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Bach fans are in luck as two upcoming events at the Williams Center for the Arts will feature the composer’s works. Pianist Christopher Taylor will perform 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, and Uri Caine’s Jazz Group will take the stage 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 4 with his Goldberg Project.
Tickets are $18 for the public. There is also a special two-concert package for $23. Tickets can be obtained by calling the Williams Center box office at (610) 330-5009.
Taylor will perform works by Bach and Olivier Messiaen. The concert will open with Bach’s Goldberg Variations, followed by extensive sections of Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus (Twenty Ways of Looking at the Infant Jesus).
Taylor was propelled into the music pages of the nation’s newspapers when, in 1993, he became the first American since 1981 to reach the finals in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where he won the bronze medal. His resulting CD has received critical acclaim. Taylor was one of the first four recipients of the Gilmore Young Artists Award in 1990, a scholarship for exceptionally promising young American pianists. He also took first prize in the William Kapell International Piano Competition, held at the University of Maryland and Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Since his first solo recital at age 10, Taylor has given concerts in cities and communities in the U.S. and abroad. He has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, Houston Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony, and Pacific Symphony.
While pursuing his musical career, Taylor also attended Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in mathematics in 1992. He is on the faculty at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Caine last performed at the Williams Center in 2001. This time around, he will work his magic on Bach’s Goldberg Variations with a program that features Bach’s most famous set of theme and variation in an adventure of imagination, touching down in the worlds of gospel, jazz, classical, and contemporary urban music.
Born in Philadelphia, Caine attended the University of Pennsylvania and studied music composition with George Rochberg and George Crumb. After moving to New York City, he recorded 16 albums as a leader. His most recent CD is titled Shelf-Life.
Caine has received commissions from the Vienna Volksoper, The Seattle Chamber Players, Relache, The Beaux Arts Trio, Basel Chamber Orchestra, and Concerto Koln. The Pennsylvania Ballet performed Goldberg Variations in 2002, choreographed by Val Caniparoli. Caine was the director of the Venice Biennale for Music in 2003, where he also premiered his new work The Othello Syndrome. He has performed his version of the Diabelli Variations with orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, CBC Orchestra, and Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
In 2006, he was named composer-in-residence for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and premiered his Concerto for Two Pianos and Chamber Orchestra with Jeffrey Kahane in May.
Caine has received grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and Pew Foundation. He has performed at numerous classical and jazz festivals in the U.S. and abroad.
Lafayette’s community sponsor for these presentations is WDIY-FM.
The 2006-2007 Performance Series at Lafayette College is supported in part by gifts from Friends of the Williams Center for the Arts; by provisions of the Josephine Chidsey Williams Endowment, Alan and Wendy Pesky Artist-in-Residence Program, James Bradley Fund, and Ed Brunswick Jazz Fund; and by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour; the F.M. Kirby Foundation, Dexter and Dorothy Baker Foundation, and New England Foundation for the Arts.