GORHAM – Renowned pianist, faculty member and alumna Anastasia Antonacos will perform a concert of solo piano music Friday, Oct. 3, to kick off the University of Southern Maine School of Music’s Spotlight Series. Her program will move from Bach and Beethoven to contemporary Chinese composer Lei Liang.

“I chose this program for its variety of character and color,” said Antonacos. “They are all pieces that I have been interested in for many years.”

The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in Corthell Concert Hall. Tickets are $15, $10 for seniors and $5 for children and students with an ID. For reservations, call 780-5555.

Antonacos, a native of Saco who resides in Portland, will open her program with Bach’s “Concerto in the Italian Style” which, she said, has always been one of her favorites because of its “beautifully expressive slow movement and playful third movement.”

That will be followed by Beethoven’s “Sonata in E-Flat Major.” “It has, I believe, more humor than any of the other 31 piano sonatas,” said Antonacos. “It has no real slow movement, but plenty of variation and surprises in its four movements. The chase element of the exciting last movement has earned it the nickname ‘The Hunt.'”

Antonacos will close the first half of the concert with “Tian” and “Magma” – sections from the larger work “My Windows,” by Lei. Following intermission, she will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet: Ten Pieces for Piano,” taken from his ballet of the same name written in 1935.

Antonacos has performed worldwide as a solo recitalist and as a chamber musician. A graduate of the USM School of Music, where she matriculated at age 15, she holds doctoral and master’s degrees in piano performance from Indiana University. She has been a chamber music coach in Bay Chamber Concerts’ Next Generation program for many years and teaches at Bates and Bowdoin colleges.


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