"Hidden Viola Gems"
Juliet White-Smith, professor of viola, and guest pianist Rick Ferguson present "Hidden Viola Gems," featuring the duo sonatas of the American composer Ulysses Kay and the "French Beethoven" George Onslow, Harald Genzmer's Sonatina for Viola and Piano, along with David Amram's one-movement work for viola and piano titled The Wind and the Rain.
An active chamber musician, Rick Ferguson has been a senior fellow for the Chicago Chamber Musicians and has performed chamber music, solo and concerto repertoire in the US and Europe. He maintains an active life as teacher, composer and arts advocate as co-founder and artistic director of The Musical Offering (Evanston, IL) and classical piano instructor at the Chicago Academy for the Arts. On the composition side, Concerto Grosso on Dystopian Themes for youth orchestra and Equity Suite for concert band are commissioned works through Foundation 65 (Evanston, IL); Prelude, Toccata Brevis and Hyper-Milonga Fugue for piano and percussion and Beauty for soprano, violin and piano are set for 2019 premieres. Additional compositions for primarily youth ensembles are in the works. Mr. Ferguson is a strong advocate of STEAM-based education in public schools.
Mr. Ferguson holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Birmingham-Southern College (magna cum laude) and earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Houston where he studied with world-renowned concert artist Abbey Simon. His studies have also taken him to the Longy School of Music (Cambridge, MA) and Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) for post-graduate study. Teachers and mentors include Daniel Ericourt, Deborah Sobol, Ivan Davis, Joseph Block, Jörg Demus, Delores Hodgens-Howard and Roy McAllister.
This concert is free and open to the public. No ticket required.
Livestream broadcast begins at 8 p.m.
