Faculty Recital: La Clarinette de Paris

Description

Faculty clarinetist Shannon Thompson and pianist Lillian Buss Pearson perform an evening of music entitled "La Clarinette de Paris." Dr. Thompson visited Paris in June, and all the music in this concert is connected with that city and its musicians. The program features the most famous piece written for the Paris Conservatory's annual clarinet performance exams, Claude Debussy's Presiere Rhapsodie, along with works by Phillippe Gaubert and Ernest Chausson. Leser known works include a 1880 Sonata by Theodore Gouby that was admired by both Brahms and Berlioz. Also on the program is a set of four rare sight reading pieces, as well as Bug for solo clarinet composed by the Paris Conservatory's current director Bruno Mantovani. Shannon Thompson is Associate Professor of Music at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, where she received the 2011 James E. Dooley Award for Excellence in Teaching Music. She has headed the clarinet studio at WCU since 1997. She is principal clarinetist of the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra and bass clarinetist of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Thompson has performed throughout the United States as a recitalist and chamber musician, and she has presented and performed at several International Clarinetfest Conferences and National and Regional College Music Society Conferences. Her doctoral treatise on the most significant American influences on clarinet playing entitled "A History and Analysis of the Philadelphia School of Clarinet Playing" is widely acclaimed. Dr. Thompson is currently developing a documentary film project "Chasing the Sound" focused on a community of clarinetists and clarinet equipment makers who strive to recreate the legendary sounds of their predecessors. Pianist Lillian Buss Pearson has appeared throughout the continental United States, England, Costa Rica and China as a soloist and collaborative artist. She is also certified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique. From 1988 to 2007, she was the head of the keyboard area at Western Carolina University, North Carolina. Her interest in historically informed performance practice has led her also to study harpsichord and fortepiano. Pearson's solo orchestral appearances include performances with the Jacksonville Symphony (FL), the Asheville Symphony (NC), the Breckenridge Festival Orchestra (CO), the Western Carolina Civic Orchestra (NC), the National Chamber Players (NC), and the Brandenburg Ensemble (FL). Dr. Pearson has served as an accompanist for many conferences and workshops, and she is also a certified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique.