World-renowned artist, Sara Davis Buechner, leads a masterclass featuring some of Hawaii’s top piano students.
Co-presented with the Honolulu Piano Teachers Association.
ADMISSION:
FREE for members
FREE for students
General Admission (non-members) $15
Senior/Military $10
Sara Davis Buechner
Noted for her musical command, cosmopolitan artistry, and visionary independence, Sara Davis Buechner is one of the most original concert pianists of our time. Lauded for her “intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess” (New York Times), “thoughtful artistry in the full service of music” (Washington Post), and “astounding virtuosity” (Philippine Star), Japan’s InTune magazine sums up: “Buechner has no superior.”
In her twenties Ms. Buechner earned a bouquet of top prizes at the world’s premiere international piano competitions — Queen Elisabeth (Brussels), Leeds, Mozart (Salzburg), Beethoven (Vienna), and Sydney. She was a Bronze Medalist of the 1986 Tschaikowsky Competition in Moscow and the Gold Medalist of the 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition.
Ms. Buechner has performed in every state and province of North America — as recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with top orchestras like the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra; and in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl. She has toured throughout Latin and South America and Europe; and she enjoys a special following in Asia, where she has been a featured soloist with the Sydney Symphony, New Zealand Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic and Shanghai Philharmonic, among many others.
She has commissioned and premiered important contemporary scores by composers such as Michael Brown, John Corigliano, Ray Green, Dick Hyman, Vitězslavá Kaprálová, Jared Miller, Joaquín Nin-Culmell, and Yukiko Nishimura. Ms. Buechner’s performance versatility extends to unique collaborations with film and dance (including tours with the Mark Morris Dance Group, and Japanese kabuki-mime-mask dancer Yayoi Hirano).
Ms. Buechner has released numerous acclaimed recordings of rare piano music by composers such as Rudolf Friml (“a revelation” — The New York Times), Dana Suesse, Joseph Lamb, Joaquín Turina, Miklós Rózsa, and Ferruccio Busoni (including the world première recording of the Bach-Busoni “Goldberg” Variations). Stereophile magazine selected her Gershwin CD as “Recording of the Month,” and her interpretation of Hollywood Piano Concertos won Germany’s coveted Deutsches Schauplatten Preis. Most recently her recorded traversal of the score to Carl Dreiser’s silent movie classic Master of the House (1925) may be heard on Criterion Collection DVD.
Sara Davis Buechner joined the faculty of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance in 2016, after previously teaching at the Manhattan School of Music, New York University and the University of British Columbia. She has presented masterclasses and workshops at major pedagogic venues worldwide, adjudicated important international piano competitions, and is also a contributing editor for Dover Publications International. In 2017 Ms. Buechner marked her 30th year as a dedicated Yamaha Artist.
As a proud transgender woman, Ms. Buechner also appears as a speaker and performer at important LGBTQ events, and has contributed interviews and articles about her own experience to numerous media outlets worldwide.
Program
Gershwin: Concerto in F Major, I. Allegro
Claire Park (Student of Jonathan Korth)
Bolcom: Graceful Ghost Rag
Jon Muttick (Student of Carolyn Stanton)
Beethoven: Sonata No. 14, Op. 27, No. 2, III. Prestissimo
Trevor Hyun (student of Wendy Yamashita)
Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 21
Lucy Will (student of Wendy Yamashita)
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Brandon Hamilton (Student of Thomas Yee)
Directions/Parking
Entrance to Studio 909 is through the ground-floor glass doors facing Kapiolani Blvd. Limited parking is available in the Musicians' Association parking lot. Enter near 909 Kapiolani, or from the rear of the building on Waimanu (Google 952 Waimanu Street). Follow signs for Musicians' Hall Parking.
Before 6pm weekdays, only park in GREEN guest stalls. After 6pm, you may park in any available stall, including tandem stalls.
If the lot is full:
Street parking on Kapiolani is free Monday-Saturday after 6:30pm and all day on Sunday. Please consult posted signs.
Paid street parking is available on Waimanu.
Paid flat-rate parking is available at the Blaisdell Center across the street. Blaisdell parking is often free on Wednesday evenings in conjunction with the Honolulu Farmers' Market.