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Violinist Tarn Travers to present debut solo recital Wednesday at DePauw
In his first full-length recital since joining the DePauw University School of Music faculty this fall, Tarn Travers will present a concert of masterworks for the violin, alongside faculty pianist May Phang.
The performance will be given at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24 in Thompson Recital Hall, located within DePauw's Green Center for the Performing Arts.
Wednesday's program, a part of the Faculty Select Series, presents a challenging range from baroque music to different types of contemporary music to a virtuosic transcription of "Porgy and Bess," requiring the performers, as well as the audience, to be prepared to enter five very rich and different worlds.
Bach's Chaconne will open the concert, which will also include Schumann's tumultuous Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano and selections from Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess," transcribed for violin and piano by the great Jascha Heifetz. Contemporary masterpieces include the rarely performed Duo for Violin and Piano by American composer Ramiro Cortés and German composer Matthias Pintscher's "Study III for Treatise on the Veil," a work inspired by the art of Cy Twombly.
"When I put together the program, I knew that I definitely wanted to play the Bach, which I've played for half my life, because it means a lot to me," said Professor Travers, who recently joined the roster of Ensemble Dal Niente. "Every time I come back to the Chaconne it is different, and I have new ideas about how the piece can be played."
"Directly after the Bach, I'll play 'Study III for Treatise on the Veil,' a piece for prepared violin by Pintscher, one of the greatest musical minds today," the soloist continued. "I first met him as a conductor, then got to know his own music, and was struck by the depth and power of his musical vision and the sound world that he creates. I don't know of anything else like it. The first time I heard a piece of his performed I was struck by how atmospheric it was; it left me a changed person."
Travers may be the only violinist today currently performing the Duo for Violin and Piano by another interesting contemporary stylist Ramiro Cortés. Reminiscent of movie music of the 1950s and '60s, it includes a dance movement torn between two strongly conflicted worlds of immense emotional depth.
"The Schumann sonata, which I'm playing with May Phang, is a blast," Travers added. "She is fearless about making musical choices. It's a piece I program with a bit of trepidation, and her ability to capture the incredibly intense emotional conflict is really making it come alive."
General admission to Faculty Select recitals is $5. Tickets for seniors, children and all students are free.
For online purchases, visit www.music.depauw.edu. The venue's box office will also be open beginning one hour prior to the performance.