The "Sundays at 2" recital series coordinated by the department of music at Hope College will feature pianist Spencer Myer on Sunday, March 6, at 2 p.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The program will open with the "Sonata No. 5," by Baldassare Galuppi; "Waldszenen, Op. 82," by Robert Schumann; and "Sonata No. 15 in D Major, Op. 28 Pastoral," by Ludwig van Beethoven.
After a brief intermission, the program will continue with pieces from Franz Liszt's "Années de Pèlerinage." From Liszt's "Deuxième année: Italie," Myer will perform "Sonetto 47 del Perarca," "Soneeto 104 del Petrarca" and "Sonetto 123 del Petrarca." From Liszt's "Troisième année," Myer will perform "Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este."
From Enrique Granados's "Goyescas," the program will conclude with "El amor y la muerte: Balada," and "Los Requiebro."
"Spencer is one of the top artists performing today and we are extremely fortunate to have him here," said Dr. Adam Clark, assistant professor of music at Hope. "This is his second performance (and master class) at Hope College after performing in spring of 2009."
Myer received the Gold Medal in the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition. Following a summer that included an encore collaboration with the Miami String Quartet at Ohio's Kent/Blossom Music and debuts at the Texas State International Piano Festival and New York's Skaneateles Festival and The Stony Brook International Piano Festival, Myer included in his current season a five-week return tour of South Africa, a debut with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra and solo recitals throughout the United States.
His orchestral, recital and chamber music performances have been heard throughout North America, Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has been soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, and the Dayton and Louisiana philharmonic orchestras, collaborating with, among others, conductors Nicholas Cleobury, Neal Gittleman and Jacques Lacombe.
In January 2007, Myer performed Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" at the Inaugural Festivities of Ohio's Governor Ted Strickland and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher. In 2004, he captured First Prize in the 10th UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa, as well as special prizes for the best performances of Bach, the commissioned work, the semifinal round recital and both concerto prizes in the final round. He is also a laureate in the 2007 William Kapell, 2005 Cleveland, 2005 Busoni (where he was also awarded the Audience Prize), 2004 Montréal and 2003 New Orleans International Piano Competitions.
Winner of the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianists Association, Myer also received both of the competition's special prizes in Chamber Music and Lieder Accompanying. Myer is also the winner of the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. He was a member of Astral Artists performance roster from 2003 to 2009, a result of his having won that organization's 2003 national auditions.
An enthusiastic supporter of the education of young musicians, Myer has been a frequent guest artist at workshops for students and teachers, including Indiana's Goshen College Piano Workshop and the Texas Conservatory for Young Artists in Dallas, and has served on the faculties of the Baldwin-Wallace College and Oberlin College conservatories of music. He devoted a month of his 2010 summer as a staff pianist at the Steans Institute Vocal Program of the renowned Ravinia Festival.
Myer is also an advocate of contemporary music and inter-arts collaboration, and has worked with the Chicago- and New York-based ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), Indianapolis' Dance Kaleidoscope, Ohio Dance Theatre and New York City's New Triad for Collaborative Arts, and The Juilliard School's "Composers and Choreographers" series.
Myer can be heard on the Dimension Records label, performing music of the late Cleveland composer Frederick Koch, and on a composer-conducted Naxos CD in performances of three concerti from Huang Ruo's "Chamber Concerto Cycle." His debut CD for harmonia mundi usa, featuring music of Busoni, Copland, Debussy and Kohs, was released in the fall of 2007.
Myer is a Steinway Artist. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with Julian Martin.
Dimnent Memorial Chapel is located at 277 College Ave., on College Avenue at 12th Street.