Alan Fraser to perform

Annual concert in St. Paul’s Church

The annual Alan Fraser concert in St. Paul’s Church in Charlottetown will take place on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

Fraser, a world-class master pianist, is originally an Islander, but is now based in Serbia. He travels the world giving recitals and teaching under the aegis of the Alan Fraser Piano Institute. He is a practitioner of the Feldenkrais method and the creator of the piano kinematics approach.

Oxford University Press is about to publish his fourth volume on piano technique, “Play the Piano with Your Whole Self’’, which explores the relationship between how people move and what sort of music comes out of the piano.

The concert will feature two other accomplished pianists – Audrey Dumont and Fraser’s daughter, Masha Fraser.

Dumont is from Dijon, France, and is continuing her professional development in Switzerland. Masha Fraser is going on toward a career after graduating from her secondary music studies in Belgrade, Serbia.

The concert will feature wellknown compositions by Haydn and Chopin and Schumann, but will include lesser known samples from Vera Milankovich.

Add “Birdsong’’ by Olivier Messanien and variations on “The Lark’’ by Russians Glinka and Balakirev, as well as Eric Satie’s “Gnossienne #1’’.

For a dramatic conclusion, all three pianists will put their six hands into playing Mozart’s Sonata for Piano 4 hands.

When asked about his favourite, Alan Fraser is quick with the answer.

“It’s the Chopin Ballade,’’ he said. “There is something so personal about it, so deeply interior and, at the same time, otherworldly. It is one of Chopin’s most poetic and emotional expressions.’’

Admission is at the door. Adults are $15, seniors are $10, students are $8 and children are $5.

For more information, go to www.stpaulschurch.ca or call 902-628-6778.