A night of classical piano

The Georgia College campus enjoyed the classical piano stylings of William Carr on Sept. 20.

The pianist played pieces from the many style periods by composers Franz Schubert, Franz Josef Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Alexander Scriabin and Frederic Chopin.

“I enjoyed the recital immensely,” senior music education major Sarah Fender said. “He is a wonderful pianist, and I am glad that I got the opportunity to listen to him.”

Many students attended the recital to see the talented musician, and everyone had a different opinion of what the best piece of the show was.

“Dr. Carr is obviously a very talented musician, and his playing of Chopin was just amazing,” freshman pre-engineering major Richard Rembert said. “Of course, the whole concert was great, but the Chopin stood out to me, probably because he is my favorite romantic composer.”

Fender had a different point of view about which part of the show was a cut above the rest.

“My favorite part was the Haydn piece that he played right before intermission,” Fender said.  “Piano pieces from the classical period are definitely my favorite.”

Carr started off the night with three pieces from Schubert. He then played Haydn’s “Fantasia” for the second part of the program. He moved on to play Beethoven’s “Sonata No. 23.” After the intermission, he finished off the show with several pieces from Liszt, Sciabin and Chopin.

Carr played as a part of the guest artist series.  He is currently a professor of music at Immaculata University, where he received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Distinguished Teaching award.

He studied piano at Temple University and received a scholarship to Julliard where he studied with Adele Marcus, who is noted as one of the best piano teachers in the United States. Carr also has a master’s degree in international business/international relations from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a doctoral degree in piano from the Catholic University of America.

He received post-doctoral performance certificates from the Munich Conservatory in Chamber Music and also from the Liszt Conservatory while studying with concert pianist, Paul Badura-Skoda in Germany and Austria.

Carr was named a Steinway Artist in 2005. This honor shows Carr’s dedication to the Steinway piano as well as his extreme musical ability. He has been added to the Steinway roster, which also includes idols such as Billy Joel, Duke Ellington and Cole Porter, among many others.

Despite his many honors, Carr still plays in many orchestras such as the Ocean City Pops Orchestra, the University of Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Classical Symphony Orchestra and more.

Carr has performed in many prestigious places including Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.

Department of Music Chair Victor Vallo enjoyed the concert and appreciated Carr’s abilities.

“Dr. William Carr performed brilliantly as a Steinway Artist,” Vallo said. “His Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin, Haydn and Beethoven were all so well performed and with the utmost of musical nuance, style, sensitivity. Dr. Carr’s performance offered a wonderful representation of these composers’ style periods: Classical, Romantic and 20th century. His flawless technique was only exceeded by his extreme musicality.”

Posted by MorganWilson on Sep 29 2011. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.