Baylor University’s Assistant Professor of Clarinet, Jun Qian, will present the next recital in his “East Meets West” series on Sunday, February 7, beginning at 2:30 p.m. in Roxy Grove Hall. The program will include two world premieres and will feature three additional members of the Baylor music faculty: Assistant Professor of Piano Kae Hosoda-Ayer, Professor of Viola Kathryn Steely, and Lecturer in Piano Paul Sánchez, as well as Dr. Sánchez’s wife, the soprano Kayleen Sánchez.
Dr. Qian’s program will open with three of the Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, Op. 83, written in 1910 by German composer Max Bruch.
Also to be heard is the world premiere performance of Paul Sánchez’s Free Translations of Li Ch’ing-chao: Three Musical Settings. Here is how Dr. Sánchez explains the origin of this song cycle:
“In the spring of 2015, Dr. Jun Qian asked me to compose a song cycle for clarinet, soprano, and piano. He left the choice of text up to me but asked that it be of Chinese origin. Having no familiarity with Chinese poetry, I was enthused to begin exploring the Chinese poetic tradition. Serendipitously, I soon thereafter met Dr. Luke Taylor, an English professor at Baylor University. In our very first conversation, I mentioned to him that I had been invited to compose these new songs for Dr. Qian and asked him if, by any chance, he had any knowledge of Chinese poetry. To my delight and utter surprise, he was not only fluent in Chinese, but had also lived in China for two years and had developed a keen interest in Chinese poetry. We immediately began our interdisciplinary collaboration.”
Concluding the program will be another world premiere, that of American composer Libby Larsen’s Ferlinghetti for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano. These six movements are based on verses by the 96-year-old American avant garde poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
This recital is free of charge and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor University School of Music at 254-710-3991.