Saturday October 5 7:00 PM 2024
The 21 Nocturnes with Thomas Schwan, piano
The Music Department is thrilled to present a two-day residency with the esteemed pianists Thomas Schwan and Liudmila Georgievskaya. They will grace us with two concert performances, "The 21 Nocturnes with Thomas Schwan, piano" and "Elegies and Visions: A Musical Journey with Liudmila Georgievskaya and Thomas Schwan, piano." (This event will take place on Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 7:00pm.)
"The 21 Nocturnes with Thomas Schwan, piano" presents a much-anticipated program of all twenty-one of Chopin's Nocturnes. These beautiful and evocative pieces, celebrated for their lyrical beauty that captivates the soul, their reflective nature, and their profound emotional depth, are considered some of his finest works of piano repertoire.
Thomas Schwan
Thomas Schwan (Milano, 1985) is an Italian–German pianist and composer. As a pianist, he performed extensively in Italy, the Netherlands, France, England, Russia, Panama, and the United States. Music honors include First Prize at the World Bach Competition in Boulder, Colorado (2020) and the Honors Diploma and Monte dei Paschi di Siena Prize from Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy (2011). While cultivating a repertoire that spans the history of Western music, he currently specializes in the music of J.S. Bach. He has recently given multiple live performances of the complete Well-Tempered Clavier. His W.T.C. interpretations, recorded live in two recitals in 2019 and 2022, have gained an extraordinary following on YouTube and are widely appreciated by audiences, critics, and fellow musicians. Current and future projects include the performance and recording of The Art of the Fugue and the complete Chopin Nocturnes. He was deeply influenced by the instruction and mentorship of pianists Joaquín Achúcarro, under whom he studied at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and Pamela Mia Paul, his major professor at the University of North Texas in Denton. He is now a Joaquín Achúcarro Legacy Pianist.
As a composer, his music is performed or commissioned by members of the Asko|Schoenberg Ensemble Amsterdam, Voices of Change, Dallas Chamber Music Society, Meadows Wind Ensemble, Quartetto Mitja, Trio Chénier, and other renowned ensembles and soloists in Europe and America. In 2017, he was awarded the Odyssée Artistic Residency as a composer and pianist at Abbaye Royale de Saint-Riquier (France), where he premiered a newly commissioned work onsite. He holds degrees from the University of North Texas (D.M.A., 2021), where he studied piano with P.M. Paul and composition with J. Klein, and Southern Methodist University (Artist Certificate, 2009; M.M., 2011 and 2014), where he studied piano with J. Achúcarro and composition with K. Hanlon. Former teachers include G. Galletta, A. Fortuna, G. Possio, E. Brusa, and S. Sargon. He taught piano and composition masterclasses in Italy, the Netherlands, and Panama and maintains an active performing and teaching schedule worldwide. www.thomasschwan.com