Internationally known French pianist Hugues Leclere will perform works by Scarlatti, Bellini and Chopin in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday [JAN. 27] in East Central University's Dorothy Summers Theatre.
Admission is free for ECU students, staff and faculty. General admission tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students, with all proceeds going to the All-Steinway School fund. The fund is an initiative to replace the Music Department's pianos with high-quality Steinways.
Leclere also will give a master class for ECU piano students at 11 a.m. Monday [JAN. 28] in Faust Auditorium.
In addition to his career as a concert performer, he has taught at the Paris Conservatory since 1995 and is the artistic director of the Nancyphonies Festival and the European Music Masterclasses in Nancy.
He has played numerous recitals in France, including appearances at the Cite de la Musique, the Festival d'Ile de France, Festival Presences of Radio France, Riom, Boucard, Pierrefonds, Flaine, Melle, La Pree, Musique en Albret, Abbaye de Sees, Mazaugues and Chateauneuf du Pape.
The concert pianist also has performed at Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Musikhalle in Hamburg, Germany; and the Coimbra Festival in Portugal as well as in the United States, Japan, China, Morocco, Belarus, Italy, and Spain.
Leclere has been invited to play with many orchestras including the Soloists of Saint Petersburg, Camerata of Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre National de Lorraine, Orchestre d'Auvergne, Orchestre Symphonique & Lyrique of Nancy, Minsk Orchestra, Timisoaran Orchestra, and l'Ensemble Itineraire among others.
He is an outstanding interpreter of Debussy, Ravel and their contemporaries. He also demonstrates his artistic maturity in the works by German and Austrian composers. His passion for Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven brought him to research the original sonority of classical instruments. Leclère has his own Fortepiano (the early version of the piano), the crystalline finesse of which is perfect for the late 18th century masterpieces.
He perfected his playing with Catherine Collard before entering the Paris National Conservatory where he graduated with high honors in piano, music theory and chamber music.
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