Pianist

katec@herald-mail.com Much of a concert pianist's life is solitary. A lot of the time - many hours of time - you are by yourself, because you practice by yourself, says Esther Budiardjo, who will perform with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra this weekend. Budiardjo is the featured soloist for Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2. "It's probably one of the most beautiful piano concertos ever written," she says. Budiardjo will perform Saturday, March 15, and Sunday, March 16, in the MSO's MasterWorks V, the final concerts of the season.

By MEG H. PARTINGTON / Staff Writer While there are so many variables involved in playing with orchestras all over the world, pianist Seung-Un Ha says the language of music is a unifying force. Each performance features a different piano, a different conductor and a different group of musicians. cont. from lifestyle "Every musical experience is unique," says Ha, whose first name is pronounced Suhng-oon. "When you make music, people do come together.

HAGERSTOWN -- In the first years of the 19th century, the world of symphonic music saw a new development: Composers sought to express ideas and emotions in their music. Concert-goers saw plenty of emotion from piano soloist Chu-Fang Huang at Saturday night's Maryland Symphony Orchestra concert. "She was very passionate," Julianna Dahbura said in the lobby of The Maryland Theatre during the concert's intermission. "I thought I'd see smoke coming off the keyboard," Krissy DiMercurio said.

FREDERICK, Md. -Concert pianist Robert Durso will perform a recital of masterworks in the Romantic piano repertoire at 8 p.m. Friday, March 28, at Frederick Community College's Jack B. Kussmaul Theater, Opossumtown Pike. Durso will be joined in concert by violinist Stephanie Jeong. Durso will lead master classes on the Taubman/Golandsky Approach to Pianism from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 29, in FCC's Fine Arts and Student Center, F Building, Room 109. The concert is free; however, reserved tickets for the class cost $20 and should be purchased by Monday, March 10. Tickets for the class plus lunch cost $30. At the door, tickets for the class will cost $25. For information, call Pat Franz at 301-663-6197 or e-mail pfranz@frederick.

HAGERSTOWN - Chambersburg, Pa., residents Jerine Dunham and her husband like to sit on the left side of The Maryland Theatre when the Maryland Symphony Orchestra hosts a piano soloist. They want to see the artist's hands. Twenty-year-old pianist Yuja Wang and the MSO performed Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor Sunday. Dunham's view was good. "I saw a blur," she said. "This is a very special young artist," said MSO Music Director Elizabeth Schulze as she introduced Wang during Prelude, the preconcert discussion.

katec@herald-mail.com The Maryland Symphony Orchestra embarked on its 23rd season of MasterWorks concerts at The Maryland Theatre Saturday night. The performance was the beginning of a year of musical travels, and "Passage to Russia" was the first leg of the journey. The program featured music by Russian composers, and the orchestra and the nearly full-house audience had a guide in 25-year-old pianist Vassily Primakov. He was in Hagerstown to perform the evening's second selection, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - "Night and Day" musicians hope to bring Depression-era Broadway sounds to the Capitol Theatre on Saturday. "Night and Day," starting at 8 p.m., will feature baritone Jonathan Retzlaff and pianist Enid Katahn, who will perform songs from '30s and '40s Broadway and cinema. Katahn said the two will perform songs by Scott Joplin (who predates the '30s and '40s theme), George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, "Fats" Waller and Hoagy Carmichael. Cole Porter's "Night and Day" also is on the set list.

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - Cumberland Valley School of Music will present its fourth musicale of the season, "Spring Serenade. " Proceeds help support Cumberland Valley School of Music. Soprano Lisa Turchi, mezzo soprano and trumpeter Erin Smith and pianist Valerie Merriman will present a program of vocal and instrumental chamber music spanning the periods from Baroque to contemporary. The musicale will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at the home of Jerry and Anne Warren, 2279 Castlegreen Drive, Greencastle.

The Robert Sykes Quartet will perform at the Noteworthy Sundays at Your Library Concert April 1 at the Leonard P. Snyder Memorial Branch Library at 12624 Broadfording Road in Clear Spring. The concert begins at 3 p.m. The quartet features Washington County jazz pianist Robert Sykes, Matt Lewis on bass, Bob Jones on drums and Anita Thomas on saxophone. The group performs a variety of jazz styles based in the mainstream jazz tradition of the Be-Bop and Post-Bop era. To reserve seats, call 301-739-3250, ext. 123.

BRUNSWICK, Md. - Big Cam & the Lifters will perform at Brunswick Fire Hall, 223 Potomac St., New Year's Eve from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. The band features Lorenzo T. Howard and Ron "Smiley" Williams and bassist Teresa "Reet Petite" Moore, drummer Bill "Bop" Gray, guitarist "Joltin'" Jim Seechuk, tenor saxophonist Earl "The Boss" Ross, and pianist Bobby "All Over" Grover. Tickets are $35 per couple and include a midnight champagne toast. For reservations, call Kenny Fauble, 1-301-834-8902.

Russian-born pianist Vassily Primakov said playing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music is challenging, especially considering the type of piano the composer used. Primakov said Mozart's piano would have weighed between 100 and 150 pounds when Mozart composed his Concerto for Piano No. 27 in B-flat Major. The Steinway piano Primakov played Sunday afternoon at The Maryland Theatre weighed about 900 pounds. Primakov said the weight difference between the two pianos means Primakov has to impose a lot of control over his instrument to get Mozart's sound.

Today is Valentine's Day. Love will be celebrated far and wide. And the Maryland Symphony Orchestra invites you to feel the love this weekend at The Maryland Theatre. The MSO will pay homage to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during its 31st season's third masterworks concert, "For the Love of Mozart. " The program includes Frank Martin's Ouverture en hommage à Mozart, Robert Schumann's "Carnaval," Op. 9 and Symphony No. 4 in D minor and Mozart's Concerto for Piano No. 27 in B-flat Major.

The Robert Sykes Quartet will perform at the Noteworthy Sundays at Your Library Concert April 1 at the Leonard P. Snyder Memorial Branch Library at 12624 Broadfording Road in Clear Spring. The concert begins at 3 p.m. The quartet features Washington County jazz pianist Robert Sykes, Matt Lewis on bass, Bob Jones on drums and Anita Thomas on saxophone. The group performs a variety of jazz styles based in the mainstream jazz tradition of the Be-Bop and Post-Bop era. To reserve seats, call 301-739-3250, ext. 123.

Eric Kauffman, 20, has never taken a piano lesson in his life, but he plays with the confidence and energy of a well-seasoned musician. The Hagerstown native, who has the personality to match his talent, said he started playing 10 years ago on an electric keyboard. Since then, his grandmother has given him an organ, which he describes as “my best birthday present I had for 10 years.” Kauffman graduated from Williamsport High School in 2009, and attended Lincolnshire Elementary and Springfield Middle schools.

On way to relieve Cabin Fever is to get out of the house and attend The Western Maryland Blues Fest’s “Cabin Fever Blues Bash” Thursday, March 3 at the Maryland Theater located in the Arts and Entertainment District in Hagerstown.  British guitar phenom, and Ruf recording artist, Joanne Shaw Taylor will perform during the “Cabin Fever Blues Bash.”  Taylor recently appeared on the cover of Blues Revue magazine and is currently touring in support of her sophomore CD, “Diamonds In The Dirt.

A press-conference preview and an emergency Maryland Symphony Orchestra solo performance later, pianist Eric Himy will give the Hagerstown concert he intended to give all along. Himy (rhymes with steamy) has performed at major concert halls around the globe, having played his first concert at age 10. He was a guest soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra by the time he was 15. Himy will return to The Maryland Theatre in downtown Hagerstown on Tuesday, March 8, for a concert in Hagerstown Community Concert Association's yearly series — a show HCCA president Franklin P. Erck III booked in 2009 after meeting Himy at an industry function in Nashville, Tenn.

Simon Holt never planned or expected to cross the pond from England to the United States along with his wife and two young boys to live and work. Nonetheless, he did. "It hadn't even crossed my mind," said Holt, 45, who lives and works at Saint James School, a boarding school southwest of Hagerstown. It was his lifelong affinity for music that paved his path. Holt said he grew up in the midlands of Malvern, Worcestershire. Both of his parents were organists, and Holt began playing the piano at age 6. At 7, Holt said he went away to a preparatory school that offered academic and music education.

Pianist Jim Witter's "Piano Men" embraces the canon of 1970s pop. Namely, best-ofs from two of pop music's most prolific piano men, Elton John and Billy Joel. On Wednesday night, Witter will offer audiences his tribute to John and Joel at The Maryland Theatre in downtown Hagerstown. The concert launches a four-show series coordinated by the Hagerstown Community Concert Association. The civic group has been bringing concerts to Hagerstown since the 1940s. The 45-year-old Canadian musician frequently rhapsodized about Joel and John's contributions to music during his interview with The Herald-Mail.

Many of us sing along in the shower or the car. The Dueling Pianos will provide the opportunity to sing along as a group. They'll even encourage singalong competition with one part of a crowd singing one lyric and another part singing another lyric. The Dueling Pianos are pianists Joe Marchetti, aka Wildman Joe, and Anthony DeCarolis, aka Tony T. They're bringing their dueling-piano act Thursday night to Hagerstown's Municipal Stadium, their first stadium show. Marchetti and DeCarolis, who live in Philadelphia suburbs, play a variety of top-40 music.

"It's regarding Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, a beautiful pianist concert yesterday on Sunday, Thomas Pandolfi, and it was sponsored by a musical trust of a very generous lady, and we want to say it was a beautiful, beautiful concert, and thank you so much. He'll be at the symphony (again) so you'll get another opportunity to hear him. He's a wonderful young pianist. " - Hagerstown "'The powers that be have decided against it.' Is that a quote from the ayatollahs of Tehran, concerning ... fraud?