Campus Connection

Piano artists-in-residence coming to UW-La Crosse

[caption id="attachment_6148" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The piano duo of William Chapman Nyaho and Susanna Garcia will perform at UW-La Crosse Saturday, Oct. 1."][/caption] Two accomplished pianists will share their talents at a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse artist-in-residence program. William Chapman Nyaho and Susanna Garcia will be guest artists on campus Thursday, Sept. 29, through Saturday, Oct. 1. Their visit ends with a recital by the duo at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Annett Recital Hall, Center for the Arts. The concert is free. Nyaho is a free-lance musician from Washington, D.C., who has edited and published five volumes of piano music titled, “Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora.” Garcia, an associate professor of piano at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, is a nationally known piano teacher who has performed throughout the southwest. She has given numerous presentations and master classes throughout the country. UW-L Associate Professor of Piano Mary Tollefson says the residency will provide a different look at African music. “It’s interesting how we often suggest that traditional African music is ritual music that includes singing and drumming and often music that is passed down only by oral tradition,” Tollefson explains. “This residency program will help UW-L students and the La Crosse Community broaden their perspectives of what comprises African music.” Tollefson says Nyaho’s volumes of African piano music are progressive in difficulty and provide a wealth of styles. The artists-in-residence will meet with students, lecture in classes, and provide performance insight through master classes with UW-L piano students. The culmination of their residency will be Saturday’s concert of multi-cultural repertoire for four-hands at one piano and then at two pianos. The residency program is sponsored by the UW-L School of Arts & Communication, the UW-L Foundation, the La Crosse Community Foundation and Xcel Energy. If you go— Who: William Chapman Nyaho and Susanna Garcia What: Concert When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1 Where: Annett Recital Hall, UW-L Center for the Arts Admission: Free.