Pianist Takeshi Nagayasu, the first place winner of the 2018 PianoSummer Jacob Flier Competition at SUNY New Paltz, will return to campus on March 12 to perform a special recital at Studley Theatre, ahead of his debut solo performance at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York City on March 23.
Nagayasu will be the second PianoSummer at New Paltz competitor to give a solo recital at Carnegie since this new reward for first place winners was added to the Jacob Flier Piano Competition in 2017.
Before that show, Nagayasu will bring his prodigious talent to New Paltz audiences. His performance on Tuesday, March 12 will take place at 8 p.m. in Studley Theatre as part of the spring 2019 Department of Music Concert Series. The program will consist entirely of works by Frederic Chopin, including Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante Op. 22, Nocturne Op. 62 No.1, Barcarolle Op. 60, and Sonata No.3 Op. 58.
Tickets are $8 for the general public; $6 for senior citizens, SUNY New Paltz faculty/staff, and alumni; and $3 for students, and can be purchased online or at the Parker Theatre Box Office, open 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Will call and box office will also open one hour prior to the performance in the Studley Theatre lobby.
Nagayasu takes the stage at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 23 for another all-Chopin recital. The program, which will run about 75 minutes, includes Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brillante Op. 22, Mazurka Op. 59, Barcarolle Op. 60, Scherzo No. 4 Op. 54, Nocturne Op. 62 No.1, and Sonata No. 3 Op. 58.
Tickets to this show are free and can be obtained by calling the Carnegie box office at 212-247-7800. There is a limit of two tickets per person.
Nagayasu, of Japan, is enrolled at the Juilliard School and previously attended the Cleveland Institute of Music. Before coming to the United States he spent five years studying music abroad through the Music Middle School, affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory in China. In addition to solo performance, Nagayasu is well versed in collaborative piano and chamber music and in composition. He has accompanied several violinists, cellists and vocalists in performance, including a recent concert with vocalist Sarah Glieberman in the Harkness Chapel in Cleveland, Ohio.
Nagayasu will return to New Paltz once again during PianoSummer 2019, as co-headliner at the Flier Competition Gala with 2018 second and third place winners, Rixiang Huang and Hao Tian, both of China.
About the Jacob Flier Piano Competition
The Flier Piano Competition was established to honor the distinguished Russian pianist Jacob Flier, who taught for many years at the Moscow Conservatory and who brought up generations of prominent musicians, including PianoSummer at New Paltz Artistic Director Vladimir Feltsman. The competition is open to students up to age 32.
PianoSummer at New Paltz is a yearly event sponsored by the School of Fine & Performing Arts at SUNY New Paltz.
For more information, visit newpaltz.edu/piano or newpaltz.edu/music/concertseries.html.
