November 7, 2005 – Sylvia Bierschenk

Guest cellist and pianist to present lecture-recital at SFA

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Cellist Evan Drachman and pianist Richard Dowling will present a free lecture-recital at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, in Cole Concert Hall. The musicians are artists with the Piatigorsky Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by Drachman to bring classical music to communities across the United States.

Drachman named the foundation in honor of his grandfather, the famed cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. An accomplished cellist in his own right, Drachman performs with his grandfather's Stradivarius cello.

The duo will perform "Kol Nidrei, op. 47" by Max Bruch and "Concerto in B minor, op. 104" by Anton Dvorak, discussing each piece before playing it. Afterwards, the musicians will conduct a question and answer session.

Jeff Jacobsen, SFA director of orchestral studies, said the SFA School of Music invited the duo to return to campus based on the success of their performance last year.

Drachman has appeared regularly as a soloist with orchestras, in recitals and chamber music performances throughout the United States. He has also played recitals in India, Great Britain, Sweden, Italy and Canada.

He has toured the Far East as a soloist with the Chinese-American Symphony and performed with the Odessa (Ukraine) Philharmonic in Odessa and Kiev. He has also performed as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic at the Second World Cello Congress.

Dowling concertizes regularly across the United States and in the Far East, Australia, Aftrica and Europe. Career highlights include a New York orchestral debut at Lincoln Center and a recital at Carnegie's Weill Hall.

His recording credits include "Sweet and Low-Down," which contains virtually all of the piano works by George Gershwin; "World's Greatest Piano Rags"; two compact discs of cello and piano music with Drachman; and two CDs of piano music by Frederick Chopin.

The lecture-recital is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music. For more information, please call (936) 468-6407.