The Valley Concert Society is delighted to present pianist Jarred Dunn in concert at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium on Friday, February 21, at 7:30 p.m.
Dunn, a Canadian, graduated from the University of Toronto with degrees in both Music and Education. After studies in the US, he travelled to Europe where the music of Poland took on an important role in his musical development.
Jarred studied at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland. His teacher there was Prof. Anna Górecka, daughter of Henryk Górecki whose Symphony of Sorrowful Songs shot to prominence in 1992 with a recording featuring the Canadian soprano Dawn Upshaw.
It is fitting then that Dunn will open the concert with four of the nine Preludes in Szymanowski’s Op. 1, published in 1906. These miniatures, each less than three minutes in length, are suffused with longing and gentleness. They hearken back to the style of Frédéric Chopin. When Arthur Rubinstein first studied these Preludes, he exclaimed, “…here we are discovering a great Polish composer.”
It is to the music of the greatest and most beloved Polish composer Chopin that Jarred turns next with his Ballade No. 3. This is the most openly joyful of the four ballades that came from the pen of Chopin.
The music of Chopin has been important in Dunn’s career. He gave an all-Chopin recital in Warsaw at the Chopin Institute Museum. A critic wrote about his performance that “The ‘Polishness’ was audible in every piece.”
Tickets to this concert are available online at www.valleyconcertsociety.com at $32 for adults/seniors and $20 for students. For more information call 604-289-3377.
John Wiebe - President
The Valley Concert Society
PS. Some of you may have heard Jarred Dunn on CBC Radio Two on Saturday morning. He hosted the program This Is My Music at 9:00 a.m. In it he shared music that formed him and has been important to him or that he simply loves. If you missed it and would like to hear it, you can find it online at https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-382-this-is-my-music .