Pianist Carlos Avila to Perform Sept. 29
Performance Music at The University of Scranton will present a recital by renowned pianist Carlos Avila on Sunday, Sept. 29. The recital will take place at 7:30 p.m. inside the University’s Houlihan-McLean Center, Mulberry Street and Jefferson Avenue. Admission is free, with seating on a first-come, first-seated basis.
When Avila last performed at the University last fall as part of a trio with violinist Andrew Gonzalez and clarinetist Bixby Kennedy, he deeply impressed Performance Music Conductor and Director Cheryl Y. Boga.
“His technique was so sparklingly clean,” Boga said. “And there was a passion and an ‘all-in’ness to his playing, that all the while was shaped by his technique. I was flattened, and I really wanted him to come back and do a solo piano recital for us.”
Lauded by the San Francisco Chronicle for his “beautiful command of tone and mood…and unruffleable savoir-faire,” the Juilliard-trained Avila has become one of the most in-demand pianists on the classical music scene in recent years. Among other far-flung places, the New York City resident’s concerts have taken him across North and South America, Europe and Asia.
Avila has performed in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s All-Access Chamber series and the New York Philharmonic’s Leonard Bernstein Salon series. He was part of a nationwide 29-city tour with award-winning baritone Leon Williams, and was showcased on New York’s WQXR as part of an all-transcription recital broadcast.
Avila has been a guest at a number of prestigious festivals, including Schleswig-Holstein, Tanglewood, Sarasota, Aspen, Banff, Music Academy of the West, Pianofest, Holland, ChamberFest Dubuque, Atlantic Music Festival, Lake George and the Carnegie Hall Workshops. Through those experiences, he’s had the opportunity to collaborate with such music luminaries as Isaac Stern, Daniel Barenboim, Michael Tilson Thomas, Emanuel Ax, Richard Goode and members of the St. Lawrence, Tokyo, Guarneri, Juilliard, Ying and Borodin string quartets.
In addition, Avila is a member of the Boreal Trio, part of the Collaborative Piano Faculty at the Heifetz Institute, and a studio pianist for Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School.
For more information on the recital, call 570-941-7624, email music@scranton.edu or visit scranton.edu/music. For more on Avila, visit artsglobal.org.