“The Arithmetic of Sound: Piano Music of Claude Debussy” will be performed by guest pianist Brooks Hafey today at 7:30 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts recital hall.
Performing as a soloist in a wide range of venues across the U.S. and overseas, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City, France, Italy and Norway, Hafey is also an active chamber musician, collaborative artist and conductor.
With degrees in piano performance from the University of Missouri-Columbia and Florida State University, Hafey also has studied at the Conservatoire Municipale de Mennecy in France under Juan Davila.
He has taught at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Florida, Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, and is currently a professor of Communication, Music, Art and Theatre – Music at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska.
Even though he’s located in the next state over, Hafey is still very involved with Wyoming music. He has been at UW adjudicating the Wyoming State MTNA piano competition and other events. Brooks will also be joining two UW music professors on Feb. 13 for a chamber music recital.
“While he is on the faculty of Chardon State College in Nebraska, he has joined the membership of Wyoming Music Teachers Association and currently serves on the executive board as Secretary,” Chi-Chen Wu, associate professor of piano and coordinator of collaborative piano, said.
Making his debut as an opera conductor in Novafeltria, Italy with Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” in 2008, Hafey then conducted Puccini’s “Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi.”
“I have had the good fortune to play in a number of extraordinary places, including Weill Recital Hall in NYC and the Kennedy Center,” Hafey said. “Several years ago in Italy, however, I was privileged to conduct Puccini’s ‘Suor Angelica’ at a convent in Rimini, Italy. It was such a special and reverent atmosphere for such heart-rending opera.”
Hafey’s broad repertoire spans from the works of French Baroque masters Jean-Philippe Rameau and François Couperin to composers of the modern day. He has presented a lecture recital of “Ghost Variations” by American composer and Grawemeyer Award-winner George Tsontakis, advocating for contemporary piano composition.
Claude Debussy, who died in 1918, left a legacy that didn’t go unnoticed by Hafey. On the centenary of Debussy’s death Hafey made it his mission to perform Debussy’s work his own way.
“Last year I performed all of his solo piano music in five recitals as well as a concert of his chamber music,” Hafey said. “These recitals, as well as Friday’s recital, are celebrations of his enormous contribution to the art.”
“The Arithmetic of Sound: Piano Music of Claude Debussy” will include Debussy’s works “Deux Arabesques,” “La plus que lente, Estampes,” “12 Etudes” and selections from “Préludes, 2e livre.” This is Hafey’s first recital appearance at UW.
Sponsored by the Department of Music is sponsoring, the event is free and open to the public.
