icercare: To search out, seek explore, study. This Italian verb gave its name to a complex instrumental composition that you might most readily associate with Bach’s The Musical Offering. One of the most far-reaching examples of this genre is the work by the Italian composer of the late Renaissance, Girolamo Frescobaldi, which opens this concert – and casts its long shadow over everything that follows.

This concert looks down the centuries at one of the most inquisitive branches of the musical tradition. What are the limits of piano technique? Does some music need to be seen as well as heard? Can you listen to music in ways that have nothing to do with traditional Western ways of engagement? Is a work in which most or all the tonal elements have been removed still music or should we call it something else? Are there limits to the sounds composers and performers can extract from a piano?

Exploring these powerful questions with the ANAM piano cohort will be the new ‘Ambassador for New Music’ (The Ottawa Citizen), pianist Claudia Chan. A dazzlingly gifted and eloquent advocate for contemporary composers, she was recently Artist-in-Residence of the contemporary music department at the famed Fondation Royaumont in France, where she organized and presented concerts, interdisciplinary projects, and gave a series of lecture-recitals on new piano music.

Girolamo FRESCOBALDI Ricercare cromatico post il Credo
Helmut LACHENMANN Wiegenmusik
Helmut LACHENMANN Guero
LIGETI Études (selections)
Vassos NICOLAOU Études (selections)
Unsuk CHIN Six Piano Études (selections)
Györg KURTÁG Játékok (selections)
Francesco FILIDEI Preludio
Francesco FILIDEI Garibaldi’s Little Rock
Francesco FILIDEI For Claudia
Francesco FILIDEI Toccata
Györg LIGETI Musica Ricercata

Claudia Chan director/piano  ANAM Pianists

Friday 05 April 2024, 7 PM

Abbotsford Convent, Rosina Auditorium, 1 St Heliers St

TICKETS: A Little Extra $60.00; Standard $40.00; A Little Less $20.00

Buy now