Piano recital opens Chamber Music and Jazz series Friday

Guest pianists Ian Moschenross and Julia Andrews will present the season’s first concert in the Chamber Music and Jazz at Ripon series Friday at Ripon College. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Demmer Recital Hall, C.J. Rodman Center for the Arts. It will be free and open to the public. Per Ripon College policy, all visitors to campus are required to wear a mask in all indoor public spaces.

The program, “Tragedy and Triumph: The C Minor Piano Concerti of Mozart and Beethoven,” will feature Mozart’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in C Minor, K. 491, and Beethoven’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in C Minor, Op. 37.

The two works make a striking juxtaposition, showing the jarring shift in style over a span of fewer than 15 years. They demonstrate the arrival of the fully mature voices of these two artists, both at 30 years of age.

During the afternoon, the artists also will lead an open masterclass with Ripon College students from the piano studio of Visiting Instructor of Music Deb MacKenzie. The masterclass will begin at 4:15 p.m. in Demmer Recital Hall. This event also is free and open to the public, but masking is required.

Moschenross joined the faculty of Central College in Pella, Iowa, in 2017. He is a professor of music and teaches applied and group piano as well as music theory courses.

A versatile pianist, he is an active soloist, chamber musician and accompanist and frequently conducts masterclasses. He is an active member of the Iowa Music Teachers Association. He earned degrees from Hanover College and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Andrews is an active performer of chamber music and jazz piano across the Midwest. She received a master of music degree from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and degrees in piano and music theory from Texas Tech University. She has served on the piano faculty of Knox, Monmouth and Cornell College, and now owns Piano Works Piano Studio in Mount Vernon, Iowa.