Pianist Anastasia Antonacos (class of ’97 and faculty member) kicks off the spring semester in the USM School of Music with a solo recital featuring works by Schubert, Ravel, and Elena Ruehr.

The concert will be held on Friday, January 22 at 8 p.m. in Corthell Concert Hall on the USM Gorham campus. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, USM employees and alumni, and $5 for students. Purchase tickets online at www.usm.maine.edu/music/boxoffice, or by calling the Music Box Office at (207) 780-5555. (Snow date Sat. 1/23 at 8 p.m.)

The program includes the beautiful and poignant last four Schubert Impromptus, written shortly before his death at age 31; Le Tombeau de Couperin by Ravel, an elegant set of pieces written in homage to Francois Couperin, which (unlike the orchestral version) ends with the flashyToccata; and Preludes by Elena Ruehr, an award-winning faculty member at MIT. Ruehr says of her music, “The idea is that the surface be simple, the structure complex.”

Antonacos has been called “accurate, sensitive, indefatigable” by the Portland Press Herald. 

“I grew up hearing these Schubert and Ravel works, and they have always been near and dear to my heart. I love presenting newer composers, like Elena Ruehr, and I think the audience will like her textures and rhythmic intrigue as much as I do.”

Biography

An alumna of the USM School of Music, Anastasia Antonacos has given notable performances around the world as a solo recitalist and chamber musician. She has played at venues such as the Salle Cortot, Casa Orfeo, Holland’s Alkmaar Conservatory, and Alice Tully Hall. She has also played in Greece, Russia, France, and Belgium, as well as various places in the U.S., including Washington D.C., where she testified for funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. 

She won First Place at the International Young Artist Music Competition in Bulgaria, and she holds prizes from the Capdepera International Piano Competition in Mallorca and the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition. In 2004 the Greek Women’s University Club of Chicago awarded her the Kanellos Award. She attended the Holland Music Sessions, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, and the Wilhelm Kempff Beethoven Course in Positano, Italy, where she was one of eight pianists selected for an intensive study of Beethoven led by John O’Conor. 

Dr. Antonacos has made solo appearances with the Northshore Philharmonic Orchestra, the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra, the Portland Symphony Orchestra, and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with violinist Joseph Silverstein, and with members of the Vermeer, Cassatt and DaPonte Quartets. She has been a chamber music coach at Bay Chamber Concerts’ Next Generation program for many years, and she regularly serves as a masterclass teacher and adjudicator. She holds a doctorate in piano performance from Indiana University in Bloomington, and she was a member of the full-time piano faculty at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for two years. She lives with her husband and daughter in Portland, where she was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of Portland by the Phoenix.

For more information about the University of Southern Maine and the School of Music, visit:www.usm.maine.edu/music

Those needing special accommodations to participate fully in this program, contact Lori Arsenault, (207) 780-5142, loria@maine.edu. Hearing impaired: call USM's telex / TDD number (207) 780-5646.

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