Feb. 10, 2017
For Immediate Release
By Jesse Harp, student news writer, Office of University Communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — Pianist Dr. Greg Partain of Transylvania University will be performing a recital titled “Beethoven Heroics”at Campbellsville University's The Gheens Recital Hall in Gosser Fine Arts Center on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 8 p.m on 210 University Drive, Campbellsville, Ky.
Partain will perform two Beethoven piano sonatas - Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53 “Waldstein” and Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 “Appassionata.” The concert is free and open to the public.
He will also give a master class for Campbellsville University's piano students on Friday, Feb. 24 from 10 a.m. until noon at The Gheens Recital Hall.
Partain, who has spent three decades on the concert stage, has performed as a piano recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber music collaborator throughout the United States, Germany, Poland, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Russia and Greece. He has acquired critical acclaim in the United States and all over the world for his wide-range of live CD recordings.
“BBC Music Magazine” describes Partain as a “gifted pianist,” and states “every item is intelligently and sympathetically played.”
A writer from classical music review magazine “American Record Guide” describes some of Partain's work as, “some of the best Scarlatti I've ever heard. These approach the same level as Horowitz's legendary recordings.” “All Music Guide” depicts his ensembles as embodying, “brilliant clarity, crisp articulation and a magnificent sense of placement.”
In 2015, Partian completed a sabbatical project in which he presented Beethoven's Odyssey, a seven-recital series comprising 22 Beethoven piano sonatas, with performances in Portland, Oregon; Boston, Mass.; Chicago, Ill., Lexington, Ky. and other United States cities.
Partian is also a composer of his own work, which includes “Requiem,” a large scale concert piece for chorus and orchestra, “Stabat Mater Dolorosa” for a cappella chorus and “Come to the Garden in Spring,” a song cycle for soprano and piano based on spiritual love poems of Jalaluddin Rumi, the 13th century Islamic mystic.
After receiving his Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance from the University of Washington and master's and doctoral degrees from The University of Texas at Austin as a Javits Fellowship recipient, he began teaching at Transylvania University in Lexington in 1991. He received a Bingham Award for Excellence in Teaching at Transylvania.
For more information on the concert, contact Dr. Wesley Roberts, professor of music, at (270) 789-5287 or at mwroberts@campbellsville.edu.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 4,500 students offering over 80 programs of study including 19 master's degrees, six postgraduate areas and seven pre-professional programs. The university has off-campus centers in Louisville, Harrodsburg, Somerset and Hodgenville with instructional sites in Elizabethtown, Owensboro and Summersville and a full complement of online programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.