ongoing projects
Below are opportunities to make a tax-deductible donation to three ongoing projects.
I have received support for each project from Eastern Michigan University and private donors. Additional funds are needed to sustain these projects.
Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you in advance!
Project No. 1: Bach on the Arno
During 2017 and 2018, I recored the six keyboard Partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach on the Arno 284 piano. The recording will be published as a two CD set by Fleur de Son Classics and distributed by Naxos. .
Written between 1725 and 1730, the Partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach are a set of six suites originally written for harpsichord. They were the last of his keyboard suites and are the most technically demanding and musically mature of his keyboard works.
Modern piano construction directly conflicts with the goals of this music, making this translation a challenge. The modern concert piano excels in music written in the late 19th century and is essentially unchanged in its design since the 1880s. The cross-strung design, whereby the bass strings cross over the tenor strings, creates a very powerful, blended, and even sound. Because the bass and tenor strings share the same resonating space on the soundboard, individual lines are difficult to discern and the distinction between each register is lost. Many recordings of Bach on the piano miss the primary aesthetic value of this music, the independence of voices.
I have unique access to the Arno 284, the only one of its kind in the world. It is nine feet four inches long and straight-strung. The straight-strung plane allows the polyphony of composers like Bach to be revealed like no other instrument before, particularly in the low-tenor and bass areas where clarity typically suffers. The builder, Arno Patin, precisely calculated each string length on the Arno 284 to achieve maximum overtones, stress rate, and tension. The instrument features a dynamogenous soundboard, a revolutionary design that allows sustain and clarity through the entire range of the piano. Performers frequently rely on the pedal to sustain notes on modern pianos, yet use of the pedal also adds to muddiness. The Arno 284 is built so that the tone sustains and sings without it. After ten years in production, the piano debuted in the beginning of 2016. In April 2016, I gave the very first concert on the piano.
This recording will present this significant literature on an instrument that can truly allow it to be heard with the clarity and beauty that is needed to fully express its content. It will be the first recording ever made on the historic Arno 284.
I have received support for this project from Eastern Michigan University and private donors.
Please consider donating to help finish this project. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you in advance!
Project No. 2: At Home
Since 2012, I have given close to 100 salon-style performances in private homes in Southeast Michigan. Initially conceived as "practice concerts" for larger public concerts, they quickly became the primary motivating force for my creative work. These events have now been sustained for many years and intensified by close fiends and music lovers who value community building alongside music making in intimate environments.
"At Home" begins a project of audio and video recordings done exclusively at home, hoping to capture the intimacy of these evenings and informal music making. These recordings aim to reclaim an older style of recording and performance style that was more direct and immediate.
The first recordings "At Home" will be of the complete Brahms character pieces.
I have received support for this project from Eastern Michigan University and private donors.
Please consider donating to help continue this project. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you in advance!
Project No. 3: Live at Pease - Music Living Project
Since 2012, I have performed two public concerts per year in historic Pease Auditorium at Eastern Michigan University. Each concert is documented and available free, live, and unedited online. Currently there are more than fifty performances available with more to come.
Live at Pease continues in 2018 and 2019 with two All-Chopin Recitals. Both the live concerts and video documentation need resources in order to take place.
I have received support for this project from Eastern Michigan University and private donors.
Please consider donating to help continue this project. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you in advance!
I have received support for each project from Eastern Michigan University and private donors. Additional funds are needed to sustain these projects.
Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you in advance!
Project No. 1: Bach on the Arno
During 2017 and 2018, I recored the six keyboard Partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach on the Arno 284 piano. The recording will be published as a two CD set by Fleur de Son Classics and distributed by Naxos. .
Written between 1725 and 1730, the Partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach are a set of six suites originally written for harpsichord. They were the last of his keyboard suites and are the most technically demanding and musically mature of his keyboard works.
Modern piano construction directly conflicts with the goals of this music, making this translation a challenge. The modern concert piano excels in music written in the late 19th century and is essentially unchanged in its design since the 1880s. The cross-strung design, whereby the bass strings cross over the tenor strings, creates a very powerful, blended, and even sound. Because the bass and tenor strings share the same resonating space on the soundboard, individual lines are difficult to discern and the distinction between each register is lost. Many recordings of Bach on the piano miss the primary aesthetic value of this music, the independence of voices.
I have unique access to the Arno 284, the only one of its kind in the world. It is nine feet four inches long and straight-strung. The straight-strung plane allows the polyphony of composers like Bach to be revealed like no other instrument before, particularly in the low-tenor and bass areas where clarity typically suffers. The builder, Arno Patin, precisely calculated each string length on the Arno 284 to achieve maximum overtones, stress rate, and tension. The instrument features a dynamogenous soundboard, a revolutionary design that allows sustain and clarity through the entire range of the piano. Performers frequently rely on the pedal to sustain notes on modern pianos, yet use of the pedal also adds to muddiness. The Arno 284 is built so that the tone sustains and sings without it. After ten years in production, the piano debuted in the beginning of 2016. In April 2016, I gave the very first concert on the piano.
This recording will present this significant literature on an instrument that can truly allow it to be heard with the clarity and beauty that is needed to fully express its content. It will be the first recording ever made on the historic Arno 284.
I have received support for this project from Eastern Michigan University and private donors.
Please consider donating to help finish this project. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you in advance!
Project No. 2: At Home
Since 2012, I have given close to 100 salon-style performances in private homes in Southeast Michigan. Initially conceived as "practice concerts" for larger public concerts, they quickly became the primary motivating force for my creative work. These events have now been sustained for many years and intensified by close fiends and music lovers who value community building alongside music making in intimate environments.
"At Home" begins a project of audio and video recordings done exclusively at home, hoping to capture the intimacy of these evenings and informal music making. These recordings aim to reclaim an older style of recording and performance style that was more direct and immediate.
The first recordings "At Home" will be of the complete Brahms character pieces.
I have received support for this project from Eastern Michigan University and private donors.
Please consider donating to help continue this project. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you in advance!
Project No. 3: Live at Pease - Music Living Project
Since 2012, I have performed two public concerts per year in historic Pease Auditorium at Eastern Michigan University. Each concert is documented and available free, live, and unedited online. Currently there are more than fifty performances available with more to come.
Live at Pease continues in 2018 and 2019 with two All-Chopin Recitals. Both the live concerts and video documentation need resources in order to take place.
I have received support for this project from Eastern Michigan University and private donors.
Please consider donating to help continue this project. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you in advance!
