New CD Set Debuts in Tacoma: 
Jacobsen Series Concert is 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12


TACOMA, Wash. – Pianist Duane Hulbert spent 30 years playing and marveling at the works of Russian romantic composer Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936). He has spent the last 15 years recording all 19 solo and duet piano works by the talented composer—five full hours of music.

When the new four-CD collection Glazunov: Complete Works for Piano is released later this month, Tacoma audiences will be the first to hear Hulbert perform a selection of the often magical and always enjoyable Glazunov compositions. The concert also will feature guest pianist Yoshikazu Nagai ’92, a professor at San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a former student of Hulbert’s. The 4-CD set will be on sale at the concert.

The Complete Piano Works of Glazunov CD Release Concert will be held Sunday, Oct. 12, starting at 2 p.m. in Schneebeck Concert Hall. Ticket information is below, and everyone is welcome.

The afternoon performance will include four works by Glazunov—Three Miniatures, Opus 42; Prelude and Two Mazurkas; Idylle, Opus 103; and Grand Concert Waltz in E-flat Major, Opus 41. The concert will conclude with a duet by Hulbert and Nagai, the Fantasie in F minor for Two Pianos, Opus 104.

 In addition Yoshikazu Nagai will offer a master class for Puget Sound students. It is free and open to the public, and will start at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, in Schneebeck Concert Hall.  

Hulbert says he was first introduced to the music of Glazunov when he was preparing for the 1982 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition. Among the works that contestants could choose to play was Glazunov’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in Bb minor, a piece that Hulbert had never heard before. In fact the piece was not yet published outside of Russia, and Hulbert had to search New York Public Library for the Performing Arts for a copy. Hulbert found he enjoyed the grand, romantic style of Glazunov, and over the next three decades he explored other works by the composer. 

“After all these years, I feel as if I know Alexander Glazunov and could even say I have experienced three degrees of separation from him,” Hulbert says.

Hulbert tells a story of how he recently met a violinist whose father had hoped to attend Saint. Petersburg Conservatory, where Glazunov was director from 1905 to 1928. The father met Glazunov on the street one day and, speaking about his dream, admitted he could not afford the tuition, nor could he submit a scholarship application, because he could not write. Glazunov responded, “When I get back to the office, I’ll fill one out for you and send it to myself.” The father, Michael Rosenker, later became associate concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.

Alexander Glazunov was steeped in the Russian Romantic tradition, with mentors including Tchaikovsky, Rubenstein, and Rimsky-Korsakov. Over a prolific career as professor, director, and composer, Glazunov wrote more than 100 works.

The internationally acclaimed musician, who began composing at age 11, was considered a prodigy. It is said that he reconstructed the overture of Alexander Borodin’s Prince Igor from memory, having heard it played on the piano only once. Although shifting tastes in classical music at one point made Glazunov’s romantic works seem dated, his music is having a revival as more recordings are made of his work.

The Jacobsen Series, named in honor of Leonard Jacobsen, former chair of the piano department at Puget Sound, has been running since 1984. The Jacobsen Series Scholarship Fund awards annual music scholarships to outstanding student performers and scholars. The fund is sustained entirely by season subscribers and ticket sales.

DUANE HULBERT, distinguished professor of music and head of the Puget Sound piano department, has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras, including the Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Sinfonietta, and Seattle Symphony. He has performed as a recitalist at Merkin Concert Hall in New York; Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; and at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. He also has been a guest at the Eastman School of Music Summer Piano Festival and the Music Studies Abroad festival in France. In 1980 Hulbert, a native of Minnesota, captured the grand prize in the prestigious Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City. Numerous other awards followed, including first prize in the 1985 Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition. Hulbert's first CD of  piano works by Alexander Glazunov was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2002. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School and his doctorate from Manhattan School of Music.

YOSHIKAZU NAGAI ’92 has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at the National Theater Recital Hall in Taiwan; at Merkin Concert Hall and Carnegie Hall’s recital hall  in New York; at Benaroya Hall in Seattle; and at The Kennedy Center Terrace Theatre and The Phillips Collection, in Washington, D.C. He has performed on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, at prestigious music festivals, and at venues in Hong Kong, Italy, and Canada. The German-born pianist won numerous competitions, including the 2002 Washington International Competition for Piano. Nagai teaches at San Francisco Conservatory of Music; the Eastern Music Festival, in North Carolina; and at the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, in China. He earned his master’s degree at Cleveland Institute of Music, and his Bachelor of Music degree at University of Puget Sound. Nagai grew up in Kent, Wash.

FOR TICKETS order online at tickets.pugetsound.edu, or call Wheelock Information Center at 253.879.3100 to purchase with a credit card. Admission is $15 for the general public; $10 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 and Yoshikazu Nagai can be downloaded from: pugetsound.edu/pressphotos.
Photos on page: Top right: Duane Hulbert; Top left: Cover of the new 4-CD collection; Above left: Yoshikazu Nagai.

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