By Joan C. McKinney, director, Office of University Communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Pianist Nada, a native of Beirut, Lebanon, will perform a guest piano all-Brahms program at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4 in The Gheens Recital Hall, 210 University Drive, Campbellsville.
The public is invited to the concert.
Nada’s music will capture the spirit of Brahams, a late 19th century composer. She will also conduct a piano masterclass for students on Friday, Oct. 5 from 10 a.m. until noon in The Gheens Recital Hall.
Fanfare magazine said Nada’s music was “of the most communicative Brahms I’ve ever heard… Having heard much of Nada’s Brahms survey up to this point, I believe that 25 years or so from now her Brahms will be looked upon as having the sort of historical distinction and significance that today is accorded to Julius Katchen, one of great Brahms interpreters of the past. But you don’t have to wait 25 years to appreciate Nada’s achievement; you can appreciate it in the here and now.”
A United states citizen of Lebanese/Hungarian descent, with a French education, Nada is a native of Beirut, Lebanon.
Her piano training was hampered by the unrelenting civil war and terrorism which also cost her mother’s life in a mortar explosion in her own home in Beirut. Her family escaped to the mountains where Nada was mainly self-taught with a few books of music – the Bach inventions and the Chopin Waltzes and Polonaises. After only seven years of playing the piano, she was admitted to the Paris Conservatory, France, where she became the first woman from the Middle East to take First Prize.
Since then, she has created a career with tremendous depth and breadth. Her insightful readings and unique approach to the major music repertoire frequently reminds audiences and critics of the legendary pianists Gina Bachauer and Clara Haskil.
And more recently, she has been described as “a music personality of this century, such as a Glenn Gould or Samson François.”
For more information, contact Dr. Wesley Roberts, professor of music, at (270) 789-5287 or mwroberts@campbellsville.edu.
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 12,000 students offering over 100 programs of study including Ph.D., master, baccalaureate, associate, pre-professional and certification programs. The university has Kentucky based off-campus centers in Louisville, Harrodsburg, Somerset, Hodgenville and Liberty with instructional sites in Elizabethtown, Owensboro and Summersville. Out-of-state centers include two in California at Los Angeles and Lathrop, located in the San Francisco Bay region. The website for complete information is www.campbellsville.edu.
Campbellsville University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award certificates, associate, baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the status of Campbellsville University.
