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Jeffrey LaDeur '11, piano
Saturday, February 10 2018, 05:00 PM at
Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall Map
Alumni Recital

Jeffrey LaDeur '11, piano

Saturday, February 10 2018, 05:00 PM
at
Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall Map
LaDeur ii Feature Photo

"... a pianist and musician of striking spontaneity, perception, and depth. The exceptional balance of emotion and intellect that defines his performances is as rare as it is reliable, embodying the type of artistry a discerning listener will always value most. " 
-Robert McDonald, Concert Pianist 
-Chair of Piano Studies, Curtis Institute 

Program

Jeffrey LaDeur ('11) previews his Carnegie Hall debut recital in this program featuring music of Couperin, Chopin, and the complete Etudes of Debussy. 

Notes on the Program

Claude Debussy, Musicien Français
François Couperin was writing evocative, satirical, and sensual character pieces decades before Bach incorporated their style into the ‘absolute music’ of his French suites and other works. Given Couperin’s generative role in French style, it is no surprise that Debussy would turn to him for inspiration in his last major work for the piano: the Études of 1915. They represent a final blooming of invention, transparency, and form, and a return to simplicity. What is more, they are overtly patriotic, as evidenced by Debussy’s preface, claiming Rameau and Couperin as “…our admirable clavencinistes…”.  Yet, the Études are dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, a composer whom Debussy adored and who was adopted by the French, but not a native son. It is difficult to believe that the matter of the dedication, whether Couperin or Chopin, was essentially an arbitrary one left in the hands of his publisher, Durand. Debussy was a composer who excoriated copyists for the slightest error and threw tantrums if fonts were not printed exactly per his request… The answer lies in the hidden language of musical cryptogram. Both Couperin and Chopin bear the same initials- F.C. The pitches represented by their names are omnipresent in structurally important moments of the Études, and it is only fitting that Debussy’s initials make frequent appearances in their midst.

There was a practical motivation for the composition of these pieces that helps explain their dedication as well; war time prevented many musical editions from crossing French borders, and Debussy was employed to edit the piano music of Chopin, thus creating an autonomous French version. It was during this revisiting of Chopin’s music that he composed the Études, not only an homage to Chopin and Couperin, but an imaginary landscape where the great masters of the past, and presumably Debussy himself, could be united through French music. Debussy describes Pour Les Agréments, the last to be composed and the most quintessentially French as “..a barcarolle, on a somewhat Italian sea.”  In the true spirit of Couperin and Chopin, it is indeed a meeting of great minds, truly goûts réunis. 

Artist Profile

Praised for his "...glowing sound..." and "...assured virtuosity..." (San Francisco Classical Voice) and “...dazzling pianism...” (Sarasota Herald TribuneJeffrey LaDeur has concertized around the world including performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Eastman Theater, Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt, and Banff Centre for the Arts. LaDeur has broadcast for Dutch Radio 4, WFMT Chicago, South Dakota Public Radio, and his performances of Chopin, Satie, and Joplin are featured in the 2016 award-winning documentary "California Typewriter" starring John Mayer, Sam Shephard, and Tom Hanks. At the invitation of the Naumburg Foundation, Jeffrey made his Carnegie debut in Weill Recital Hall in March 2015. Jeffrey is Founder and Artistic Director of the San Francisco International Piano Festival and New Piano Collective, an artistic alliance between pianists of international renown.    

As soloist with orchestra, Jeffrey made an auspicious debut with the Eastman Philharmonia performing César Franck's Variations Symphoniques during his first semester of study at the Eastman School of Music. Recent concerto engagements include performances with the Oakland East Bay Symphony, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, members of the South Dakota Symphony, Merced Symphony, and Denver Philharmonic, collaborating with esteemed conductors such as George Cleve, Michael Morgan, Lawrence Golan, Ming Luke, and Neil Varon. 

LaDeur has performed in recital throughout the United States including appearances at the Kennedy Center, Dakota Sky International Piano Festival, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, and PianoForte Studios, Chicago. Jeffrey draws on his love of and experience with French music to offer The Unbroken Line, the complete solo piano music of Claude Debussy in the context of his inspirations and influences. Jeffrey's debut commercial release on MSR Classics features Debussy's Images IPreludes II, and works by Rameau. LaDeur will return to Carnegie to celebrate the Debussy centenary with a recital centered around Debussy's complete Etudes and music of Couperin and Chopin.  

A passionate chamber musician, LaDeur is a founding member of the acclaimed Delphi Trio. The Trio maintains a busy concert schedule, and recent engagements include concerti with the Oakland Symphony and San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and recitals at the SF Jazz Center, Morrison Artist Series, and Chamber Music Concerts of Ashland where the trio premiered William Bolcom's first Piano Trio, written for their ensemble. Prize winners of the 2015 Orlando Competition in Kerkrade, the Delphi Trio concertized throughout the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium including a broadcast for Dutch Radio 4. In addition to his activities with the Trio, Jeffrey has collaborated with artists such as Robert Mann, Bonnie  Hampton, Geoff Nuttall, Anne Akiko Meyers, Ian Swensen, Axel Strauss, the Telegraph, Thalea, and Afiara Quartets. 

Education through music is central to LaDeur's mission as a performer. Jeffrey is a faculty member of the Crowden School's summer chamber music workshop and the piano faculty of Young Chamber Musicians, an intensive chamber music program in partnership with Kohl Mansion in Burlingame. With his colleagues Liana Berube and Michelle Kwon of the Delphi Trio, he has developed a program for emerging  artists which guides serious young musicians through their first  professional concert experience.

Jeffrey completed his undergraduate education at the Eastman School of Music, studying with Douglas Humpherys and earned a Masters Degree in chamber music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music studying with Yoshikazu Nagai. LaDeur completed additional studies with Robert McDonald through the Taos School of Music and has worked with members of the Saint Lawrence, Brentano, and Borromeo Quartets. Jeffrey received his formative musical training from Mark Edwards and Annie Sherter, a student of Vlado Perlemuter and Alfred Cortot. 

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Saturday, February 10 2018, 05:00 PM to Saturday, February 10 2018, 07:00 PM