UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State faculty member Christopher Guzman will perform a piano recital at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5, at the Palmer Museum of Art. Admission is free.
Program
Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Minor, BWV 867 - Johann Sebastian Bach
Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 875 - Bach
From "24 Preludes and Fugues" - Rodion Shchedrin:
- C Major
- A Major
- E-flat Major
From "Voices and Piano" - Peter Ablinger:
- Hanna Schygulla
- Jorge Luis Borges
- Billie Holliday
Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564 - Bach, transcribed by Ferruccio Busoni
These weekly concerts, a collaboration between the School of Music and the Palmer Museum of Art, are held in the "BIG Deal" exhibition on the museum’s second floor. An elevator is available for patrons, located at the rear of the museum shop on the first floor. Seating at the Palmer Museum of Art is limited. Because of the gallery setting, there is no standing room. Parking at the museum is available at any of the nearby campus parking lots, which are open and free for visitor parking on weekends.
Guzman regularly performs for audiences throughout North America, Europe and Asia as a soloist and chamber musician. He is a multiple prize-winner in many international competitions, including the Walter M. Naumburg Competition, the Seoul International Music Competition, and the Isang Yun Competition of South Korea. Recently, he garnered the grand prize and several special prizes at the 10th Concours International de Piano d’Orléans in Orléans, France. As a result, he regularly travels to France to perform in Paris and throughout the Loire Valley. His CD of German and Austrian music from the past 100 years, "Vienne et après," was released in March 2014 on the Tessitures label.
Guzman’s career has brought him to such venues as Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, and others. He performs regularly with some of the world’s most exciting soloists, including Ilya Gringolts, Antoine Tamestit, David Fray, and Jeremy Denk, among others. He continually performs with members of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2013, he was a guest artist on the New York Philharmonic’s chamber music series “Philharmonic Ensembles.”
His performances showcase a broad range of styles, from Baroque to the avant-garde. He continues to collaborate with many of the nation’s preeminent new music ensembles; his performances have included world premieres by Donald Martino, Nico Muhly, and Paul Schoenfield. The New York Times hailed his performance of Christopher Theofanidis’s "Statues" as “coiled” and “explosive.”
Born in Texas, Guzman began studying piano at age 9 and violoncello two years later. He worked primarily with Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald at the Juilliard School, Anton Nel at the University of Texas at Austin, and the late Patricia Zander at the New England Conservatory.