The Sage Chamber Music Society presents The Timeless Genius of Chopin, a series of four virtual recitals of piano works by Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849), performed by Jiayan Sun. The concerts will be live-streamed on Thursdays at 8 PM from Sweeney Concert Hall, Smith College.

March 4, 2021 - II. The Complete Ballades, Selected Mazurkas, and the Second Sonata

April 8, 2021 - III. The Complete Scherzos, Selected Nocturnes, and the Third Sonata

May 6, 2021 - IV. The Complete Preludes, Selected Late and Other Works

The first program of the series was live-streamed on Thursday, December 10, featuring Chopin's complete Etudes.

Sun, currently the Iva Dee Hiatt Visiting Artist in Piano at Smith College, has long been a passionate devotee of Chopin's music: "... with his sensitive yet noble soul, unparalleled imagination, and superb craftsmanship, Chopin composed works that continue to captivate and move us as they have done for the past two centuries." Though Sun immersed himself in this music in his adolescence, this year he returns to it with fresh eyes and ears. Speaking about the Etudes, Sun continues to marvel at the ingenuity of these poetic miniatures: "along with Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann in the 1830s, Chopin revolutionized the principles of piano technique as well as the conception of piano writing. We are indebted to these three composers for laying the foundation of modern piano playing, with Chopin's Etudes as the capstone of this foundation."

Jiayan Sun has thrilled audiences with A Beethoven Cycle: The Complete Sonatas, a stunning interpretation of the composers’ sonatas presented in 2018-19 in chronological order and last season’s Schubertiade, a series of eight concerts celebrating the music of Franz Schubert. Praised for his "revelatory" (New York Times) and "technically flawless, poetically inspired and immensely assured playing" (Toronto Star), pianist Jiayan Sun has given recitals and performed with distinguished conductors and orchestras worldwide, including The Cleveland Orchestra, The Hallé, Chinese and RTÉ (Ireland) National Symphony orchestras, Fort Worth and Toledo Symphony orchestras, and the Toronto and Aspen Concert orchestras.

The Timeless Genius of Chopin concert series will continue in the spring of 2021, featuring the composer’s complete Ballades and Scherzos, the second and third Sonatas, and other notable works throughout his short yet extraordinary career. All the concerts are free, live virtual events and open to the public.

For more information: https://libguides.smith.edu/geniuschopin