Oliver

KEOKEA – Ebb & Flow Arts and the Maui Institute for Modern Music present the Piano Synergy Festival, featuring two free concerts of 20th and 21st century works for multiple pianos and other instruments, as well as open rehearsals and recording sessions.

On Friday, July 29, at 7:30 p.m., E&FA will present “Premieres for Two Pianos” at Seabury Hall’s A’ali’ikuhonua Creative Arts Center at 480 Olinda Road in Makawao. A pre-concert discussion starts at 6:30 p.m.

Included on the program is the world premiere of an E&FA-commissioned work for two pianos by visiting composer Sarn Oliver of California. It is entitled “Dodici Tono Barolo.”

Oliver has been a frequent and popular performer and composer in E&FA chamber music concerts. He is a member of the first violin section of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

The program also includes the world premiere of Maui resident Pelarin Bacos’s “Prelude and Groove” for two pianos, an E&FA commission.

Tendler

In addition, there will be Hawaii premieres of works for two pianos by Dina Koston (“Dialog”), Arthur Berger (“Three Pieces for Two Pianos”) and George Walker (“Music for Two Pianos”).

Two modern classics, Aaron Copland’s “El Salon Mexico” (arranged for two pianos by Leonard Bernstein) and Igor Stravinsky’s “Concerto for Two Pianos” complete the program.

Participating pianists include Adam Tendler of New York City. He has performed three times for E&FA.

With these always remarkable performances, Tendler is well-known on Maui as a “modern-music evangelist” (Time Out New York) who “has managed to get behind and underneath the notes… living inside the music and making poetic sense of it all…”

Other pianists include New Yorker Joan Forsyth, Bacos and Robert Pollock of Maui. Admission is free.

On Sunday, July 31, at 4 p.m., E&FA will present “Five Pianos and More!” at the Maui Music Conservatory at Queen Ka’ahumanu Center.

Included on the program are Earle Brown’s “Corroboree” for three pianos and Morton Feldman’s “Five Pianos” (as the title suggests) for five pianos. The special video with this lengthy work will be provided by Peter Swanzy of Maui.

The program also includes solos and duos: Charles Wuorinen’s “Sonata” for guitar and piano, Claude Ballif’s “Solfeggietto #3” for violin, Pollock’s “Romance-Fantasy” for guitar and piano, Bela Bartok’s “Three Etudes” for piano, Emil Awad’s “Fouad” for solo guitar and others.

Performers include pianists Tendler, Forsyth, Marti Kluth of Maui, Bacos, Pollock, guitarist William Anderson of New York, and violinist Ignace Jang of Honolulu, co-founder of the E&F Ensemble in 2001 and concert master of the Hawaii Symphony. Admission is free.

The festival also includes open rehearsals, recording sessions, commissions and publications.

“We will bring several of our wonderful off-island and Mainland musicians together in one place at one time for Piano Synergy Festival,” said E&FA Executive Director Pollock.

“This is the purpose, among others, of our Maui Institute for Modern Music.”

Major funding for the Piano Synergy Festival is provided by Makana Aloha Foundation, Earle Brown Music Foundation, and AHS Foundation.

For information, visit ebbandflowarts.org or www.facebook.com/ebbandflowarts, or call (808) 876-1854.