The Department of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College is pleased to welcome back Pianists Helen and Paul Baumgartner to the stage where they taught piano and performed as members of the Gustavus faculty for so many years. This faculty emeriti recital will be presented in Jussi Björling Recital Hall on Sunday, March 2 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free and the public is welcome.
Paul Baumgartner is a graduate of Heidelberg (Ohio), the Eastman School of Music and the University of Arizona where he was awarded the A. Mus. D. in piano performance. He has taught at Stevens Point and in North Carolina before he came to Gustavus in 1964. Helen holds degrees from Smith College, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Minnesota where she earned her D.M.A. in piano performance. She has taught at the Doshisha Women’s University in Kyoto, Japan, and at Gustavus from 1966 through 2004. Together the Baumgartners began their careers as short-term missionary teachers at the Miyagi Women’s College in Sendai, Japan.
Sunday’s program features the national dances of eastern and central Europe. They will open the recital with the Twelve National Dances of Moravia by Leos Janacek, followed by Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, in five movements. Following intermission, they will return to the stage to present Antonin Dvorak’s six movement work, Slavonic Dances.
Sunday’s recital is open to the public and admission is free. Tickets are not required. The recital will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Björling Recital Hall.
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