Renowned pianist to debut in Isotone Concert

World-class pianist and East Tennessee newcomer Emi Kagawa will make her debut here in the Isotone concert on Saturday, Jan. 19—the third concert in the Chamber Music Series of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association. The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Clayton Performing Arts Center at Pellissippi State Community College.

A native of Osaka, Japan, Kagawa has been active as both a soloist and a chamber musician. She has performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Italy, and Japan.

A past winner of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition at Juilliard School, she was also awarded first prize at the Nancy Clark International Piano Competition. Kagawa has performed at the Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Trinity Church concert series, Steinway Hall, and the Symphony Space.

With her innovative approach as an artist and as co-director of MANI Brooklyn Chamber Music, Kagawa has participated in the world premiers of composers of our time. She will participate with Isotone founders, Scott and Susan Eddlemon, in the performance of a new work by composer Andrew Sauerwein, who will be present at the concert.

Sauerwein is assistant professor of music composition and theory, as well as composer-in-residence at Belhaven University in Jackson, Miss. He earned his doctorate in music composition from Duke University.

Sauerwein and Eddlemon hatched the idea for “Sakharoviana” following their participation in an Arts Conference at Belhaven University that was sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The work is a tribute to Andrei Sakharov, Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, and human rights activist. He designed the Soviet Union’s hydrogen bomb and won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Tribute will also be paid to Sakharov through a performance of Sergei Prokofiev ‘s “Violin Sonata #1 in F Minor.” This great Russian masterpiece will be played by Kagawa and violinist Sue Eddlemon. Additionally, Kagawa will perform two etudes by Russian composer and pianist, Alexander Scriabin.

The concert will be rounded out by two works of physics interest, the “Prelude and Fugue in D Major” by J. S. Bach, and Scott Eddlemon’s own “Labware Leggiero,” to be played upon various glass beakers, flasks, and test tubes.

The Isotone concert, co-sponsored by the American Museum of Science and Energy, is normally held at the museum. This concert, however, will be performed at Pellissippi State’s Clayton Performing Arts Center to take advantage of the school’s new Steinway concert grand piano.

Tickets may be purchased at the door at a cost of $25 per adult and $12 per student. This is a bonus concert for Chamber Music Series subscribers. For program notes on the concert, visit the ORCMA website at www.orcma.org.