June 1, 2023: Host Christa Wessel welcomes pianist Alexander Korsantia and the In Medio Choir to the Roger O. Doyle performance studio.
Alexander will preview his upcoming concerts with Portland Piano International, including music by Haydn, Beethoven, Stravinsky, and more. In Medio Choir will perform works about the sea from their upcoming series Sea Changes, exploring how we work and live on the sea, seek passage across it, and sometimes succumb to its power.
ABOUT
Dubbed a “quiet maverick” (Daily Telegraph), pianist Alexander Korsantia has been praised for the “clarity of his technique, richly varied tone and dynamic phrasing” (Baltimore Sun), and a “piano technique where difficulties simply do not exist” (Calgary Sun). The Boston Globe found his interpretation of his signature piece, Pictures at an Exhibition, to be “a performance that could annihilate all others one has heard.” And the Birmingham Post wrote: “His intensely responsive reading was shot through with a vein of constant fantasy, whether musing or mercurial.”
He is the recipient of Georgia’s numerous awards including the most prestigious ones: The Order of Honor and the Roustaveli Prize. Korsantia resides in Boston where he is a Professor of Piano on the faculty of the New England Conservatory. Learn more at alexanderkorsantia.com.
The idea for Portland Piano International was conceived and launched by pianist Harold Gray, who started a recital series at Portland State University devoted to the piano that quickly grew from four, to five, to six recitals each season. Across the country other recital series were closing their doors, but before long the PSU Piano Recital Series was regularly selling out with audiences clamoring for more.
Portland Piano International is a vital part of Portland’s quality cultural life and it has consistently garnered praise from both the local and national media, heralded a “consistently brilliant Piano Recital Series” (Willamette Week) and “one of this city’s musical treasures” (The Oregonian). Find more at portlandpiano.org.
In Medio is a choral community of accomplished young-adult singers who make brave, relevant, and thoughtful music for everyone.
The name of the choir, In Medio, is Latin for “in the midst.” It is a reference to the process of creating something together and honors the importance of change. The best times in life are often when we are in the middle of something—be it a long-term project, a vacation, surrounded by friends and family, or in the middle of a choir. It’s the moment in which you forget the beginning and are not far enough along to see the end. Learn more at inmediochoir.org.
