Is Spring Right? - March 27

musician stands smiling behind keyboard of grand piano

Department Performance - Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at 7pm

Pianist Max Lifchitz introduces his recent composition Is Spring Right? for the left hand alone.  The program also features works depicting natural phenomena -- light, water, rocks -- written by composers from around the world.
 

  • Free admission
  • No tickets or reservations required

     Program

    (Photo by Carlo DeJesus)

The program will open with Ohr/Light, a recent work by the young Korean composer Jee Seo depicting the sunrise. Music conjuring images of rushing water will follow including a work by Mexican composer Marcela Rodriguez’s Como el agua en el agua (Like Water in Water) and Rabun Gap by Tennessee-based Johnathan McNair. Italian Barbara Rettagliati’s Rocce (Rocks) aims to portray three different rock formations using a contemporary, virtuosic language. Flashes of Illumination was written after Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė reputedly gazed at stars twinkling in the night sky. Austin-based John McGinn’s Three Preludes culminate with images of a wild animal dancing in his lair.

Lifchitz will also perform two of his recent compositions informed by recent events. Lonesome Tears was penned while enduring enforced isolation during the recent pandemic. Is Spring Right? – for the felt hand alone – was composed in response to present-day climate abnormalities and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Winner of the first prize in the 1976 International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Twentieth Century Music held in Holland, Lifchitz has appeared locally as soloist with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Clifton Park Chamber Orchestra and UAlbany Symphony Orchestra. The San Francisco Chronicle described him as "a composer of brilliant imagination and a stunning, ultra-sensitive pianist." The New York Times praised him for his "clean, measured and sensitive performances." 

Lifchitz has been associated with the University at Albany since 1986. He is also the director of the New York City based performing organization North/South Consonance, Inc.