Guest / Faculty Recital — MarkSparks, flute • Peter Henderson, piano — Saturday, March 29, at 3:00 p.m. — The program will feature music by César Franck, Johannes Brahms, and Ottorino Respighi
The nineteenth-century German composers Felix Mendelssohn and Johannes Brahms were strongly influenced by earlier musical traditions. Despite these creators’ orientation to the past, their works on the first half of this program could not be more fresh and energetic. Mendelssohn’s Second Cello Sonata is ebullient, and features a slow movement reflecting the composer’s fascination with J. S. Bach’s music. Brahms’s Second Cello Sonata is also joyful, but traces a more varied emotional landscape. Brahms’s Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano was one of several late masterpieces inspired by the Meiningen clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, whose sensitive playing spurred Brahms to end his first retirement from composition. Some years later, Carl Frühling produced a beautiful, lyrical trio showing the influence of Brahms’s autumnal, somber op. 114.
The concerts will not be live-streamed, and no recordings will be available, so please consider enjoying these performances in person. Feel free to share this information with anyone you know who may be interested.
Nocturne No. 13 in B minor, op. 119 (1921) (ca. 7 minutes)
Brief Program Note
To observe the centenary of Gabriel Fauré’s death, Peter Henderson will perform a Maryville University Faculty Recital exploring works spanning the great French composer’s career. Renowned for his harmonic explorations and freedom, Fauré was also an inspired melodist, spinning long, flowing phrases set in a florid texture. His elegant, gorgeous piano music is poised between vigor and languor, raw emotion and restraint. This program features some of his most famous and extroverted early piano works, including the witty Valse-caprice No. 1 and two scintillating Impromptus, and ends with a few of Fauré’s sorrowful yet consolatory late pieces, including his intensely moving Nocturne No. 13.
Robert Schumann (1810-1856): [Untitled piece] No. 30 from Album for the Young, op. 68 (ca. 4 minutes)
Leo Marcus (b. 1945): Three Schumann Stars (Piano Quintet No. 3) (Midwest Premiere) (ca. 14 minutes)
Intermission (ca. 10 minutes)
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924): Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor, op. 115 (1919-21) (ca. 32 minutes)
Brief Program Note
Fauré completed two quintets for piano and string quartet. A slow, painstaking composer, Fauré labored eighteen years on Piano Quintet No. 1, which was eventually premiered in 1906. One of his favorite works, its first two movements have an enchanting, ethereal, timeless quality. Fauré’s earthier Piano Quintet No. 2 was composed relatively quickly, across several months in 1920-21. Deemed a masterpiece since its premiere, the second quintet demonstrates “A deep and magnificent serenity of a great poet, wise and lyrical” (Louis Vuillemin). Between these two monumental late works of Fauré, we’ll present the Midwest premiere of Three Schumann Stars by Leo Marcus, an American composer and pianist, who here explores the ambiguity and sensitive beauty of a small piano piece from Robert Schumann’s Album for the Young, op. 68.
Music at Maryville 2024-25, Concert 4 of 4 — Scott Lyle, Guitarist & Composer
Scott Lyle, guitarist & composer
Sunday, April 13, 2025 • 3:00 p.m. • Maryville University Auditorium
Scott Lyle is the Director of the Music Program and Assistant Professor of Music at Maryville University in St. Louis. He teaches courses in music theory, aural training, audio engineering, and private lessons, offering students a comprehensive education in both traditional and modern musical disciplines. Scott earned his BM in Music Performance (classical guitar) summa cum laude from the University of Missouri–St. Louis and his MA in Composition from Washington University in Saint Louis. Passionate about academic scholarship and research, he also actively performs music from various eras, with a special affinity for avant garde and post-tonal contemporary works.
Musical Program
To include these guitar works and arrangements, along with the premiere of three lieder by Scott Lyle:
John Dowland (1563-1626) – “Come, Heavy Sleep,” from The Firste Booke of Songes (1597)
Fernando Sor ( 1778-1839) – “Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Mozart, op. 9” (1819)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) – Intermezzo op. 117, no. 1, from Drei Intermezzi op. 117 (1892)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918) – “Clair de lune,” from Suite bergamasque (1890-1905)
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) – IV. Adagietto, from Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor (1902)
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) – “Nocturnal, after John Dowland,” op. 70 (1964)
Past 2024-2025 Concerts (listed in chronological order)
Music at Maryville Series 2024-2025 Concert 1 of 4 — Early Music Missouri presents Adoption, Adaption & Appropriation: Invasive Species in Mediterranean Musical Culture
Nocturne No. 13 in B minor, op. 119 (1921) (ca. 7 minutes)
Brief Program Note
To observe the centenary of Gabriel Fauré’s death, Peter Henderson will perform a Maryville University Faculty Recital exploring works spanning the great French composer’s career. Renowned for his harmonic explorations and freedom, Fauré was also an inspired melodist, spinning long, flowing phrases set in a florid texture. His elegant, gorgeous piano music is poised between vigor and languor, raw emotion and restraint. This program features some of his most famous and extroverted early piano works, including the witty Valse-caprice No. 1 and two scintillating Impromptus, and ends with a few of Fauré’s sorrowful yet consolatory late pieces, including his intensely moving Nocturne No. 13.
Music at Maryville Concert Series 2024-25, Concert 2 of 4 — Musicians of the SLSO perform Gabriel Fauré’s Two Piano Quintets & Leo Marcus’s Three Schumann Stars
Sunday, October 20, 2024 • 3:00 p.m. • Maryville University Auditorium • Directions
Robert Schumann (1810-1856): [Untitled piece] No. 30 from Album for the Young, op. 68 (ca. 4 minutes)
Leo Marcus (b. 1945): Three Schumann Stars (Piano Quintet No. 3) (Missouri Premiere) (ca. 14 minutes)
Intermission (ca. 10 minutes)
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924): Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor, op. 115 (1919-21) (ca. 32 minutes)
Brief Program Note
This program concludes Maryville University’s two-concert mini-series observing the centenary of Gabriel Fauré’s death. Fauré completed two quintets for piano and string quartet. A slow, painstaking composer, Fauré labored eighteen years on Piano Quintet No. 1, which was eventually premiered in 1906. One of his favorite works, its first two movements have an enchanting, ethereal, timeless quality. Fauré’s earthier Piano Quintet No. 2 was composed relatively quickly, across several months in 1920-21. Deemed a masterpiece since its premiere, the second quintet demonstrates “A deep and magnificent serenity of a great poet, wise and lyrical” (Louis Vuillemin). Between these two monumental late works of Fauré, we’ll present the Midwest premiere of Three Schumann Stars by Leo Marcus, an American composer and pianist, who here explores the ambiguity and sensitive beauty of a small piano piece from Robert Schumann’s Album for the Young, op. 68.
– Sunday, February 9, 2025 • 2:00 p.m. • Maryville University Auditorium – This recital will be our 2024-2025 Johannes Wich-Schwarz Chamber Music Concert. Please enjoy our pregame musical performance before this evening’s Super Bowl! – Program to include: Carl Frühling & Johannes Brahms’s Trios for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano
Nicolas del Grazia is Professor of Clarinet at Arkansas Tech University, and has appeared as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician throughout the United States and Europe. As an advocate for contemporary music, he has performed with a number of leading new music ensembles, including Chicago Pocket Opera Players, and Aguava New Music Studio, heralded as “brilliant” by the Washington Post and as “easily one of the most impressive new music ensembles in America today” by the International Record Review. He has worked with a number of the country’s leading composers, including David Felder, Evan Chambers, Kristin Kuster, and MacArthur Genius prize winner John Eaton. As a scholar, Nicolas del Grazia has twice been the recipient of awards from The International Clarinet Association for his research, and he has published work on the hitherto unknown Pastorale & Rondo by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and the unfinished Quartet for Clarinet and Strings by Alexander Zemlinsky. He also enjoys composing, especially for the clarinet. The “pixelated humor” (AllMusic.com) of his Tarantella for clarinet and piano can be heard on Italian Vintages, on the Centaur label.
A versatile pianist, Peter Henderson is active as a performer in orchestral, chamber, and solo settings. Henderson is currently Associate Professor of Music and Artist-in-Residence at Maryville University, where he has served on the faculty since 2005. Since 2015, Henderson has been the Principal Keyboardist of the Sun Valley Music Festival Orchestra. In September 2023, he began his tenure as Principal Keyboardist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO).
During January and February 2016, Henderson was the piano soloist in the SLSO’s California tour performances of Olivier Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux étoiles… (From the Canyons to the Stars…). Critics described him as a “powerhouse soloist” (San Francisco Chronicle) and praised his Messiaen playing for its “intense focus and thrilling vibrancy” (San Jose Mercury News). His most recent solo appearances with the SLSO, in March 2023, featured performances of Joseph Haydn’s Keyboard Concerto No. 11.
In addition to his regular ensemble performances with the SLSO, Henderson often delivers pre-concert lectures, introducing classical concert programs from Powell Hall’s stage.
Henderson’s discography includes collaborations with violinist David Halen, flutist Mark Sparks, bass trombonist Gerry Pagano, violist Jonathan Vinocour, and soprano Marlissa Hudson. His most recent solo album is A Celebration of African Composers for Piano (AMP AGCD 2706, released 2017).
Henderson also occasionally composes music and works as a recording producer. Rückblick (Looking Back), his song without words for trombone and piano, appears on Gerry Pagano’s album Solitude, released 2018. Printed and electronic editions of Rückblick were issued by Ascenda Music Publishing in January 2024.
Henderson holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, where his main piano instructor was Dr. Karen Shaw; he had previously studied with Dr. Jay Mauchley at the University of Idaho, Moscow. Henderson and his wife Kristin Ahlstrom, the SLSO’s Associate Principal Second Violinist, live in St. Louis with their lively, sweet beagle/terrier-mix, Zinni.
Brief bio (220 words)
A versatile pianist, Peter Henderson is active as a performer in orchestral, chamber, and solo settings. Henderson is currently Associate Professor of Music and Artist-in-Residence at Maryville University, and Principal Keyboardist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) and the Sun Valley Music Festival Orchestra.
Henderson was the piano soloist in the SLSO’s February 2016 California tour performances of Olivier Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux étoiles… (From the Canyons to the Stars…); his Messiaen playing was lauded for its “intense focus and thrilling vibrancy” (San Jose Mercury News).
In addition to his regular ensemble performances with the SLSO, Henderson often delivers pre-concert lectures, introducing classical concert programs from Powell Hall’s stage.
Henderson’s discography includes collaborations with violinist David Halen, flutist Mark Sparks, and soprano Marlissa Hudson. His most recent solo album is A Celebration of African Composers for Piano (AMP AGCD 2706, released 2017).
Henderson also occasionally composes music. Rückblick (Looking Back), his song without words for trombone and piano, appears on Gerry Pagano’s album Solitude, released 2018. Printed and electronic editions of Rückblick were issued by Ascenda Music Publishing in January 2024.
Henderson holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University, Bloomington. He and his wife Kristin Ahlstrom, the SLSO’s Associate Principal Second Violinist, live in St. Louis with their lively, sweet beagle/terrier-mix, Zinni.
When the Bösendorfer grand piano is stored, please:
Ensure that the piano is in its usual position close to the side of the altar platform, with its long (not curved) side nearest the platform.
Ensure that the piano’s keyboard lid is closed, and the keyboard lock on the left side is in place and locked (Maryville Public Safety—314-529-9500—has a copy of the keyboard-lock key).
Ensure that the piano’s undercarriage humidisitat is plugged into the nearest electrical outlet.
Ensure that the piano’s custom cover is on the instrument, and the sign asking people to refrain from placing things on the piano is in place on top of the custom cover. The piano’s dedicated bench can be placed under the keyboard in a way that will allow it to fit under the custom cover.
Please do not move this piano. Its usual position ensures that it will not be damaged by air blown upward from the registers along the chapel’s walls.
When using the Bösendorfer grand piano:
Remove the piano’s custom cover and keyboard lid-lock (Maryville Public Safety—314-529-9500—has a copy of the keyboard lid-lock’s key), then place them in a safe place.
When opening the piano’s lid, please first open the lid’s small section near the keyboard, then the main portion of the lid.
The lid will open partway, or fully. This is important!:
The hole in the lid nearest the edge is for the two shorter lid-support stick(s).
The hole in the lid farther in from the edge is for the full-length lid-support stick.
Once the lid is supported in its desired inclination, please ensure that the stick is perpendicular to the lid. If the lid and its supporting stick are mismatched, there’s a chance that the lid (which is heavy) may collapse, endangering people nearby.
Friday, March 3, 2023, 7:30 p.m. — Haydn Project concludes: Peter Henderson will perform the solo piano part of J. Haydn’s Keyboard Concerto No. 11, Hob. XVIII with the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Stephanie Childress —Powell Hall • Tickets available from the SLSO
Sunday, April 16, 2023, 3:00 p.m. — Music at Maryville Concert 4 of 5: Music by Maryville Faculty Composers — World premieres of the first Music at Maryville commissioned work by David Nalesnik, Peter Henderson‘s Five Poems of John Wickersham, and portions of Scott Lyle‘s Missa Pro Defunctis; also featuring performances of original songs by Maryville faculty members Gabriel Colbeck, Jonathan Fahnestock, Jesse Kavadlo, and John Marino — Maryville University Auditorium • Free admission; donations gratefully accepted
Sunday, November 13, 2022, 3:00 p.m. — Music at Maryville Concert 2 of 5: Adam Maness Combo plays Jazz Standards and Originals — Maryville University Auditorium • Free admission; donations gratefully accepted
[Untitled piece] No. 30 from Album for the Young, op. 68 (ca. 4 minutes)
