Vicky Chow Tackles Philip Glass’ Epic Piano Etudes at Anvil Theatre (Nov. 23)

Vancouver-born, Brooklyn-based pianist Vicky Chow returns to the West Coast this weekend to perform Philip Glass’ Piano Etudes Book 1 at New Westminster’s Anvil Theatre on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m. If Glass was ever a minimalist then the studies for piano capture the new music composer at his most maximalist. Written in two books of 10 each, Glass’ Piano Etudes evolve from finger training exercises to expansive soundscapes that push all the harmonic buttons. No stranger to the pieces, Chow has previously performed concerts of both Book 1 and Book 2 at Music on Main.

British magazine The Wire raves about Chow’s approach to Glass’ work. “Proving herself to be an outstanding interpreter of contemporary compositions for piano, Vicky Chow brings to this now familiar set of studies by Philip Glass the kind of expressive sensitivity that allows them to flourish. In her hands these pieces far transcend their ostensible status as technical exercises. Of course, the fascination with musical process and its functional operation that early Glass works was soon superseded by an approach to composition that embraces emotional content. Rarely, however, has a recorded performance of his work been shaded with such subtle and convincing gradations of feeling as those Chow brings to even the most conceptually straightforward or starkly formal of these pieces.”

For more information and tickets visit the Anvil Theatre website.