Thursday, March 28, 2024 8pm to 10pm
About this Event
Mason Hall, Fredonia, NY 14063
"Bridge Across the Ocean" ... Improvised pieces for two pianos based on the musical compositions of Czech and American composers featuring JIŘÍ PAZOUR and ANN PARK ROSE.
Jiří Pazour: Bio
Jiří Pazour's artistic activity can be summarized in three areas - composition, concert and pedagogical. As a composer, he creates orchestral, chamber and solo compositions. His compositions are regularly broadcast by Czech Radio, are published on audio media and are on the regular repertoire of top Czech and foreign soloists and ensembles. In 2011 he won the 1st prize in the composition competition Tribune of Chamber Music Pilsen 2011 for the song cycle for soprano and piano for the lyrics of folk poetry "The Sun Darkened for Me". In 2015, at the concert of the Chamber Soloist of Detroit at the First Presbyterian Church of Farmington, the American premiere of his composition "Awakening of the Pearls" composed for violin, French horn and piano. He is also heavily involved in children's work. A number of children's songs were created, for example on the lyrics of Jiří Žáček, Josef Kainar, Jiří Suchý, Robin Král. His songs for children are regularly broadcast on Czech Television in the programs Kouzelná školka and Muzicírování. Jitka Molavcová, Magdalena Reifová, Petr Vacek, etc. have them in their repertoire. In addition, Jiri Pazour also creates stage and stage music intervening in various genres. He collaborates with important theater and radio directors, such as Tomáš Vondrovic, Lída Engelová, Karel Weinlich, with the publishing house SUPRAPHON MUSIC a.s., Portal, Tympanum, ARSCI, etc.
Jiří Pazour's solo concert activity is mainly focused on piano improvisation. "Evenings of Piano Improvisation by Jiří Pazour" are gaining great popularity at home and abroad due to their dynamism, spontaneity and diversity. In addition to the Czech Republic, he also performs in Germany, Poland, Slovakia, France, England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Malta, Greece, Western Australia, the USA, Canada, South Korea and Japan. In January 2017, he recorded a new joint CD in the USA with the American piano improviser Ann Park-Rose.
Since 2015 he has been cooperating with PhDr. Matej Lipsky PhD. in music therapy courses for the targeted use of sound and music for therapeutic purposes. He has been teaching at the Prague Conservatory since 1995. He currently teaches the subject Sheet Music and Piano Improvisation at the department of Piano.
Ann Rose: Bio
Ann Park-Rose was born in South Korea, and began studying the piano at age five. She has been improvising and composing since childhood, and has pursued these passions into three music degrees, at Wilfrid Laurier University, and the State University of New York at Fredonia. Ms. Park has been deeply involved with improv throughout her life, having participated in the Music for People workshop for many years under the tutelage of Grammy Winner David Darling. She is very engaged with the improv scene in Western New York and beyond, having lectured at Fredonia State University, and improvising regularly with dance groups, the Improv Collective at Fredonia, and as a soloist. Ann is the winner of numerous competitions and awards, including most recently a full scholarship to the Golandsky Summer Institute at Princeton University, where she studied the Taubman approach to the piano. As a pianist, she has appeared with the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, and has appeared on CBC television. Her music has been performed and recorded by artists in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. She has published music for solo viola through the American Viola Society and has toured Europe with her duo piano partner Jiří Pazour, playing improvised music for two pianos - a rare passion for the both of them which led to a CD recording entitled "Bridge Across the Ocean." She earned a Masters degree in piano performance at the SUNY Fredonia School of Music under Father Sean Duggan, and holds two bachelor's degrees in Music Composition and Music Education. Ms. Park is a general music teacher and chorus director at Sinclairville Elementary School in Western New York. She is currently on faculty at SUNY Fredonia teaching, one of her greatest passions, free Improvisation.