Bassoonist Peter Kolkay, a member of the West Virginia University music faculty, will present a recital at the Creative Arts Center on Thursday, March 31, at 8:15 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
Kolkay is one of four musicians in the nation selected to receive a Career Grant from the Avery Fisher Artist Program at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 2004 and appeared, along with the other musicians, on the Arts&Entertainment channel’s”Breakfast with the Arts”last July. He was the first bassoonist to win the award.
His recital at the CAC will also feature WVU faculty member Virginia Thompson, horn, and John Morrison, a graduate student working on a master’s degree in piano performance at WVU .
The program will include”Suite no. 2 in d minor for solo cello,” BWV 1008 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750);”Luci II”for horn and bassoon (1996) by Franco Donatoni (1927-2000);”Concertpiece,”op. 2 by Franz Berwald (1796-1868); the world premiere of”Sonnet 6”for solo bassoon (2003) by James Romig (b. 1971); and”Sonatine”(1952) by Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986).
“I’m playing a new piece by composer James Romig, who is on the faculty at Western Illinois University , where my parents both went to school,”Kolkay said.
A native of Naperville , Ill. , Kolkay is a graduate of Yale University and holds a master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and a bachelor’s from Lawrence University .
Shortly before joining the WVU music faculty in 2002, he was the first solo bassoonist to win first prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition in New York . Other prizes awarded in connection with the CAG Competition included the Victor and Sono Elmaleh Award of $5,000, a concerto engagement at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, a concerto appearance with the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, a recital engagement from the Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music and an engagement with the Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival.
His competition awards also include top prizes from the William C. Byrd and WAMSO Competitions.
Kolkay opened the 2003-2004 season in New York City as a member of the”Zankel Band,”a select group of musicians chosen to work with John Adams for the opening of Carnegie Hall’s new performance space, Zankel Hall. In 2004-2005 he was featured in a special quintet version of”Peter and the Wolf”at New York’s 92 nd Street”Y,”as well as a tour of the west coast with the chamber ensemble Concertante.
Kolkay is an avid performer of contemporary music and chamber music and has recently appeared as a collaborative artist as part of the Stefan Wolpe Centennial celebration, on the American Composer’s Alliance series at Christ&St. Stephen’s Church in New York City. He also performed with pianist Ursula Oppens at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in a performance of Elliott Carter’s Quintet for Piano and Winds as part of a special concert celebrating Carter’s distinguished career. He is currently a member of the Harrisburg Symphony and the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, and is a founding member of Trio Encantar, an oboe/bassoon/piano ensemble. He has been a featured soloist with the Flint Symphony, the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra, the Musica Nova Ensemble at Eastman and the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s”Performance Today”and on New York’s WQXR -FM.
For more information about the recital, call the College of Creative Arts at (304) 293-4841 ext. 3108.