Music From Home
William Chapman Nyaho, piano
Susie Garcia, piano
"PEPPERPOT"
(program details below)
October 2nd, 2022
3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
PEPPERPOT
Two Piano Suite
Eleanor Alberga (b. 1948, Jamaica)
Concert Scherzo: Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel?
Thomas H. Kerr, Jr. (1915 - 1988, Baltimore, MD)
Masanga for Two Pianos
Martin Scherzinger (b. 1969, South Africa & NYC)
Milonga del ángel
La muerte del ángel
Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1992, Argentina)
Porgy & Bess Fantasy for Two Pianos
George Gershwin (1898 - 1937, Brooklyn)
arr. for two pianos by Percy Grainger
Introduction
My Man's Gone Now
It Ain't Necessarily So
Clara, Don't You Be Down-Hearted
Strawberry Call
Summertime
Oh, I Can't Sit Down
Bess, You Is My Woman Now
Oh, I Got Plenty O' Nuttin
Oh Laud, I'm On My Way
Susanna Garcia and William Chapman Nyaho met during doctoral studies at the University of Texas at Austin during the 1980s. Although they were friends, their musical collaboration did not begin until they both began teaching at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the early 1990s. Their formation as a duo represented not only their respect for each other’s musicianship but their sharing of a similar musical philosophy -- bringing the excitement and joy of music for two pianos to a wider audience. They have gained recognition throughout the United States, Europe, and Africa with the blending of standard repertoire and newly composed works. Several new works have been written especially for them. Concert reviews of the duo have described their flawless ensemble as “one head, one heart, but four hands” and stated, “Garcia and Nyaho played with a sensitivity to the music that is rarely heard by a single pianist, let alone two working together.” In 2021, the Duo was a featured artist for the MTNA National Conference.
The duo’s first recording, Aaron Copland: Music for Two Pianos, has received critical acclaim. Reviews called this recording “the standard against which any future performances of these dances will be measured.”
The Duo’s newest release Five by Four (2022) on MSR Classics (2022) includes contemporary music for piano duo including four world premiere recordings. InfoDad gives “Five by Four” their highest 4+ rating. Fanfare writes “I can’t get over how spectacularly Nyaho and Garcia play, nor what marvelous music they have found. What a terrific album this is!”
With this new collection of masterworks for two pianos, Nyaho and Garcia present a new world of sounds by composers, some familiar and others not. It is their hope to shine a light on these composers and their works so they will become a regular part of the canon of piano music for duos and duets. This CD marks the debut recording for works by Alberga, Kerr, and Sung.
In addition to her career as duo pianist, Susanna Garcia, a South Texas native, has performed both solo and chamber recitals throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, Ghana, the Caribbean, and Europe, and has been featured on radio and television. Under the auspices of the Mexican government’s cultural enrichment program, she toured the country giving recitals and workshops.
Critics praise her "impressive technical skills and musical communication in performance" and her "remarkable critical insights into music." Her playing has been called "brilliant." The Thomasville Times (NC) reported, “Garcia dazzled the audience with her technique.” Dr. Garcia is also a clinician, and has presented workshops, papers, and masterclasses on a variety of topics for the International Society for Music Education, College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association, National Association for Humanities Education, National Group Piano/Piano Pedagogy Forum, Louisiana Music Teachers Association, and a host of state music teacher groups.
Garcia holds the Master of Arts and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the Bachelor of Music from Texas A&M at Corpus Christi, Texas. In 2021, she retired from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with the rank of Professor Emerita. She has been the recipient of many honors including the Louisiana Board of Regents/Ruth Stodghill Girard Endowed Professorship in Music, the University of Louisiana Distinguished Professor Award (2001), Music Teachers National Association Foundation Fellow (2012), Louisiana Music Teachers Association Outstanding Teacher (2013), and the University of Louisiana College of the Arts "Research Excellence Award" (2015). Garcia is the co-developer of eNovativePiano: Multimedia Resources for Developing Musicianship Skills, which in 2021 was awarded the MTNA- Frances Clark Award for Keyboard Pedagogy. She is currently serving on the Board of Trustees for the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy and is co-chair of MTNA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) conference track for their national conferences in 2022 and 2033.
William Chapman Nyaho, a Ghanaian American, is an active solo recitalist, duo pianist and chamber musician giving recitals and concerts in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean and in cities across the United States where he advocates music by composers of African descent. He actively serves as a regular guest clinician at colleges and universities around the United States and has been an adjudicator for several national and international piano competitions.
Chapman Nyaho’s professional experience includes being a North Carolina Visiting Artist and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he held the Heymann Endowed Professorship and was the recipient of the Distinguished Professor Award. He has served as Visiting Professor of Piano at Colby College, Maine and Pomona College, California, Artist-in-Residence at Willamette University, Oregon and piano professor at Adamant Music School, Vermont, as well as on the summer faculty of Interlochen Center for the Arts. He currently serves on the piano faculty at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington, as well as running his private piano studio in Seattle. In addition to his teaching commitments, Chapman Nyaho serves on the board of trustees of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy and is Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Music Teachers’ National Association.
As an advocate for music of Africa and its diaspora, Chapman Nyaho’s publications include a five-volume anthology Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora published by Oxford University Press. He recently received the 2022 Mtna-Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award for his work on the anthology. Chapman Nyaho’s solo recordings include Senku: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent, Asa: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent and Kete: Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora.
Chapman Nyaho earned his degrees from St. Peter’s College, Oxford University, the Eastman School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin. He also studied at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, Switzerland.
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