THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603150074
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
URSULA OPPENS has built a career on juxtaposition. The pianist's program Monday evening at Old Dominion University indicates as much.
It's a centuries-spanning who's who taking in Haydn and John Harbison, Schubert and Stravinsky. The stylistic gulfs, however, only seem sizable.
``One of the more consistent quotes I get from reviews,'' said Fred Bayersdorfer, arts assistant to ODU's dean of arts and letters, ``is she plays traditional classical music with an ear for what was new and exciting at the time it was written.
``That really feeds into her interest in contemporary serious music.''
Monday's recital opens with Haydn's Variations in F minor and Schubert's Four Impromptus, Op. 142. Following intermission, Oppens, professor of music at Northwestern University, will perform the Sonata in three movements by Stravinsky, Four More Occasional Pieces by Harbison and Schubert's ``Wanderer'' Fantasy in C major, Op. 15.
It begins at 8 in the Chandler Recital Hall, and it's free. Call 683-3020. KEYS AND STRINGS
Tuesday at Chandler, R&B will be redefined in a concert featuring Rachmaninoff (``Vocalise'' Op. 1)and Brahms (Sonata in E minor, Op. 38). Doing the honors are Scott Harris, principal bassist with the Virginia Symphony, and pianist Lee Jordan-Anders, artist-in-residence at Virginia Wesleyan College.
Admission is free. The concert starts at 12:30 p.m. Call 683-4061. EARLY-MUSIC CONCERT
Early music, specifically from the late Renaissance through the Viennese Classical period, is on the playlist when the Four Nations Ensemble performs at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Williamsburg Regional Library Arts Center Theater, 515 Scotland St.
Founded 10 years ago in New York, the ensemble - Andrew Appel, fortepiano; Ryan Brown, violin; Carla Rosenberg, cello - performs on period instruments. The program includes a Haydn sonata and trios by Nicolas Sejan, the first organ teacher at the Paris Conservatory following the French Revolution, and Johann Schobert, one of France's most influential harpsichord composers.
Admission is $15; $5 with a student ID. The concert will be repeated at 3 p.m. next Sunday at ODU's Chandler Recital Hall.
The performances are sponsored by Capriole, the Williamsburg-based, early-music vocal and instrumental ensemble. Call 220-1248 or 683-3020 for information. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CHRISTIAN STEINER
Ursula Oppens will span the centuries in her piano concert at 8 p.m.
Monday at ODU.
by CNB