Jump to Footer

Karen Becker & Friends present "All Hands on Deck" - Music for piano 0 to 8 hands


Plattsburgh, NY - The Department of Music at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh will host "All Hands on Deck" Saturday, March 25 at 8 p.m., in the E. Glenn Giltz Auditorium, Hawkins Hall.

Dr. Karen E. Becker, assistant professor of music, will be joined by current SUNY Plattsburgh faculty member Louise Dionne, former faculty member Pam Reimer of Montreal, Plattsburgh resident Celia Strebendt, Wisconsin composer-pianist Stacey Barelos and SUNY Plattsburgh students Miho Asamizu, Craig Bellot and Ah Young Yu in the first Karen Becker and Friends Program of 2006. The concert is free and open to the public. 

These artists, in a variety of combinations, will perform music for the piano written for zero to eight hands by Samuel Adler, John Baboukis, John Cage, Randall Davidson, Sidney Hodkinson, David Liptak and Sergei Rachmaninoff.  The evening will begin with John Cage's renowned 1952 silent composition 4'33".   With each piece on the program, one "hand" will be added onto the "deck" or keyboard of the Giltz hall Steinway piano until the grand finale - Samuel Adler's Eine Enge Berge Fuge - in which all eight pianists will play.

Barelos is pursing a DMA in both piano and composition at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.  In February 2006, her composition 30% from Pumpkins , inspired by the genetic similarities observable in widely varying plant and animal species (such as pumpkins and humans), was premiered by the UW Symphony.  As a pianist, she won the Greek Women's University Club Competition (Chicago), the UW-Madison Beethoven Piano Competition and the Marjorie Peatee Art Song Competition.

In addition, the concert will also mark the North Country premiere of Baboukis' Piano Sonata (1989).  Baboukis is an associate professor of music and director of the music program at the American University in Cairo.  The program also includes It's All Right for Piano 5 Hands (1987) by Davidson, who has collaborated with A Prairie Home Companion's Garrison Keillor on two large orchestral works, including A Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra .  Davidson is known for his commercial music, including the "operatic" ad for the Nike Air Max basketball shoe featuring Charles Barkley.

Hawkins Hall is located in Plattsburgh, N.Y., at Beekman and Court streets. 
To park, enter the Hawkins Hall parking lot west of Beekman Street on Cornelia Street (Route 3).
 
-- 30 --


Back to top