David Northington, the Powell Distinguished Professor of Piano in UT’s School of Music, will present his last concert as a faculty member at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 6. It will be held in the Sandra Powell Recital Hall in the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center.
Northington will retire in July after thirty-nine years as a faculty member.
Northington’s final concert will include the final works for piano by Beethoven and Schubert: the Bagatelles, op. 126, by Beethoven and the Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960, by Schubert.
“I selected these particular pieces because they have both been long time favorites of mine,” said Northington. “Both the Beethoven and Schubert selections represent the last piano compositions by each composer and, in many respects, a synthesis of the musical depths and styles of each.”
Northington is a world-renowned concert pianist, teacher, and educator.
“David is a fabulous pianist and one, I feel, who plays from his heart,” said Fay Adams, an associate professor of music and coordinator of keyboard studies. “Although this will be his last performance as a piano professor, I know he loves performing and will continue to perform and wow his audiences for many years.”
Northington has performed concert tours across the United States and in Eastern and Western Europe, Canada, China, and Russia.
Northington has been given the Artist of the Year Award by the Tennessee Arts Commission as well as numerous Outstanding Teacher Awards from the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.
Other awards have come from the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the East/West Artists Competition, and the American Music Scholarship Association’s International Competition. He won the unanimous Judges Prize at the Fourth Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition and was selected to be a part of the Artistic Ambassador Program sponsored by the United States Information Agency. As an artistic ambassador, he toured extensively in France, Spain, and Portugal. In addition to broadcasts throughout Europe on the Voice of America, he has filmed recitals for telecast on French national television.
Presently, he is on the artist faculty of the Interharmony International Music Festival in Germany and Italy in the summers. In the summer of 2016, Northington will be the artistic director for the inaugural East/West International Piano Festival at Shandong University in Weihai, China.
—
CONTACT:
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)