About this event
Richard Dowling will play a piano concert in a Woods Hole livingroom on Saturday, August 29, 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 writes, "I’d like to begin the program with a couple of classical pieces, followed by some Joplin, a beautiful jazz work by Bix Beiderbecke, and then close out the program with a quartet of works by a great American composer from New Orleans, Louis Moreau Gottschalk - two of his ragtime pieces, a beautiful lament, and closing the program with his rousing, patriotic tour-de-force called The Union. It’s a virtuoso medley of three American national anthems including The Star Spangled Banner, Hail Columbia!, and Yankee Doodle . . . a perfect musical celebration of America’s 250th birthday."
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 was spellbinding. He played an all-Gershwin concert to honor the 100th anniversary of the publication of Rhapsody in Blue. His second concert, last year, was entitled, "Great Scott." It was a stunning reciital of several Scott Joplin pieces.
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."
This year Richard has designed the program to emphasize this, "magnificent Steinway with such a sensitive action/touch and beautiful tone quality . . . to highlight what the piano is capable of." The piano is on long-term loan to us thanks to Jeremy Berlin, a Martha's Vineyard musician, and his son Silas, a classical pianist who lives in the Pacific Northwest. We are grateful to Jeremy and Silas for their generosity!
Join us for a very, very special evening!
-----
Woods Hole Music, Inc. hosts musicians from New Orleans, New York City, Nashville, Brazil, Europe, and wherever it can find mind-blowingly amazing players. The best way to find out about these concerts is to join the mailing list by sending a request to isen@isen.com. Woods Hole Music, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a registered Massachusetts charity that welcomes (but does not require) appreciative donations.
