FARMINGTON — Pianists Bridget Convey, Amy Maier, Steven Pane, and Sam Sytsma, who all teach at the University of Maine Farmington, will perform an  program of solo piano literature as part of “Sonitus: A Sound Studies University Forum.” The performance is free and open-to-the-public and will take place at 7:30 p.m., on Sept. 7, in the Performance Space at the Emery Community Arts Center on the UMF campus.

The pianists have chosen works that open distinctive sonic spaces: creating time and place (Liszt’s Italian travels in “Sposalizio”), exploring a natural element (Ravel’s water games in “Jeux d’Eau”), depicting waveforms (John Adams’s repetition in “China Gates”), evoking transcendence (Messiaen’s spiritual soundscape in “Regards des anges” from “Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jesu”). Other works creating which explore elements of sound include Barbara White’s “Reliquary,” Debussy’s “Claire de Lune,” William Byrd’s “A Fancie,” and Ana-Maria Avram’s “Musique per Mallarmé.”

Bridget Convey has been a featured musician at several national and international festivals, with a strong focus on music by living composers. Convey has been heard at venues throughout Maine, as well as the Ojai Music Festival  in California,  and Fechin Institute Chamber Concert Series in New Mexico among many others.

Amy Maier studied at UMaine Orono, at the Royal Scottish Academy in Glasgow Scotland, and at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  Maier is currently president of the Maine Music Teachers Association (MMTA) and an active performer and accompanist throughout Maine.

Steven Pane, professor of music at UMF, has performed internationally as a pianist, chamber musician and conductor. Pane recently performed American premieres of piano works by Romanian composers, Iancu Dumitrescu and Ana-Maria Avram, who explore elements of acoustical sounds in their music.

Originally from Farmington, Sam Sytsma has enjoyed a varied career performing as both a vocalist and keyboard musician. Sytsma studied music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Royal Conservatoire, and at The Hague in The Netherlands. He performs regularly with the St. Mary’s Schola and in the Portland Early Music Festival.

“Sonitus: A Sound Studies University Forum.” investigates what anthropologist Steven Feld calls “the primacy of sound as a modality of knowing and being in the world.”

All events are free and open to the public.

For more information, please contact Bridget Convey, [email protected], or Steven Pane ([email protected])