the first chapter on 21st-Century pianists as well.”

Through the years, critics have hailed Simon’s mastery and noted that his playing has its roots in the great pianists of the past. Improvising at the piano at the age of three, he had natural perfect pitch and began taking lessons at the age of five. After studying with David Saperton, the son-in-law of celebrated pianist Leopold Godowsky, Saperton took him to play for the great pianist Josef Hofmann. At the age of eight, Simon was accepted by Hofmann as a scholarship student at the Curtis Institute where he trained with fellow classmates Jorge Bolet and Sidney Foster, among others.

Upon graduation from Curtis, Simon went on to win numerous awards. He made his official debut in New York’s Town Hall as winner of the prestigious Naumburg Award. Following this success he performed at Carnegie Hall a number of times before his debut tour to Europe. His success in Europe was so great that he did not return to the U.S. for some 12 years.

He has been the recipient of the Federation of Music Clubs Award, the National Orchestral Association Award, and a Ford Foundation Award. Following his debut in Europe, he received the Harriet Cohen Medal and the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Award.

Simon’s recordings for Philips, EMI, HMV, and Vox make him one of the most recorded classical artists of all time. He has recorded all the concertos of Rachmaninoff, the complete works of Ravel, and Schumann’s Carnaval and Fantasy. His Chopin collection encompasses some 20 disks.

Abbey Simon has served on the faculties of such noted schools as Indiana University and the Juilliard School. Simon currently holds a Cullen Distinguished Professorship at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1977. Recently, Abbey Simon was presented in recital on the “Naumburg Looks Back” series in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.

Schedule of Events:

Friday, February 4

7:30 p.m. Di Wu
Moores Opera House

Program- IPF Discovery Series:
Debussy
Preludes, Book 2

Granados
Goyecas (2)

Schoenberg
Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19

Prokofiev
Sonata No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 14

Due to inclement weather this recital has been rescheduled for Saturday, February 5 at 1:30 pm in the Dudley Recital Hall (Fine Arts Building). Tickets for the Di Wu Recital may be used at the door on Saturday or exchanged for other International Piano Festival recitals, Feb. 5 and 6. The International Piano Festival will continue as scheduled on Saturday, Feb. 5. For more ticket information, contact the MSM Box Office at 713-743-3313.

Saturday, February 5
9:00 a.m. Abbey Simon Master Class
Dudley Recital Hall

12:30 p.m. Artist Conversation Luncheon (brown-bag lunch and artist panel discussion)
Moores School of Music Room 108

2:00 p.m. Di Wu Master Class
Dudley Recital Hall

7:30 p.m. Danny Driver Recital
Moores Opera House

Program:
Mozart
Sonata in F Major, K.332

Schumann
Symphonic Studies, Op 13 (1852 version)

Debussy
Images, Book II

York Bowen
Sonata No. 5 in F Minor, Op. 72

Sunday, February 6
11:30 a.m. Danny Driver Master Class
Dudley Recital Hall

3:00 p.m Abbey Simon Recital
Moores Opera House

Program:
Beethoven
Bagatelles, Op. 33

Chopin
Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 57

Rachmaninoff
2 Preludes (E-flat Major, Op. 23/6 and G# Minor, Op. 32/12)

Ravel
Miroirs (Noctuelles, Oiseaux tristes, Alborada del gracioso)