Dossin invites audience to join him “In Beall with Brahms”

November 17, 2014—On Monday, Dec. 1, a premier performer in the Willamette Valley music scene will launch one of his most ambitious projects to date. 
 
Alexandre Dossin, University of Oregon associate professor of piano performance and piano literature, will launch “In Beall with Brahms,” a concert cycle featuring the complete chamber works with piano by Johannes Brahms, a first for the University of Oregon. The Dec. 1 concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in historic Beall Concert Hall on the UO campus. Tickets are $10 general, $8 for students and seniors, available at the door or in advance from the UO Ticket Office in MacArthur Court, 541-346-4363. 
 
Three times each year, once each academic term, Dossin will join his UO faculty colleagues and guest artists for an evening of chamber music by the great German composer. This inaugural event event will feature Brahms’ Scherzo in c minor for violin and piano (with Fritz Gearhart); Sonata no. 2 in A Major for violin and piano (with Gearhart); and Trio no. 1 in B Major for violin, cello, and piano (with Kathryn Lucktenberg and Steven Pologe).
 
Future concerts will feature clarinet and horn professors. UO music theory faculty member Stephen Rodgers will provide program notes for each concert, allowing audience members the chance to get to know the works in depth.
 
Dossin chose to initiate the concert series in Eugene because of the influence of another institution. Each January, Dossin teaches and performs at a major international summer music festival in Brazil. After enjoying the opportunity to perform the cycle in Brazil, he decided to import it to Oregon.
 
“That experience has been very inspiring, and I decided to organize a more formal cycle here in Eugene,” Dossin explains. 
 
Considered both a traditionalist and an innovator, Johannes Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus.
 
“Having performed most of Brahms’ repertoire for chamber music with piano, I realized that the amount of repertoire is small enough to be perceived as a cycle,” says Dossin. “Instead of concentrating the seven or eight concerts in a small amount of time, I decided to spread it in a three-season cycle, with one performance per term.”
 
The next "In Beall with Brahms" concerts are scheduled for March 2, 2015 and May 18, 2015.