Pianist Claude Cymerman and Violinists in Easter Sunday Recital

April 18, 2000

April 18, 2000, Greencastle, Ind. - Claude Cymerman, DePauw University professor of piano, and his guests will present a special chamber music recital on Easter Sunday, April 23. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. in DePauw's Performing Arts Center, Thompson Recital Hall. It is free and open to the public.

Cymerman, along with DePauw music faculty members Dan Rizner, violin, and Eric Edberg, cello, will be joined by internationally known violinists Federico Agostini and Eri Noda and violist Sharilyn Spicknall. Agostini and Noda will be appearing at DePauw immediately following their performances at the International Chamber Music Festival in Tampa, Fla. 

The musicians will perform piano quintets by Louis Vierne and Anton Dvorak. Vierne, a well-known French composer for organ, also wrote symphonies, choral works, piano and chamber music, which are almost totally neglected today. The featured Vierne quintet was written in memory of the composer's 17-year-old son, who died on the battlefield during World War I. According to Cymerman, it is a "very dramatic, passionate and moving work."

To contrast the gloomy atmosphere of the Vierne work, the group will also perform a 'happier' and well-known Dvorak quintet. Both works were recently performed by Cymerman and Agostini in France, where a French newspaper critic called the performance "sublime."

"The Vierne quintet is a true masterpiece, at least equal to the other great piano quintets of the repertoire, and it remains a total mystery to me why it is so rarely performed," says Cymerman. "I am happy to share this extraordinary work with my friends on stage and with the audience."

For current information on School of Music events, contact the School of Music office at (765) 658-4380.

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