Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Chamber musician Robert Conway in concert at the music auditorium at the School of Music, Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts, Arthur Wint Drive on Friday. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
ON FRIDAY evening the auditorium at the School of Music at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts was filled with the sounds of Bela Bartok, Frederic Chopin and Johannes Brahms.
The occasion was a concert featuring American solo recitalist and chamber musician Robert Conway on piano, with Jamaica's Steven Woodham on violin, as special guest performer. The private concert was orchestrated by the United States Embassy in Jamaica.
Conway has been a pianist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra since 1989. He received a Bachelor's degree in piano performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and Master's and Doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan. His solo performances include the European premiere of Tania Leon's Kabiosell with the RIAS Orchestra and the United States premiere of Iannis Xenakis' Akea.
Woodham is a graduate in violin performance and chamber music from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. He also earned an Artist Diploma in violin performance from the Boston Conservatory of Music.
BALLADES
The first segment of the concert, featuring Conway solo, was dedicated to ballades composed by Chopin. The performance included Ballade number one in G Minor, Opus 23 and Ballade in F Minor - Opus 52. On completion of the Ballade in F Minor, the last in the series, Conway decided to change the pace for just a moment.
"I feel that after all that, since I am coming from America, I should play a brief little piece by an American." The result was a work by Gershwin.
Woodham joined Conway on the stage after the intermission and the two proceeded to deliver works composed by Brahms and Bartok, with whom they would end the evening. The segment dedicated to Brahms included F.A.E Sonata and Sonata number 2 in A Major, Opus 100.
Six of Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances and an encore brought the evening to a close. The folk dances, Dance with Sticks, Waistband Dance, Stamping Dance, Hornpipe Dance, Romanian Polka and Quick Dance had been transcribed for violin and piano by Zoltan Szekely.
