Music Series at Akin to feature pianists Douglas, Chung
Music Series at Akin to feature pianists in 2013
World-class music will to come to Midwestern State University for the 2013 spring season of the Music Series at Akin. Scheduled are performances by award-winning Irish pianist Barry Douglas and Lucille Chung, whose original Nov. 1 date was postponed because of travel difficulties after Hurricane Sandy.
Douglas will perform at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 21, 2013. He won the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow - the only non-Russian since Van Cliburn to have won the prestigious award. He won the Bronze Medal at the Van Cliburn Competition in Texas in 1985 and the top prize in the Santander Paloma O'Shea competition in Spain.
The Belfast, Ireland, native has worked with some of the most famous orchestras around the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, Ireland. Douglas also directs from the piano and conducts.
Douglas works with Ireland's new generation of musicians through two ventures he founded - Camerata Ireland, a successful chamber orchestra that he directs, and the Clandeboye International Festival, a week of concerts by international guest artists and master classes for gifted young musicians at an Irish estate.
Douglas is currently receiving rave reviews for his recently released CD of Johannes Brahms' piano works, the first in a series.
Douglas received the Order of the British Empire in 2002 for services to music. He also received a Fellowship of the Royal College of Music, where he is Prince Consort Professor of Piano. He was awarded honorary doctor of music degrees from Queens National University of Ireland at Maynooth, and the University of Wyoming. Douglas is also a visiting professor at the Dublin Conservatory of Music at Dublin Institute of Technology.
Chung's concert has been rescheduled for 7:30 p.m. April 1, 2013. Tickets purchased for the November performance will be honored for the April 1 performance.
MSU's Music Series at Akin debuted in spring 2012 with pianist Yefim Bronfman, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan. Dr. Ron Fischli, Dean of the Lamar D. Fain College of Fine Arts, said that he was pleased with the turnout and the response to the series, and is excited about this season's guests. "These are internationally known performers, and it is a feather in our cap to bring them to MSU," Fischli said. The series is sponsored by the Perkins-Prothro Foundation and Dale and Joe Prothro with the Lamar D. Fain College of Fine Arts at Midwestern State University.
General admission tickets are $25 for each performance, or $40 for season tickets. Tickets for senior citizen and military are $22.50 for each or $36 for season tickets. Tickets for MSU faculty and staff are $15 or $24 for season tickets. MSU student tickets are $10 each or $15 for season.
Tickets may be purchased by contacting the MSU Music Department secretary at the Fain Fine Arts Center at (940) 397-4267 between 1-5 p.m. when school is in session.