EXPLORING NEW HORIZONS…
The Music Foundation of WNC is sponsoring its Sixth Annual World Masterwork Series – Exploring New Horizons…. The performance, an unprecedented and technically challenging piano concert is sure to sell out weeks prior before it comes to the Diana Wortham Theatre on Saturday, September 1, 6:45 pm.
“We are doing something that is very seldom done anywhere in the world,” says Joann Freeburg, Music Foundation of Western North Carolina founder. “You won’t have to be a classical music fan to enjoy this concert. You can appreciate it from a historical, technical and performance perspective. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where you can experience the classical style with today’s current popular music.
The evening will feature pianist Christopher Tavernier. “Exploring New Horizons” with the “Great Piano Classics” Tavernier will astound the classical purists with his grace and technique. The program will begin with some of the most difficult classical music written by the world’s greatest composers and will combine his passion for classical music with today’s musical themes from Hollywood’s Greatest Mega-Hits.
The piano that Tavernier will be playing on is especially noteworthy. Made in Boston, MA provided by Freeburg Pianos in Hendersonville is the latest American-made Mason and Hamlin model CC-94 Concert Grand piano and is making its premier “Main Stage” performance at the Diana Wortham Theatre this September. It is the third longest handmade piano in the world at nine-feet-four-inches long. The piano will be tuned to the Equal-Beating Victorian temperament, a tuning method that was preferred in Europe during the 1800s and still by many classical performers. The resulting rich sound to both the trained and untrained ear is often described as more vibrant that tuning commonly used today.
Tavernier made his orchestral debut with the Tar River Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 13 in Rocky Mount, NC, performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in the opening concert of the orchestra’s Fall 2013 season. Since then he has won the Hendersonville, Asheville, Augusta, and Charlotte Symphony concerto competitions, and second prize in the National Elizabeth Harper Vaughn Concerto Competition in Kingsport, Tennessee, where he was the youngest performer in the history of the competition. In the summer of 2017, he was one of two pianists who won the Brevard Music Festival Jan and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition, competing in a field that included college undergraduate and graduate students.
In addition to a growing solo repertoire, Tavernier has performed concerti by Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev. Also, a dedicated chamber musician, he plays frequently with the Rutherford Chamber Consort. Also, he has performed benefit concerts in support of the Mission Foundation’s “Ladies Night Out” — a collaboration of women helping women who provide free mammograms and health screenings for uninsured/underinsured women, the Hunger Coalition of Henderson County and Music Education Programs throughout WNC.
Christopher has been featured on ABC affiliate television station WLOS, CBS affiliate WSPA in Spartanburg (Scene on 7), Carolinas CW62 (Studio 62), and Carolina Live NPR radio, and WCQS in Asheville, NC. In 2015 he was named the first International Perzina Artist in the company’s 147 year history. Christopher has published recordings in DVD and CD formats.
Concert Date:
Diana Wortham Theatre ▪ Saturday, September 1, 2018 at 6:45 PM
18 Biltmore Ave – Asheville, NC ▪ Box Office: (828) 257-1530 (General Admission $12.00)