Faculty recital will be 2 p.m. Sunday, April 13, 
Schneebeck Concert Hall

TACOMA, Wash. – Duane Hulbert, the Grammy Award-nominated pianist who has won critical acclaim in his national tours and whose talents have helped forge a generation of prize-winning young pianists, will give a faculty recital at University of Puget Sound.

The Passion of the Piano will take place at 2 p.m., Sunday, April 13, in Schneebeck Concert Hall on campus. Works by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Granados, and Liszt will be performed. Ticket information and directions are below.

“In all the pieces I’ll be playing, each composer tries to convey a story or mood,” Hulbert said. “Bach’s Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother was written when his brother left home to perform in a Swedish Army band.

“Critics have suggested that Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata, the pinnacle of his middle-period sonatas, was written after he came to grips with his impending deafness and, as one critic says, There is not a moment's doubt that the tragic passion is rushing deathwards.’”

“The Granados works, from Goyescas, were influenced by two specific paintings of the romantic Spanish artist Francisco Goya,” Hulbert continued. “Liszt’s Harmonies of Evening, the most introspective of the twelve Transcendental Etudes, paints a musical picture of a serene evening through harmonies, broken chords, arpeggios, and octaves. Liszt’s Rigoletto Paraphrase is a virtuoso showpiece written on themes from the quartet scene in the opera Rigoletto, where a broken-hearted young woman learns her beloved is unfaithful.  

The afternoon program in full will include:

Johann Sebastian Bach: Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother, B-flat Major, BWV 992
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata No. 23 in f minor, Opus 57 “Appassionata”
Enrique Granados: “Los Requiebros” and “Quejas o la Maja y el Ruiseñor,” from Goyescas
Franz Liszt: “Harmonies du Soir,” from Transcendental Etudes and “Rigoletto Paraphrase”

Hulbert, distinguished professor of music and head of the piano department at Puget Sound, delights audiences with his brilliant technique and dynamic control. He has been praised by the Los Angeles Times for a “singing tone of some size and a legato touch rare in any pianist born after 1930.”

In 1980 the Minnesota native and graduate of The Juilliard School captured the grand prize in the prestigious Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. He was subsequently invited three times to appear at the Gina Bachauer piano festival in Salt Lake City. To this major achievement Hulbert added a collection of notable awards, including prizes from the 1981 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in England, 1984 Paloma O’Shea International Piano Competition in Spain, and 1985 Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition in New York.

Hulbert has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras in the United States, including the Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Sinfonietta, and Seattle Symphony. He has appeared as a recitalist at Merkin Concert Hall in New York; Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; and at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, as well performing at Aspen Music Festival.

Hulbert's CD recording of the complete piano works by the late-romantic Russian composer Alexander Glazunov was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2002. Classics Today magazine wrote about the recording, “Gorgeous sound sets the seal on a production that makes the best case for this excellent but sadly neglected repertoire.”

A member of the Puget Sound faculty since 1986, Hulbert studied in New York with Sascha Gorodnitzki, Jeaneane Dowis, and Nina Svetlanova. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School and earned his doctorate from Manhattan School of Music.

FOR TICKETS order online at tickets.pugetsound.edu or call Wheelock Information Center at 253.879.6013 to purchase with a credit card. Admission is $12.50 for the general public; $8.50 for seniors (55+), students, military, and Puget Sound faculty and staff. The concert is free for current Puget Sound students. Group ticket rates are available for parties of 10 or more by calling 253.879.3555 in advance. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door.

For directions and a map of the campus:pugetsound.edu/directions

For accessibility information please contact accessibility@pugetsound.edu or 253.879.3236, or visit pugetsound.edu/accessibility.

Press photos of Duane Hulbert can be downloaded from: pugetsound.edu/pressphotos

Photos on page: Top right: Duane Hulbert, Top left: Johann Sebastian Bach, by Elias Haussmann 1748 ; Above right: Franz Liszt, by Henri Lehmann 1839 ; Above left: CD by Duane Hulbert, nominated for Grammy Award

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