On Thursday, December 1 the Des Moines community will be able to experience the excitement and prestige of a New York City piano concert without leaving the state.
Nicholas Roth, associate professor of piano at Drake University, is one of five piano professors from across the country performing in the Yamaha Artist in Education Concert Gala in New York. The performance will be simulcast at Urbandale’s West Music Piano Gallery, however this isn’t a normal simulcast.
A special Internet-connected piano at West Music Piano Gallery featuring Yamaha Disklavier technology will reproduce the performance as Roth plays in New York. The Urbandale audience will not only hear music coming from the gallery’s piano, but also see the keys and pedals move just as they do over 1,000 miles away. This is the first time this technology will be seen in Iowa.
The concert begins at 5:45 p.m. CST, and will also feature professors from the University of North Florida, University of Central Florida, Northwestern University and Loyola University in Chicago.
The event is free and open to the public. The West Music Piano Gallery is located at 3304 100th St., Urbandale, IA.
The Yamaha Corporation of America selected Roth in 2010 for its Artist in Education program, which recognizes excellence in performing and teaching and provides opportunities for concerts, recordings and masterclasses throughout the nation.
Before teaching at Drake, Roth taught masterclasses at a variety of colleges around the world, including the Isidor Bajic school of Music in Serbia, Vanderbilt University, the University of Chicago and the University of New Hampshire.
For more information, contact Nicholas Roth at nicholas.roth@drake.edu or 515-271-2857