The Department of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College is pleased to bring St. Peter native and violinist Troy Gardner to the Jussi Björling Recital Hall stage for a guest recital with Dutch pianist Elizabeth Karelse on Sunday, November 17 at 1:00 p.m. This performance by Gardner and Karelse is presented free of charge by the Department of Music and is open to the public.
Troy Gardner is a native of St. Peter and is the son of Joyce and Richard Gardner. As a high schoo student, Troy studied at Gustavus with Gerald Lewis and in Minneapolis with Mary West and Beth Wolfe. He earned his bachelor of arts at Indiana University while studying with the renowned Josef Gingold and continued in graduate study at the University of Minnesota. As a freelance musician, he has worked with the Minnesota Opera and the Minneapolis Chamber Symphony, along with substitute performances with the Minnesota Orchestra. the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony. A versatile musician, Troy’s schedule is filled with concerts and recordings as varied as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez and concerts with Rod Stewart and the great jazz pianist Dave Brubeck. He continues to work as a freelance orchestral and chamber musician in both the Twin Cities and Chicago.
Dutch pianist Elizabeth Karelse has been praised by the press for the rich variety in her sound and for her beautiful full tone. A prizewinner of multiple national and international competitions, Karelse graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of The Netherlands in The Hague and went on to earn a masters and doctorate from the University of Minnesota. Like Gardner, she is an active solo and chamber musician and performs regularly in the U.S. and abroad. In addition to her concert performances, Karelse maintains a private piano studio in St. Louis Park.
For Sunday’s recital, the duo will open with Mozart’s Violin Sonata in C major, KV 303 and Ernst Bloch’s Baal Shem: Three Pictures of Chassidic Life. The final work before intermission will be the Three Preludes by George Gershwin, one of the best-known examples of early 20th-century American classical music which was heavily influenced by jazz. Following intermission, the duo will return to the stage and present the three-movement Violin Sonata in E-flat, Op. 18 by Richard Strauss.
Sunday’s guest performance by violinst Troy Gardner and pianist Elizabeth Karelse will begin at 1:00 p.m. in Jussi Björling Recital Hall on the Gustavus campus. The performance is free and open to the public. It will be followed by a reception for the musicians in the Arboretum Interpretive Center across the street from the recital hall.