APPLETON, WIS. – The world premiere of the commissioned work “The Dark Hours” highlights a concert by award-winning bassoonist Peter Kolkay Saturday, April 21 in the final artist series concert of the 2006-07 “Performing Arts at Lawrence.”
Kolkay, with accompaniment by pianist Alexandra Nguyen, performs at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, 510 E. College Ave., Appleton. Tickets for the concert are $22 and $20 for adults, $19 and $17 for senior citizens and $17 and $15 for students. Tickets are available through the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749.
As the recipient of the Peter and Carlos Surinach Prize, awarded by the BMI Foundation and Concert Artists Guild, Kolkay was able to commission a new work specifically for himself. Composer Judah Adashi’s “The Dark Hours” takes its title and inspiration from an early poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. According to Adashi, the poem’s encapsulation of Rilke’s sensibilities is both “an apt metaphor for the creative process and a natural fit for the rich, dark sound world of the bassoon.”
A 1998 graduate of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Kolkay has quickly established himself as one of the leading musicians of his generation. In 2002, he became the first solo bassoonist awarded First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition in the 51-year history of the competition. Two years later he became the first artist on his instrument to receive the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
He has toured nationally as a featured guest of the chamber ensemble Concertante and has performed at numerous chamber music events including the Savannah Music Festival and La Musica Festival of Sarasota, Fla. He appeared in the New York premiere of Harold Meltzer’s “Likes and Unlikes” and performed a “Concerto for two Bassoons and Strings” with the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin.
The San Francisco Classical Voice hailed Kolkay as “star ascendant”…His reputation is blossoming at a remarkable rate, perhaps not so surprisingly considering his many virtues.”
His career highlights also include his solo debut recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, “Peter and the Wolf” at New York’s 92nd Street ‘Y’, as well as recitals presented by Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series and the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, NY.
Kolkay has appeared as guest soloist with numerous orchestras around the country, among them the Rochester Philharmonic, Green Bay Symphony, Flint Symphony, the Southwest Michigan Symphony and his alma mater’s own Lawrence Symphony Orchestra.
A native of Naperville, Ill., Kolkay joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina in 2006 as an assistant professor of bassoon. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Lawrence, he earned a master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and completed his doctoral studies at Yale University.
