William Woods, Professor Emeritus
|
|
William Woods is professor emeritus of piano, teaching at the University of Oregon 1950-1983. Deceased May 8, 2011.
Woods' primary performance activity has been as an accompanist and chamber musician. In this capacity he has appeared with the University Trio in off-campus recitals in Oregon, Washington, and California. He is considered one of the pioneers in the performance of new music including music of the 20th century which is little known.
Among these works are:
Solo works: Copland's Fantasy, Stravinsky's Serenade in A, Dallapicolla's Notebook for Annalibera, Dahl's Sonata Pastorale, and other works by Piston, Bartok, Ben Weber, and Schoenberg.
Trios by Ravel, Piston, Finney, Imbrie, Keller, Elston, Kirchner, Dahl, and Martinu.
Works for cello and piano by Bloch, Martinu, Rinney, Shostakovitch, Prokofieff, and Honnegger.
Songs by Hindemith, Bartok, Schoenberg, Keller, Ravel, Dallapicolla, Rorem, Copland, Barber.
Woods states "Believing that the music of the present has developed from that of the past, I have always tried to teach and perform it in conjunction with older music. I believe that one of my primary duties is to communicate to students my concerns that they become even more familiar with the richness of their own musical heritage. Only as they are well grounded in this musical and cultural heritage can they form valid judgments as to the value of newer developments in music, and only as they understand and appreciate their own culture can they attempt to understand other cultures."
