SCC Piano Series
Upcoming Arts Events‘At the Brink of Modernism’
Piano music to challenge and inspire
Modernism. In the arts, it reflected an era of revolutionary change. Consider the painter Pablo Picasso, as he pushed the perception of form into the fourth dimension with his Cubist expressions. In architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright shocked the establishment with the jutting angles and striking, asymmetrical lines of his innovative building designs. And in music, composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky and Charles Ives confused and sometimes angered audiences with bold new statements of harmony, rhythm and structure that flatly rejected the Classical-Romantic tradition.
The rebellious vitality of Modernism is also the unifying theme for an intriguing collection of piano works to be featured on the opening program of the 2003-2004 SCC Piano Series. Two of Shoreline’s esteemed piano faculty members, Dr. Iwona Kaminska-Bowlby and Dainius Vaičekonis, will share a solo recital of works by 20th century composers, including Claude Debussy, Sergey Prokofiev and Alexander Skryabin, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23, in the Campus Theater.
Born and raised in Warsaw, Kaminska-Bowlby first began to play piano at age 7 while at music school. “In Poland, if children pass the entrance examination for aural perception and rhythmic sensitivity, they begin formal training in highly intensive conservatories parallel to their general education,” she said. Kaminska-Bowlby later attended the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, from which she received both her bachelor of arts in Piano Performance and post-graduate performance diplomas. During this time, she also won the prestigious Stefan Batory Award.
Kaminska-Bowlby left Poland for the United States in 1994. After receiving her master’s of music degree in Piano Performance from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, she continued her post-graduate studies in piano performance in Canada and performed in festivals in Europe and the United States.
In 2003, Kaminska-Bowlby completed her doctorate in Piano Performance at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. While researching her thesis, she came into contact with eminent Baroque scholars and performers Dr. Gregory Butler, a noted musicologist renowned for his studies of Bach and Mozart, and Dr. George Ritchie, who broadened her knowledge of performance on the harpsichord and organ.
Kaminska-Bowlby’s partner on the second half of the program, Dainius Vaicekonis, is a doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the University of Washington and a winner of the International F. Schubert Piano Competition. He has presented many solo and chamber music recitals throughout the United States and Europe.
When asked how the Modernism concept for the recital came about, Kaminska-Bowlby explained that she believed it is the topic of Vaicekonis’ doctoral studies. “The Modernist movement in music was an interesting, revolutionary and transitional time when the composers pushed the limits of harmonic vocabulary, after which the only outcome was a total breakdown of the tonal system,” she said.
Through the use of several atonal musical devices, composers created music that often sounds dense and dissonant, yet at other times can be enticingly exotic. “It's funny to note that this music, which is more or less 100 years old, is still not understood, appreciated or given its due credit,” she observed.
Kaminska-Bowlby hopes the program of modern piano music will encourage the audience to look above the standard repertoire of the mainstream.
“I believe pianists/artists should serve as educators to audiences, not only providing pleasing, easy-to-listen-to classical standards. Hopefully this program will still bring pleasure, but perhaps in an all-together different and exciting way,” she said.
This year’s Piano Series of four recitals will showcase performances by award-winning SCC educators and performers. Proceeds from the series will benefit the Shoreline Community College Piano Scholarship Fund, from which selected students receive free, private piano lessons, said Nancy Matesky, Piano Ensemble director.
Prices for Piano Series subscriptions are $30 for the general public, $24 for seniors and students outside SCC, and $12 for SCC students and children under 14. Single recital tickets are $10/$8/$4. Tickets are available at the cashier in the FOSS Building (no credit cards) or Room 952 in the PUB (credit cards accepted). For more ticket info, call (206) 546-4606.