School of Music
Amount Awarded: $3,473.00
Awarded for 2018-19
Title: Guest Artist Lecture, Masterclass, and Concert: Redefining the performance paradigm for the 21st century musicians
This grant would allow the award-winning classical and jazz pianist Geoffrey Burleson, to teach a public masterclass at the School Of Music, and play a solo concert featuring an eclectic and highly unusual program of works from the classical, contemporary, jazz, and rock musical genres. Burleson will also present a pre-concert lecture on defining a new classical performance model through innovative hybrids and style fusion.
---------
The project, Redefining the performance paradigm for the 21st century musicians consisted of
three educational/performance events:
1) Lecture on the career development challenges for Universities and their arts programs. Burleson’s unique brand of pianism, and his eclectic and successful musical career, have served as the 21st century model for his students at Princeton University and Hunter College in NY Traditional music education continues to serve as the known and well-tested model for the professional musician, however, the rapidly changing and evolving modern artistic scene has created a need for new and relevant models. These new models are based on innovative crossovers into the other genres of music such as jazz, pop, and rock;
and through the new hybrid programming and presentation styles. Dr. Burleson is a musician who has successfully merged the known classical traditions of concert
performance with the new and daring explorations of unusual programs and unique collaborations.
Dr. Burleson gave e a lecture to the piano performance majors, and spoke to them about his unique career path, networking and business opportunities, commission and preparation of new works, live concert improvisation, and performances, on Saturday, November 3, from 12:00-1:00pm. Students were deeply engaged and interested, especially in the Q&A part of the presentation, and asked relevant and entrepreneurial questions. After the lecture, students their appreciation for the great learning experience they has as a result of attending Dr. Burleson’s lecture.
2) Dr. Burleson is one of the leading exponents of the crossover and fusion concert programming. Live concert performance of two Utah premieres by the 19th century French composer Camille Saint-Saens, and works by American contemporary composers Vincent Persichetti and David Rakowski. Dr. Burleson’s recordings of Saint-Saens piano works for Naxos have received high international acclaim from Gramophone, International Record Review, Diapason (France) and elsewhere, and has garnered International Piano Choice Awards from International Piano Magazine. His Vincent Persichetti: Complete Piano Sonatas, a 2-CD set on which all twelve of Persichetti’s piano sonatas are united on one release for the first time, was accorded high acclaim from the BBC Music Magazine, a laudatory feature
review in Gramophone, and was listed among the best recordings released in 2008 by Fanfare and the American Record Guide.
The concert concluded with Burleson’s own arrangement and improvisation on Frank Zappa’s
BeBop Tango.
Dr. Burleson performed the program for an enthusiastic concert audience in Libby Gardner Hall, on Sunday, November 4 at 3 pm. The concert date was published in the School of Music online performance calendar, posted on the November concert schedule banner, and prominently displayed in front of the Libby Gardner Hall. Multiple email notifications about the event were sent to the SOM mailing lists.
3) Masterclass (open to the public), on Saturday, November 3 from 1-3pm in Dumke Recital Hall, with the students from the Piano Area. The masterclass consisted of four student performances, and a short lesson after each performance, which is customary for the 2 hour masterclass format. Students who performed represented both the undergraduate and graduate piano program. Excerpts from the video footage of the masterclass, as well as photos, have been posted on the Piano Area’s Facebook page.
Dr. Burleson’s lecture, masterclass, and performance at the School of Music provided learning outcomes which complement and enhance the effectiveness of the current music curriculum. For example, the piano area’s graduation requirements stipulate that all students must complete the course in Career Development for musicians; the course places great emphasis on music industry, business, entrepreneurship, and diversifying the career portfolio, and the Dee Grant project effectively and concretely complemented and furthered the information taught in this course.
Dr. Burleson’s concert, lecture, and masterclass furthered the reputation of the School of Music as an international educational institution by offering a rarely heard concert program, premieres of new works, highly skilled live improvisation, and crossover into jazz and pops genres. Dr. Burleson’s activities at the University of Utah provided our students with a successful model for the new performance paradigm for the 21st century musicians.