The Brass Recital

Karl Pilss: Tre pezzi in forma di sonata
I. Sonfonia
II. Intermezzo
III. Rondo alla Caccia
​
Eric Ewazen: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano 
I. Andante teneramente
II. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
​III. Andante grazioso
IV. Maestoso - Fuga: Allegro energico

Date: December 5th, 2022.
​Time: 7:30pm
Location: Grace United Methodist Church
Address: 6199 Waterman Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63112
Admission: Free

Concert Artists

Cara Kizer / Horn

Victoria Knudtson / Horn

Angela Kim / Piano

XiaoXiao Qiang / Violin

Karl Pilss: Tre pezzi in forma di Sonata
Karl Pilss was an Austrian composer, conductor, and pianist who lived from 1902-1979. He began studying music theory and taking piano lessons at the age of 16. When he was 22 years old, he entered the Vienna Academy of Music and became more serious with his composition studies under the tutelage of Franz Schmidt, a distinguished Austro-Hungarian composer of the time. He also spent time mastering his skills as a conductor, and became a choir master and piano accompanist of opera and choral singers soon after school. Pilss had a varied and successful career. He held positions as assistant choir director of the Vienna State Opera, as a professor at the Vienna Academy of Music, and as director of studies at the Salzburg Music Festival where he worked alongside several famous conductors including Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Karl Bohm, and Herbert von Karajan!
Pilss was a prolific composer. He wrote 85 pieces for wind instruments as well as orchestral works, solo vocal works, and choral works. Tre pezzi in forma di Sonata (Three pieces in sonata form) for French horn and piano is one of his most famous works.
When he wasn’t composing, Pilss was a visual art enthusiast and completed many paintings and drawings throughout his life.

Eric Ewazen: Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano 
Eric Ewazen is a living American composer born in Cleveland, OH in 1954. Ewazen completed degrees at Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School. He is a highly decorated composer with many awards and honors from composition competitions. His works have been recorded and performed by major artists and ensembles including American Brass Quintet, The Juilliard Wind Ensemble, Julie Giacobassi of the San Francisco Symphony, Charles Vernon of the Chicago Symphony, Koichiro Yamamoto of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Ronald Barron of the Boston Symphony, Doug Yeo of the Boston Symphony, Steve Witser of the Cleveland Orchestra, Joe Alessi and Philip Smith of the New York Philharmonic, the Horn Section of the New York Philharmonic, and more! He is currently a professor of composition at The Juilliard School.
Ewazen composed Trio for Horn, Violin, and Piano in the winter of 2008/09 as a homage to Brahms’ trio of the same instrumentation. The piece was commissioned by the chamber ensemble Chamberosity.