Duncan Cumming and Frank Glazer will open Piano Series at Franco center

LEWISTON – Wiscasset High School graduate Duncan Cumming, now an established concert pianist and educator, will join his former teacher, Frank Glazer, in an unusual program of piano music for four hands.

The Saturday, Sept. 29, performance will open the Piano Series season at the Franco-American Heritage Center.

The two pianists will perform works by Mozart, Schubert and Gabriel Fauré, and will end their recital with three Slavonic dances by Dvorak, arranged for one piano, four hands. Such a program is rarely performed in public because it is unusual for two such distinguished soloists to be brought together for the same concert.

Cumming and Glazer gave solo recitals during last year’s Piano Series at the Franco center. Both artists are known for their innovative and carefully constructed programs. Cumming was first introduced to music for more than one pianist when he studied with Glazer, an internationally acclaimed concert artist and teacher, and artist-in-residence at Bates College since 1985. Now a member of the piano faculty at the State University of New York at Albany, Cumming continues to collaborate with Glazer in presenting programs for four hands.

“Having the opportunity to play this music with anyone is a treat. Being able to play with one’s teacher was, for me, a defining moment in my development as a pianist,” Cumming said. “This was a great lesson for me as both a student and a future teacher. As a teacher, I have never let a year pass in which I don’t give a four-hand recital with my students.”

At Wiscasset, Cumming was high-school class president and captain of the baseball team. He likens performing four-hand music to work in cramped quarters, “kind of like a catcher and an umpire at a baseball game. Fortunately, we get along better than most catchers and umpires.”

“I began studying with Mr. Glazer in 1986,” he continued. “And in a way, I’ve never stopped.”

Cumming has performed solo recitals, concertos and chamber music across the United States and in Europe. A member of the piano faculty at the State University of New York at Albany, Cumming has lectured, given master classes and served on juries for competitions.

He has been a frequent guest on Maine Public Radio’s Live at 11 program. He performs with his wife, Hilary, a violinist, in the Cecilia Trio.

Glazer, 92, made his formal recital debut at New York’s Town Hall 71 years ago. One of the few living protégés of the legendary keyboard artist and Beethoven expert, Artur Schnabel, he has performed with chamber groups and leading orchestras throughout the world.

A legend in his own right, Glazer was a member of the artist faculty at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music for 15 years, before “retiring” in 1980 to Maine, where he has continued an active teaching and performance schedule. Glazer is known for his deep musical insights and breadth of repertoire, including the four-hand literature.

The concert will begin at at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for adults are $15, $12 for seniors; students 21 and younger admitted free.

For tickets and other information, call the box office at 689-2000, or go to www.francoamericanheritage.org.