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Renowned Pianist Teresa Walters Arrives
Liszt, a 19th –century Hungarian composer who was perhaps the foremost piano virtuoso of his day, is a well-known passion of hers; Walters was the first American pianist invited to perform three prestigious European recitals honoring the anniversary of Liszt’s birthday. “I do love the music of Liszt and it does speak to me in powerful ways,” she wrote in an email exchange last week from a tour stop. “For one thing, I admire the way in which he continued to evolve as a person and as a musician throughout his entire lifetime.” Walters will play three pieces by Liszt on Thursday. One is the well-known evocation of fountains, “Les Jeux d’eaux a la Villa d’Este”. It’s the kind of dazzling, brilliant piece that reportedly caused women attending Liszt’s celebrated recitals to faint.
“I believe they have a particularly timely message for our 21st century.” Walters will convey that message through the rarely performed piano arrangement Liszt made of the Crusader’s March from his oratorio, “The Legend of Saint Elizabeth.” The second half of the program crosses the Atlantic. It concludes with a suite of American music arranged by Walters but starts with the Variations on an American Theme by the African-American composer George Walker, a composer with whom Walters has a connection. “George Walker and I actually shared the same piano technician and initially became acquainted through him,” Walters said. “We discovered that we lived in neighboring towns within the shadow of the New York City skyline,” and added “his music is not heard frequently enough.” Teresa Walters will perform Thursday 7 p.m. at Edinboro University’s Louis C. Cole Auditorium in Memorial Hall.”
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“The International First Lady of Piano will make her way to our corner of the world, taking her audience on a trip across continents and even through time. Teresa Walters’s Thursday performance at Edinboro University’s Cole Auditorium will begin with pieces by Franz Liszt and then transition to American music.
But there’s another side to Liszt, a man who in later life took minor religious orders. “I especially like to include the rare and little-known works of Liszt,” she wrote. “Many of these were close to his heart and expressions of his spiritual faith.”