By Matthew Makowski
The halls of Grand Valley State University’s Performing Arts Center will be filled with the music of renowned composers Joseph Haydn, Frédéric Chopin and Maurice Ravel, during the 2017 Baum Series Recital.
The recital, featuring Boris Slutsky, internationally acclaimed pianist and chair of the Piano Department at The Peabody Conservatory of Music, will take place Sunday, April 2, at 3 p.m. in the Sherman Van Solkema Recital Hall (room 1325). The Performing Arts Center is located on the Allendale Campus.
Since his orchestral debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony in 1980, Slutsky has performed on nearly every continent as a soloist and recitalist. He emerged on the international music scene when he won the First Prize, along with every other major prize, at the 1981 William Kapell International Piano Competition at the University of Maryland.
Throughout his career, Slutsky has performed with the London Philharmonic, Bem Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland, Bergen Philharmonic in Norway and KBS Symphony Orchestra in Korea, among many others.
Born in Moscow into a family of musicians, Slutsky received his early training at Moscow’s Gnessin School for Gifted Children, and completed his formal studies at both Julliard School and Manhattan School of Music.
Slutsky’s recital is supported by the William C. Baum Endowment Fund at Grand Valley. The fund was established in 1998 to support professor emeritus William Baum’s two great passions: politics and classical music. The annual series features either a special speaker on issues in American law or a recital by a noted pianist.
The Baum Endowment was established to reflect the shared interests of Baum family members. Baum, who died in 2007, was a political science professor at Grand Valley for 40 years and retired in 2005. His wife, Nancy Baum, a Grand Valley dance educator, died in 2011. Their son Jefferson taught dance at Grand Valley from 2000-2007.
This concert is free and open to the public. For more information about the recital, contact the Music and Dance Department at 616-331-3484, or visit gvsu.edu/music.
