Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Dr. Jiwon Han, collaborative pianist at University of Wyoming, will perform works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Florence Price and John Corigliano when he presents a guest recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, in Cole Concert Hall on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.
“This recital program consists of works from various periods from classical to contemporary,” Han said. “The composers in the program – Beethoven, Liszt, Price, and Corigliano – are representatives of each era with their musical legacy. The program is designed to allow audiences to experience musical styles from different eras and the unique musical language of each composer.”
Written in 1802, Beethoven’s “Six Variations on an Original Theme in F major, Op. 34” provided a turning point for the composer to overcome hardship in his life, according to Han. “As Beethoven himself described, ‘Variations Op. 34’ is a ‘wholly new style’ and ‘complete innovation,’ highlighting different keys, contents and tempos of each variation,” he said.
Han describes composer Price as “a revolutionary figure in American classical music history,” and her Piano Sonata in E minor is “on a masterful scale with a magnificent emotional depth influenced by black spirituals.” Price created a new American sound by combining European romantic style with African American musical language.
Corigliano wrote “Fantasia on an Ostinato” as a commission piece for the 7th Van Cliburn Competition in 1985. He adopted the famous repetitive passage of the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, which appears as a rhythmic ostinato in the first half, and the allusive melody comes at the end of the piece, Han explained. Based on minimalism, repeated patterns develop the structure and emotional expressions.
Han has won many Korean national competitions and auditions, including Dong-A Music Concours, Joongang Music Concours, Sungjung Cultural Foundation Competition and the Korean American Scholarship Foundation Music Competition. In addition, he was a recipient of top prizes from prestigious international competitions including Isang Yun International Competition, Virginia Waring International Competition, Teresa Carreño International Competition, Weatherford International Piano Competition and the Franz Liszt Center International Competition. He released two solo albums, “Debut” and “Romanticism,” and two collaborative albums, “Bach-Schubert” live performance with violinist Zia Shin and “Works by German Composers” with violinist Fangting Chen. For more information about the artist, visit his website at jiwonhan.com.
Concert tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit finearts.sfasu.edu. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.