91短视频

Just hearing David Berry describe music is an ethereal experience. Hearing him actually play the piano? Even more so.

The newest addition to the 91短视频 music faculty will perform Saturday, March 24, in Martin Chapel at 7:30 p.m. The recital is free and open to the public, and a freewill offering will be taken to benefit the music scholarship fund.

Berry earned his doctorate from The Juilliard School in 2011, after graduating from the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music. A native of Syracuse, New York, and winner of international piano competitions, Berry has performed with the Hudson Symphony Orchestra and in Carnegie Hall, and was a featured soloist at the Juilliard School鈥檚 Focus Festival.

His recital selections reflect his musical repertoire. The back-to-back juxtaposition of two sonatas, he said, centuries and continents apart in their writing, demonstrates the versatility of the form: Mozart鈥檚 F major sonata has 鈥渆xtraordinary ideas, charm, elegance, playfulness, deep lyricism.鈥� The second piece, George Walker鈥檚 Piano Sonata No. 2, is 鈥渧ery dark鈥� and 鈥渇illed with biting dissonance.鈥�

Another, 鈥淭roubled Water鈥� by Margaret Bonds, is themed on the spiritual 鈥淲ade in the Water鈥� and blends what Berry calls 鈥淩achmaninoff-style piano鈥� with 鈥渏azzy harmonies鈥� that reflect the composer鈥檚 鈥淗arlem Renaissance sensibilities鈥� and 鈥渋mmense understanding of pianistic color.鈥�

Berry will also perform Robert Schumann鈥檚 鈥淐arnaval,鈥� a collection of 21 short pieces that picture a masked ball and is 鈥渇ull of youthful imagination.鈥� In his program notes, Berry writes that the piece 鈥渋ncorporates a musical thread鈥� that is a 鈥渨ord game鈥� based on the German letters for musical notes in the piece, which represent the composer鈥檚 and other people鈥檚 names.

And then 鈥� 鈥渋f the audience can stand it,鈥� he said 鈥� he鈥檒l offer 鈥渁 fun little encore, something jazzy. We鈥檒l see what happens.鈥�

Two musical worlds

Growing up, Berry was simultaneously immersed in two different musical worlds.

His dad played blues guitar, and the two jammed as well as played together in church. Berry had the Baptist hymnal memorized by age 15, and would play the organ for their 鈥渓ittle Southern Gospel quartet.鈥�

During the same time, from age five until he went to college, he studied under classical piano teacher George Skafidas who, he said, was 鈥渙bsessed with Beethoven.鈥� That passion soon had him hooked 鈥� 鈥淚 was infected,鈥� he said. He listened over and over to a cassette tape with 鈥淭he Story of Beethoven鈥� on one side and the Emperor Concerto on the other, and would visit the library for biographies about composers.

But he was learning much more from Skafidas than just intellectual understanding of music and history.

鈥淗e was this big, passionate character and instilled in me that music is about expression, and that these composers wrote because they had to. It was something inside them that they had to express,鈥� Berry said. 鈥淭hat stayed with me.鈥�

Though the lessons were his parents鈥� idea initially, he said they never had to force him to practice. And because his mother homeschooled him from third grade all the way through high school, Berry had unique opportunities to expand his exposure to classical music, such as attending mid-day recitals at the local museum 鈥� and 鈥渆arly on,鈥� he developed deep appreciation for not just Beethoven鈥檚 works but also those of Schubert, Chopin and other composers.

鈥淢y parents did a really good job鈥� he said, of helping him and his two younger siblings 鈥渇ind what are our passions and being creative in how they put that into our education.鈥� One sibling is now pursuing a doctorate in organic chemistry, and the other works in information technology.

Then, in college, he found yet another musical element.

鈥淚 fell in with the jazz majors,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 would play something Rachmaninoff or Beethoven, and they would play Duke Ellington or John Coltrane or whatever, and we would trade ideas for harmonies. I added that sound to my already bluesy Gospel thing I was doing.鈥�

Shaped by teachers

Skafidas wasn鈥檛 the only teacher who shaped Berry鈥檚 approach to music 鈥� and now teaching.

From one professor he learned that music is 鈥渋mages and analogies and colors,鈥� that for Mozart you need a 鈥渞eally light, crisp sound鈥� as if it were 鈥渃arbonated.鈥� To get a rich, full sound, he told him, 鈥渋magine dropping a bag of Dominos sugar on the piano from four feet above.鈥�

鈥淢usic is all about gestures and movements,鈥� Berry said. 鈥淪ometimes a picture is more helpful than a didactic description to understand the essence of the kind of sound you want to make.鈥�

Another modeled a 鈥減ure beauty in his touch,鈥� Berry said. 鈥淚t sounded like he was playing on top of butter.鈥�

Yet another helped Berry see Beethoven鈥檚 late pieces as very probing, massive, large-scale and other-earthly, and described the end of one piece as 鈥渢he apotheosis of A-flat major.鈥�

Vivid terms such as these, Berry said, make a performer think, 鈥淥kay, I鈥檓 not just playing the end of a piece or hitting this chord. What is the inner essence of this sound, this world of music?鈥�

Those teachers, he said, 鈥渢hought beyond the page, thought beyond the syllabus, and captured my heart with how powerful, deep, moving, convicting and expressive music can be 鈥� and really affected me and informed my approach in teaching music,鈥� he said.

Career notes

For years Berry traveled as a performer, in part with , which combines chamber music with theatrical shows based on historical figures.

Now teaching, along with his continued performing, is a completion of his interests.

鈥淭hose two things live together,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檝e always had a love for academia, for history, and for the larger picture beyond just the notes on the page.鈥�

When he found 91短视频 online, several things stood out: the university鈥檚 emphasis on service, a department where he could pursue his wide range of musical interests rather than be restricted by specialization, and the cross-cultural study program.

The first time he visited campus, he felt a 鈥渨armth鈥� that 鈥渄rew me,鈥� he remembers. 鈥淚 was hoping it would work out, by the time I left.鈥�

It did 鈥� and has proved the right family move, too. His wife Jennifer now teaches kindergarten in a Harrisonburg school, their son attends Eastern Mennonite Elementary School, and Berry鈥檚 parents, who had been thinking of retiring to Virginia from New York, seized the day and moved to live just 10 minutes from campus.