THE AMERICAN PIANO
The American Piano is a hot melting pot of classical and jazz. Its performer BEATRICE will keep you engaged with jazz rhythms, anecdotes, and virtuosity.
She'll even get you singing!
PROGRAMME
3 Preludes, George Gershwin
-No.1 in B-Flat Major
-No.2 in C-Sharp Minor
-No.3 in E-Flat Major
The Design, Lola Perrin
Fingerbreaker, Jelly Roll Morton
Valley of Bones, Margaret Bonds (with audience participation!)
INTERVAL
(15 mins)
Navajo Vocable No.1, Connor Chee
Female Rain, Connor Chee
Down a Country Lane, Aaron Copland
Clouds, Florence Price
Four Seasonal Sketches, Betty Jackson King
- Spring Intermezzo
- Summer Interlude
- Autumn Dance
- Winter Holiday
Moonglow, Art Tatum. Arr Jed Distler.
******
NOTES.
GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937) wrote exciting, timeless music that crossed genres from Broadway, jazz and classical. When Gershwin was asked by contralto Marguerite d’Alvarez to be her accompanist in a series of recitals, she also requested that he compose a solo piano work. He responded with a set of preludes, some developed from melodies in his tune books.
LOLA PERRIN (b.1962-) is a composer, pianist and climate activist. She is American (with roots in the Ukraine and Hungary) and lives in France. She is the sister of jazz and world music composer-pianist Roland Perrin and is published by Boosey & Hawkes.
JELLY ROLL MORTON (1890 -1941) was an early jazz pioneer who rose to fame in the 1920s as the leader of Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers. He was also the first African American jazz musician to play in a mixed group of black and white Americans.
MARGARET BONDS (1913-1972) was a child prodigy pianist, composer and student of Florence Price. She wrote over two hundred works, most of which were lost after her death. Bonds is widely known for her classical arrangements of negro spirituals, she was additionally a civil rights activist.
AARON COPLAND (1900 -1990) Down a Country Lane was commissioned and featured by Life Magazine in 1962. Two years later Copland arranged the piece for chamber orchestra which was premiered in the UK by the London Junior Orchestra.
CONNOR CHEE (b.1987-). First Nations Navajo tribe pianist and composer Connor Chee is known for combining his classical piano training with his Native American heritage. Chee made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 12 after winning a gold medal in the World Piano Competition. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, Chee’s solo piano music is inspired by traditional Navajo chants and songs
FLORENCE BEATRICE PRICE (1887-1953) was born into a racially segregated society two years after the abolition of American slavery. Although a prizewinning composer in her time, her career was juxtaposed with denied access to many areas of the classical institution on account of her race and sex. Her composition, Clouds, uses the symbolism found in African American art where clouds represent freedom. Although Price frames Clouds within a traditional classical structure it is created to sound like a free improvisation. Moving in opposition to the societal segregation of her time she integrates sounds that would have been kept separate, western classical with black heritage music heard in her Chopin, Ravel, Rachmaninoff and jazz fusion.
BETTY JACKSON KING (1928-1994) was a singer, pianist, composer and President of America’s National Association of Negro Musicians. Known primarily as a vocal composer, her Seasonal Sketches for solo piano are sublimely lyrical and with jazz influences.
ART TATUM (1890-1956) was a largely self taught piano prodigy who is known as the greatest jazz pianist of all time. Today his music still remains as the standard by which all mainstream jazz piano is measured by.
JED DISTLER (b. 1956-) is a NYC based composer, pianist and music critic. He has an expert knowledge of Art Tatum’s style and transcribed Tatum’s main improvisations as a book collection called ‘Jazz Masters’ series. On hearing about Distler’s project Bill Evans also asked Distler to transcribe his improvisations too.
ABOUT BEATRICE
PIANIST & COMPOSER
Beatrice Nicholas is a British concert pianist performing solo and chamber music internationally. Her solo recitals have been noted for their culturally rich and ethnically diverse programming, often combining classical and jazz together. Beatrice has performed at the major classical music venues including the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Center, Kings Place, Snape Maltings, Edinburgh Queen’s Hall. Her latest release Black and Classical, throws a spotlight on classical music by black women and has been described as a ‘stunning record’ by Bandcamp. She has enjoyed collaboration with oboist Nicholas Daniel, composers Lola Perrin, Matthias Sparlingher and recently appeared in the Hollywood movie The Beekeeper playing music by Federic Chopin. Beatrice is also a member of the Chineke! Chamber Ensemble; an ensemble of principal players from the Chineke! Orchestra, Europe's first professional orchestra of majority Black & ethnically diverse musicians
As well as a concert pianist Beatrice is a composer who has received commissions from Nottingham Chamber Music Festival, Dark Design Graphics Company and was featured composer for Black History Month 2021 at the British Classical Foundation where she premiered Flight for solo piano. Her 2021 release Psalmus, which was featured on BBC Radio 3, transforms a twelfth century plainchant into a modern cinematic sound for cello and harp. Her 2023 album release Arrangements for Cello and Piano transforms traditional piano music by Schubert and Brahms into new chamber music works for cello and piano.