Pianist Brian Ganz

J. S. Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel, and Chopin

J.S. Bach • Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (from Cantata No. 147) arr. Myra Hess
Beethoven • Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 31, No. 3
Debussy • Reflets dans l’eau (from Images, Book 1)
Ravel • Jeux d’eau
Chopin •  Mazurka in C major, Op. 24, No. 2, Mazurka in B-flat minor, Op. 24, No. 4, and Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31

Brian Ganz is a Columbia, Maryland favorite son. The Washington Post has written: “One comes away from a recital by pianist Brian Ganz not only exhilarated by the power of the performance but also moved by his search for artistic truth.” For many years Mr. Ganz has made it his mission to join vivid music making with warmth and intimacy onstage to produce a new kind of listening experience, in which great works come to life with authentic emotional power. As one of Belgium’s leading newspapers, La Libre Belgique, put it, “We don’t have the words to speak of this fabulous musician who lives music with a generous urgency and brings his public into a state of intense joy.”

A laureate of the Marguerite Long Jacques Thibaud and the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Piano Competitions, Mr. Ganz has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the St. Louis Symphony, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony, the National Philharmonic, the National Symphony and the City of London Sinfonia, and has performed with such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Mstislav Rostropovich and Piotr Gajewski.

Mr. Ganz is on the piano faculty of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where he is artist-in-residence, and is also a member of the piano faculty of the Peabody Conservatory. He is the artist-editor of the Schirmer Performance Edition of Chopin’s Preludes (2005).