PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University music faculty member Gerald Berthiaume will present a solo piano program March 25 on the WSU campus. The 8 p.m. program is set for Bryan Hall Auditorium and is open to the public without charge.
The program will open with the Romanze in F major and the Sonata in F minor by Johannes Brahms. Following intermission, Berthiaume will perform the newly-composed “Divertimento” by WSU music faculty member Charles Argersinger, the Variation on Unser Dummer Pobel Meint by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a set of three works by Frederic Chopin.
Argersinger’s piece was commissioned and composed for the Washington State Music Teachers Association 1997 State Convention, where he was honored as the Washington State Composer of the Year. In addition to the “Divertimento,” Argersinger composed a larger, three movement piece for solo piano, “Dream Sequence,” which was given its premiere at the convention by Berthiaume.
The WSU pair’s musical collaboration began in 1993 when Berthiaume gave the world premiere of Argersinger’s “Between Scylla and Charybdis” on his U.S. government tour of the Middle East. Last November, Berthiaume performed “Dream Sequence” for the Society of Composers’ regional meeting in Missoula, Mont.
Berthiaume has performed as a soloist and chamber musician for national conventions of professional music organizations in Miami; Chicago; Milwaukee, Wis.; and San Antonio, Texas. He is coordinator of the keyboard area at WSU and directs the Summer Keyboard Explorations camp for high school students on campus during the summer.
sh125-99
