Pianist Daria Rabotkina will present a concert in memory of former Eastman School of Music Joan and Martin Messinger Dean Douglas Lowry at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m.
Rabotkina, who graduated from Eastman School of Music with a Doctorate of Musical Arts in 2012, is the winner of the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, and has been lauded as a pianist “full of fire and warmth” (The Plain Dealer). She has performed as a soloist with the San Francisco and New World Symphonies under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas and with the Kirov Orchestra and Valery Gergiev in a four concert North American tour. Her 2012 solo record Beethoven 33 Variations On a Waltz By Anton Diabelli, Op. 120 Schubert Moments Musicaux, D. 780 (Concert Artists Guild Records, 2012) has received critical acclaim, and she has garnered competition prizes at competitions such as the Virtuosi per Musica dia Pianoforte in the Czech Republic, Tbilisi Competition in Georgia, Sendai Competition in Japan, and the Montreal International Musical Competition.
Rabotkina’s upcoming performance at Carnegie Hall features Bach’s Italian Concerto, BWV 971; Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111, and Schumann’s Humoreske in B-flat Major, Op. 20. “This concert contains three of my favorite pieces, appropriate for the event,” says Rabotkina. “All three (works) contain intense emotional contrasts from vigorous torrents of energy to spiritual and transcendent matters. The program offers a chance to appreciate the expressive scope of the three works from three different eras.”
Rabotkina will perform in memory of former Eastman School of Music Dean Douglas Lowry. Dean Lowry became the sixth head of the Eastman School in 2007. He was named the first Joan and Martin Messinger Dean in 2011 and was reappointed in May 2013. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in September, 2011, he resigned for health reasons on Sept. 23, 2013. Following his resignation announcement, the University of Rochester Board of Trustees named him the Joan and Martin Messinger Dean Emeritus and awarded him an honorary doctor of music degree.
Dean Lowry was known for building strategic partnerships locally, nationally, and internationally, and for recruiting important faculty artists. He oversaw the launch of several new initiatives, including the expansion of Eastman’s international partnerships in China and Europe, focusing on the use of Internet2 technology to create a series of “virtual partnerships” with prestigious institutions worldwide. He founded the Center for Music Innovation and Engagement, under Eastman’s Institute for Music Leadership, as an incubator for new forms of music presentation. The Paul R. Judy Center for Applied Research, founded in 2013 and focused on researching and creating models for alternative ensembles, reflects Dean Lowry’s incisive appraisal of the rapidly changing landscape of the music world.
This concert is sponsored by the George D. and Frieda B. Abraham Foundation.
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