08/03/2007

Pianist crosses centuries, styles

Ralph Votapek says selections span 200 years

By Tom Carr

tcarr@record-eagle.com

Votapek

NORTHPORT — Classical pianist Ralph Votapek will take listeners through three centuries and several countries and musical styles in his recital on Saturday, Aug. 11, at the Northport Community Arts Center.

"I like to do a wide variety, often covering 200 years,” said Votapek, a world-renowned instrumentalist who retired three years ago as artist-in-residence at Michigan State University.

He plans to include an early sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven and pieces by Felix Mendelssohn, both Germans; music by Spanish composer Enrique Granados; and a piece by living Russian composer Nikolai Kapustin, influenced by jazz pianists Art Tatum, an American, and Oscar Peterson, a Canadian, he said.

The Granados piece is from the early 1900s, while Mendelssohn lived in the first half of the 1800s.

"I never neglect the 19th century, which was kind of a golden age of piano music,” he said.

Votapek's performing and recording career has remained active following his retirement from MSU, where he served for 36 years.

"Piano always took up a large part of my activities,” he said.

Votapek was the Gold Medalist of the first Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and winner of the Naumburg Award.

The Milwaukee native studied at Northwestern University, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School. Votapek has made hundreds of appearances with major American orchestras, including 16 appearances with the Chicago Symphony.

He has performed solo and with orchestras in London, Lisbon, Paris, St. Petersburg, Kiev and the Far East. He has also made a special commitment to Latin America, where he has toured for four decades.

He has extensive chamber music experience and has accompanied the Juilliard, Fine Arts, New World, and Chester String Quartets.

The appearance will be his second at the arts center after several people have asked for him to return, said Norma Neve, executive director of the council.

Votapek's performance comes the day after a private concert he has scheduled at a home in the area with his wife Tina Votapek. They will play duets on two grand pianos before 40 to 50 patrons, he said.

Votapek's recital for the arts council is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 11. Tickets are $15 or $5 for students and are available by calling (231) 386-5001, online at northportcac.org, and will be sold at the door.