Richard Dowling plays Scott Joplin

Richard Dowling will play a concert entitled, "Great Scott! A Celebration of Scott Joplin Ragtime," in a Woods Hole livingroom on Friday, August 15, at 7:30 PM. Ticket holders will get a "concert info" email about 24h in advance, detailing the venue location, the parking situation, and other extremely important information.

Richard Dowling is deservedly famous, because on Saturday, April 1, 2017, the 100th anniversary of Scott Joplin’s death, Richard performed all 53 of Joplin’s piano works, in two concerts, in the  afternoon and evening in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. This had never been done before. My friend Bill Hoffman writes , "Richard received standing ovations at the end of all four halves of the two recitals. It’s enough to say that Richard played them flawlessly . . . He played all 3-1/2 hours of Joplin’s piano repertory from memory, a  formidable task when you consider that even a knowledgeable Joplin  aficionado might have trouble keeping them apart."

Richard Dowling's first Woods Hole concert, 364 days before his upcoming performance, was spellbinding. He played an all-Gershwin concert to honor the 100th anniversary of the publication of Rhapsody in Blue. His upcoming concert will feature a subset of his Carnegie Hall Scott Joplin extravaganza.

Richard will be playing a 1912 Steinway Model O that was once owned by Muk de Jari, star of film and stage on two continents, who had the piano in his flat on W 57th Street in New York. The piano came to Marthas Vineyard some decades later, where it was rebuilt by David Stanwood. Richard tells me, "I have played a few of David Stanwood’s rebuilt/modified pianos over the years and have always found them to be truly remarkable. He thoroughly understands the complex geometry of a piano’s key action and through his scientific innovations is able to transform the touch of a piano into something very sensitive and responsive." He's looking forward to playing this one.

Join us for a very, very special evening!