Chapman University will host its second installment of the 2014 President’s Piano Series featuring a solo performance by Jeffrey Siegel at Salmon Recital Hall this Thursday.
Launched in 2011, the President’s Piano Series brings critically acclaimed pianists and ensembles to the university to perform solo and chamber music recitals in the spring.
Siegel will present his concert, “Gershwin and Friends,” featuring the music of the great 20th century American composer George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and others for an evening of contemporary music to delight and entertain.
Gershwin is best known for his legendary musical feast “Rhapsody in Blue,” which incorporates jazz and classical music. While the piece is most often heard with a jazz band, Siegel will play a rare version of the piece, written specifically for solo piano performance.
“It’s a familiar piece but it will be heard in an unfamiliar way,” Siegel said.
The concert will also feature ragtime king Scott Joplin’s “Wall Street Rag” and a local premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s unpublished “Meditation on a Wedding.”
“I’m the only one that has this manuscript and at the concert I’ll tell the story of how I happened to get it,” Siegel said.
Siegel has performed as a piano soloist for internationally acclaimed orchestras and gained fame for his Keyboard Conversation concerts in which he engages with the audience and answers questions about the repertoire.
“It’s an inviting and accessible format for the new comer as well as an enriching listening experience for the avid music lover,” Siegel said. “I feel this is a very important part of the program where the supposed wall between the person on the stage and the person in the audience comes down.”
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