Pianist Juan La Manna, professor of music at SUNY Oswego, will offer a free music recital featuring works of Brahms, Mozart and more at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 8, in Sheldon Hall ballroom on campus.
La Manna will play “3 Intermezzi, Op. 117” of Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy’s “Images, Book 2” and Alberto Ginastera’s three “Argentine Dances.” Members of the College-Community Orchestra will join the pianist for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Piano Concerto in A major, K488.” Projections of paintings and old photographs will accompany some selections.
“I am very excited about this program,” said La Manna, who joined the music faculty in 1997. “The Brahms selections are somber, as he composed them after a friend’s and a sister’s death. French composer Debussy wrote his ‘Images’ to evoke wonderful pictures, such as church bells, ancient temples and goldfish. And Ginastera’s pieces are lively and rhythmic, inspired by his folk music. The Mozart concerto is a most beautiful piece, especially the second movement, which is simply sublime.”
La Manna has performed as a soloist, both in recitals and with orchestras, and has played many concerts regionally and in England, Italy and Venezuela. Active as a conductor as well, he was conductor for Miami City Ballet and artistic director of Oswego Opera for many years.