PSU Noon Concert Series: Fantasy, Spirituality, & Transcendence with Gregory Partain, piano

• Gregory Partain, piano

Johann Sebastian Bach — Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 906 ("I. Fantasia")
Ludwig van Beethoven — Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
Franz Liszt — Années de pèlerinage ("Years of Pilgrimage") III, S. 163 ("IV. Les jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este")

Guest pianist Gregory Partain presents a solo piano recital that joins three famous works of the keyboard repertoire. From J.S. Bach's dizzying Fantasia in C minor, the program leaps forward a century to Beethoven's final Piano Sonata, Op. 111 for a glimpse into the deaf composer's wonderous and all-encompassing inner world. The program concludes with the ecstasy of Franz Liszt's "Water Fountains of the Villa d'Este," a dazzling adventure in sound.

About Portland State University School of Music & Theater

https://www.pdx.edu/music-theater/

About Gregory Partain, piano

In his nearly four decades on the concert stage, Gregory Partain has performed as piano recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber music collaborator throughout the United States, as well as in Germany, Poland, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Russia, and Greece.

Concerto appearances include performances with the Seattle Symphony, the Lexington Philharmonic, the City of Athens (Greece) Symphony, the Yaroslavl (Russia) Symphony Orchestra, the Eugene (OR) Symphony, and the Sunriver and Peter Britt summer festival orchestras. Recent solo piano projects include Beethoven's Odyssey—a seven-evening lecture-recital series comprising 22 Beethoven sonatas, with performances in Lexington (KY), Portland (OR), Boston, and Chicago.

As a composer, Partain has focused primarily on vocal genres. In fall of 2015, the Lexington Singers and University of Kentucky Chorale presented Requiem, Partain's major work, scored for double chorus and orchestra. In 2022, he released his third compact disc recording, Intimations of the Immortal Beloved, a collaboration with tenor Daniel Weeks. The album includes vocal music by Beethoven, solo piano music by Robert Schumann, and Partain’s original song cycle Come to the Garden in Spring, inspired by love poetry of Rumi. An active member of the Kentucky Music Teachers Association and Music Teachers National Association (KMATA), Partain was named 2005 KMTA-MTNA Commissioned Composer. He has also performed recitals as the featured conference artist for the KMTA and Hawaii MTA.

https://www.transy.edu/academics/faculty/gpartain/