Pianist Andrew Willis Starts New Year for UA Celebrity Series

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Noted pianist Andrew Willis will perform the next concert of the 2008-2009 University of Alabama Celebrity Series at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15 in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building on the UA campus.

Willis is recognized for his performances on historical and modern pianos in the United States and abroad. He has recorded a wide variety of solo and chamber music for Claves, Albany, Centaur, Newport Classics and CRI records. The New York Times called his recording of Beethoven’s Op. 106, “a ‘Hammerklavier’ of rare stature.”

He has appeared as soloist with such period-instrument chamber orchestras as The Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, the Apollo Ensemble and the Philadelphia Classical Symphony. His recent recital appearances include the National Music Museum, the Bloomington Early Music Festival, and early-music societies in San Diego, Los Angeles and London. For a number of years, his multifaceted musical career was based in Philadelphia, where he served as keyboardist of The Philadelphia Orchestra for several seasons. He also has taught at several colleges and universities throughout the U.S.

At the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he has been a member of the keyboard faculty since 1994, he directs the biennial Focus on Piano Literature, for which he commissioned and premiered Martin Amlin’s Sonata No. 7.

Willis holds a Bachelor of Music in piano from The Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Mieczyslaw Horszowski; a Master of Music in accompanying from Temple University, where he studied with George Sementovsky and Lambert Orkis; and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in historical performance from Cornell University, where he studied with Malcolm Bilson.

In conjunction with the concert, Willis also will host a master class that is free and open to the public at 9 a.m. on Jan. 14 in the recital hall of the Moody Music Building.

Concert ticket prices are $22 and $15 for general admissions and $7 for students. For tickets, phone 205/348-7111, or visit www.music.ua.edu for more information.

The Celebrity Series, which has been bringing world-renowned musicians to Tuscaloosa since 1988, is sponsored by UA’s College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Music. Willis’ concert is made possible in party by the Endowed Chair in Musicology at UA’s School of Music.

UA’s School of Music is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the “USA Today” Academic All American Teams.