On Monday, Feb. 10, guest pianist Antonio Di Cristofano will be performing at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus in Angelle Hall. The event will take place in the Ducrest-Gilfry Auditorium at 7 p.m. and costs $20 for general admission, $10 for UL Lafayette faculty and staff, and students get in completely free with their student ID.
Tickets will be available to be purchased online until 5 p.m. the day before the event, or they can be bought with cash or check at the door.
The concert is put on by the UL Lafayette School of Music, the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra and the Thistlewood Foundation.
This will be Cristofano’s first time playing at UL Lafayette, and he will be performing a variety of music by romantic composers such as Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31, Brahms’ Klavierstucke, Op. 118 and Rachmaninoff’s prelude in D minor, Op. 23, No. 4.
This event will be the third in the Richard Goula Distinguished Piano Series hosted by the School of Music and the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra.
According to Professor Choi, the series seeks to “…honor the legacy of Richard Goula– a distinguished geologist and geophysicist, gifted classical pianist, acclaimed painter and dedicated botanist.” Goula started the Thistlewood Foundation to contribute to the arts and botany in Lafayette.
The day before the concert, Sunday, Feb. 9, Cristofano will be teaching a piano masterclass for piano students in the Angelle Hall choir room from 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
This class will be free and open for the public to join and observe.
Cristofano was taught at a conservatory in France by Maestro Antonio Bacchelli and Maestro Massimiliano Damerini. After earning his piano diploma he went on to perform in various places all around the world.
Some of these places include Weill Hall in New York, the Isaac Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall, the Great Hall of the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Moscow, China and many other infamous locations.
Throughout his piano playing career, Cristofano has received the Paul Harrys Fellow Culture Award three times, along with the Grifone d’Oro from the city of Grosseto. In between recitals and performances, he has worked as a guest professor in a conservatory in China and a professor at an academy in Vienna.
Professor Choi says, “The Goula Piano Concert Series presents an invaluable opportunity to experience exceptional performances by talented pianists. I truly hope that more community members will recognize the importance of this series and make the effort to attend the concerts.”
The next musician in the Richard Goula Distinguished Piano Series will be pianist Tanya Bannister collaborating with flutist Andrea Loewy on Thursday, April 24.