Concert with George Lopez and Gulimina Mahamuti
Week of August 5, 2023
“Immigration and Opportunity”
An extravaganza of four-hand piano music celebrating composers from around the world and the places and experiences that inspired them, with DUO MUNDI GEORGE & GULI
Duo Mundi George & Guli thrills audiences around the world with their exciting, innovative, diverse, and intimate programming style. They explore music for both one piano four hands and two piano four hands in the standard and contemporary repertoire as well as commissioned new works by national and international composers. Lauded as “…breathing the same artistic air…” with an adrenaline of communication that captivates audiences of every generation, Duo Mundi George & Guli creates beautifully synchronized performances that engage both the eye and ear in a dance of emotions. Since their inception in 2018, Duo Mundi G&G have given standing room only performances of Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story for the centenary celebration of the composer’s birth and their two-piano program “Immigration and Opportunity” with works by composers inspired by or writing in foreign lands. Recently they were invited to perform and give master classes throughout the US including venues in New York City, Kansas, Colorado, California, Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma. In their 2022-2023 concert season, they performed in Mexico and premiered their four-hand arrangement of Chinese composer Shi Fu’s Tajik Drum Dance at the 44th International European Piano Teachers’ Association Conference in Portugal. Their upcoming recording projects include Music of the Americas, music written for and/or inspired by children, and a series of newly commissioned and rarely performed works. Duo Mundi G&G have an exciting 2023-2024 concert season with upcoming performances and tours in New England, the Northwest, Florida, North Carolina, the Bay Area, Colorado, Texas, and Mexico. They gave their New York City recital debut at Steinway Hall on April 1, 2023 and hope to complete their 2020 tour of China which was interrupted by the pandemic in 2024.
From Scott Joplin & George Gershwin to Billy Joel, with George Lopez
If you love piano music then come out for a fun and exciting program of solo piano music from the last 150 years to the present. George Lopez has wowed audiences throughout New England and the world with his entertaining and easy performance style, where he brings each piece to life with a dynamic narrative that totally draws in the listener. Some piano favorites will include the great American ragtime composer Scott Joplin, the iconic George Gershwin and the classical stylings of none other than William Martin “Billy” Joel. Not to be missed!
The Robert Beckwith Artist-in-Residence at Bowdoin College, George Lopez, has been a dynamic performer, sought-after pedagogue, and engaging lecturer for over 30 years. Known for his “…kaleidoscopic colors and clarity of conception…” (LA Times) in the standard repertoire as well as being a champion of newly written works, his debut at the renowned Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was lauded as “… authentic and memorable …” by the Nederlands Dagblad for his interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations along with all Twenty-Four Preludes of Chopin. He performed worldwide as a soloist in major cities throughout Europe, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Central and South America. George’s extensive performances covers most major U.S. cities, including New York’s Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Paul Hall at the Juilliard School, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Ambassador Hall in Los Angeles, the Shao Lin Arts Center in Rockport (Massachusetts), The Cleveland Art Museum, Harvard University, and Tanglewood. After his performance at Lincoln Center, the composer Lowell Liebermann described the performance of his work as “…exciting and decisive!” A featured soloist at many international music festivals throughout Europe and abroad, Mr. Lopez performed at the renowned Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Girona Internacional Festival de Música in Spain, the Kowmung Festival just outside Sydney, Festivale d’Internazionale Solisti e Musica da Camera in Umbria (Italy), and the renowned Latin-American music festival Cubadisco in Havana (Cuba). He also performed as guest soloist with the National Symphony in São Paolo (Brazil), Rose Hall in Osaka, at Asahi Hall in Tokyo.
Gulimina Mahamuti is the first Uyghur from China to receive a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the U.S. She made her Carnegie debut in New York City at Weill Recital Hall and has performed internationally in Montreal, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Budapest (at the invitation of the Turkish Ambassador), and across the U.S. and China, broadcasting on these nations’ radio and TV programs. She has performed piano concerti with the Southeast Kansas Symphony Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, and Harbin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, and was featured on the radio in San Francisco, Queens College/CUNY podcast, China Touch Radio, and Istanbul Technical University Radio.
Photo credit Karen Bourdier