It is an exciting time for the organs at Cornell. Having been painstakingly cleaned pipe-by-pipe, the reeds fully restored, and the wind chests releathered, the university’s treasured Aeolian-Skinner Organ is finally complete again, and closer to the original vision of its designer, the legendary G. Donald Harrison, than it has been for a very long time.
In this extended research profile, DMA candidate Joshua Biggs discusses the creation of a digital library of samples drawn from the CCHK’s collection.
The CCHK’s inaugural Forte/Piano Summer Academy will take place next week, from July 31–August 7, on Cornell’s Ithaca campus. All events are free and open to the public, and a schedule is available here.
The roster of admitted pianists to our inaugural Forte/Piano Summer Academy, to be held on Cornell’s Ithaca campus this July–August, has been announced! The line-up boasts exciting young artists from across Europe, Asia, and North and South America, and from high-school to post-doctoral levels.
The CCHK is pleased to reprise “The Piano Trios of Robert Schumann,” featuring Professor Xak Bjerken’s trio, the Taliesin Trio, which was previously given as part of our salon series at the A. D. White House. This special Mother’s Day event will take place on Sunday, May 8 at the Ithaca Waldorf School.
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Lucy Fitz-Gibbon (Cornell interim director of vocal studies) organized a master class and recital for students in the voice and piano studios that featured art song and solo piano repertoire by women composers.
The CCHK is excited to continue our new Friday evening Salon series as we segue into the sunnier side of spring, with an interactive performance featuring the Center’s artist-in-residence, Mike Lee, on March 25, and Professor Xak Bjerken’s piano trio, Taliesin Trio, on April 1.
Stockhausen’s MANTRA (1970), to be performed by our fellow keyboarding colleagues Andrew Zhou and Ryan McCullough of HereNowHear, amalgamates electronics with the acoustic piano in ways that blur the line between the analog and the digital.
Our space at 726 University Avenue has seen extensive use for external teaching. We have been able to share the resources of our center with those outside Cornell through digital technology and we have hosted guest teaching artists and students on site.
On February 4–5, the CCHK’s partner organization, Cornell ReSounds, presented play | pen, a two-day virtual symposium concentrating on connections between past musical inventions and new media designs, thus fortifying Cornell as a hub for the collaborative performance on instruments old and new.