Tuesday, September 22 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm CDT
Guarneri Hall presents the complex world of Sergei Prokofiev through the lens of his nine piano sonatas. From biting modernism to wartime introspection, this three-part series traces a musical and cultural evolution, exploring the rarely discussed Russian Avant-Garde of the early twentieth century.
Freedom and Irony reflects on the years surrounding the Russian Revolution. As Prokofiev prepared to leave Russia in 1918, the visionary theater director Vsevolod Meyerhold gave him a copy of his journal “The Love for Three Oranges,” based on Carlo Gozzi’s fantastical play. Prokofiev read it en route to the United States, drawn to its blend of satire, absurdity, and fairy tale. This moment captures the tension between departure and connection. As Prokofiev left his country in turmoil, he carried with him artistic ties that would continue to shape his compositional style.
A sense of displacement and evolving identity echo across the evening’s programming. Known as the sonata “From Old Notebooks,” the youthful volatility of Piano Sonata No. 3 is contrasted with the introspective, shadowed character of Piano Sonata No. 4, reflecting a composer grappling with memory, loss, and reinvention during exile. Decades later, the explosive intensity of Piano Sonata No. 7 was forged under the pressures of Stalinist Russia and received the Stalin Prize.
The program will be hosted by Tanya Landau, PhD candidate in the department of Musicology at Northwestern University with opening remarks from Dassia N. Posner, Associate Professor of Theatre and Slavic Languages and Literatures at Northwestern University.
Program
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 28
Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 29
Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7, Op. 83
Artists: Adam Neiman, piano; Tanya Landau, host; Dassia N. Posner, guest speaker
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