Ursula Oppens, piano

Spivey Hall Debut

Indisputably the first lady of contemporary American piano music, Ursula Oppens is renowned for her lucid and imaginative performances of works by living composers. "What makes Oppens a compelling musician…is her probling intellect and curiosity; her ability to calrify what she perceives" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer).

Her Spivey Hall debut program features music by three major American composers: an improvisation by John Corigliano, relishing a new freedom of creative process with computer-aided notation; musical musings by the 102-year-young Elliott Carter, whose complete piano works she has recorded, and long championed; and Fredric Rzewski’s 36 kaleidoscopic variations on a Chilean Resistance song, which since their commission, Kennedy Center premiere, and recording by Oppens have attained iconic status.

"Many of us approach concerts of new classical music with trepidation. Will we know the composer? Will we like the music? Will we understand it? Well, more of us should attend new-music concerts like the one starring pianist Ursula Oppens…" (Fort Worth Star-Telegram).