[279] New faculty pianist to present ‘great masterworks’ in Feb. 9 MTSU concert

MURFREESBORO — Concert pianist Adam Clark, a new faculty member in MTSU’s School of Music, will include “some of the great masterworks of the classical piano tradition” in his first solo concert at the university Monday, Feb. 9.

The free public concert is set to begin at 8 p.m. Feb. 9 in Hinton Music Hall inside MTSU's Wright Music Building. You can find a printable campus map at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap14-15.

Clark plans to perform “Partita No. 4 in D Major” by J. S. Bach, “Chester: Variations for Piano” by William Schuman and “Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor” by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

"I am very much looking forward to this performance,” said Clark. “The music I am playing is very special to me, as many of the pieces are works that first inspired me to become a pianist."

Calling the music “some of the great masterworks of the classical piano tradition,” Clark noted that Bach’s “Partita” features “some of his most expressive, engaging and brilliant writing for the keyboard. The Rachmaninoff, on the other hand, is a tour de force of Romanticism and pianistic bravura. It is an incredibly exciting and beautiful piece, and I am very much looking forward to playing it."

The new faculty member said Schuman’s variations aren’t often performed.

“It was the commissioned work for the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition,” Clark explained, “and it has been a favorite of mine ever since I first heard it. It is quite challenging, however — perhaps the reason it is not played often — and my performance at MTSU will be the first time I am playing it in public."

Clark has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and concerto soloist throughout the United States as well as in Belgium, Italy and South Korea. His performances have been broadcast on U.S. public radio and South Korean TV.

A prizewinner in numerous competitions, Clark has performed as a soloist in venues including New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati, Bass Concert Hall in Austin, Texas, and the Royce Auditorium in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Clark came to MTSU from Michigan’s Hope College and has taught at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of Texas at Austin. He’s an associate professor of piano in the School of Music and also serves as co-vice president of the Middle Tennessee Music Teachers Association.

For more information on this and other concerts in the MTSU School of Music, call 615-898-2493 or visit http://www.mtsumusic.com and click on the "Concert Calendar" link.