Ivan Moody was the Fall 2014 CCCA Visionary-in-Residence. Born in London in 1964, he studied composition with Brian Dennis at London University (winning the Royal Holloway Prize in 1984 for his Three Poems of Anna Akhmatova), and privately with Sir John Tavener. He later studied Orthodox theology through the continuing education centre of the University of Joensuu, Finland, and is currently pursuing postgraduate compositional work with William Brooks at the University of York. He lives at present in Estoril, Portugal, with his wife, the singer Susana Diniz Moody, and two children, Sebastian and Sofia.
Ivan Moody's music has been broadcast in many countries, and has been featured on the Finnish television programme Jeesuksen syntymäjuhla and in Britain, on both Channel 4 and BBC television. His work has been featured particularly at the Tampere International Choir Festival (Finland), the Musica Sacra Festival in Maastricht(Holland), the York, Thaxted, Little Missenden, Presteigne, Spitalfields and Byzantium in London festivals (Great Britain), the Mafra International Music Festival, Estoril, Leiria and Capuchos Festivals (Portugal) and the Byzantium Festival in Plovdiv (Bulgaria).
As a writer, Ivan Moody contributes regularly to Gramophone, International Record Review andGoldberg (of whose editorial panel he is a member), and has published a substantial number of articles on contemporary and early music in Contact, Composer, Musical Times, Contemporary Music Review, Anuario Musical, Revista Portuguesa de Musicologia, Plainsong & Mediaeval Music, Jacob's Well, Choir and Organ and Tempo.
Paul Barnes and Solungga Fang-Tzu Liu play Shoreline, a composition for two pianos written by Rev. Ivan Moody.
Discussion follows moderated by Chris Wills with both pianists and composer.
Praised by the New York Times for his “Lisztian thunder and deft fluidity,” and the San Francisco Chronicle as “ferociously virtuosic,” pianist Paul Barnes has electrified audiences with his intensely expressive playing and cutting-edge programming. He has been featured four times on APM’s Performance Today and on the cover of Clavier Magazine. His recent performance at Lincoln Center was featured in the New Yorker Magazine. He has performed in England, China, Korea, Austria, Russia, Greece, Italy, Serbia, Hungary, and in all major cities throughout the US.
Deeply inspired by the aesthetic challenge of minimalism, Barnes commissioned and gave the world premier performance of Philip Glass’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (After Lewis and Clark). The Omaha World Herald praised Barnes playing for his “driving intensity and exhilaration.” Nebraska Educational Telecommunications' production "The Lewis and Clark Concerto," a documentary/performance of the concerto featuring Barnes, won an Emmy for Best Performance Production. Additional performances included collaborations with conductor Marin Alsop at the prestigious Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and also the Northwest Chamber Orchestra where the Seattle Times called Barnes' performance "an impressive feat." The world-premier recording with the NWCO was released by Orange Mountain Music. Gramophone Magazine remarked that this recording is "certainly one of the most enjoyable recent releases of Glass's music...Paul Barnes is a shining soloist."
Barnes also serves as head chanter at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Lincoln where his fascination with Byzantine chant led to a commissioned piano concerto "Ancient Keys" written by Victoria Bond based on a Greek chant. The world-premier recording of this concerto as well as Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was released on Albany Records.With performances throughout Europe, the Near East, the Far East, and the U.S., Barnes' unique lecture/recitals have received international acclaim. Liszt and the Cross: Music as Sacrament in the B Minor Sonata explores the fascinating relationship between music, theology, and the Orthodox icon. Barnes' live recording of this lecture recital was recently released on the Liszt Digital label. The British Society Newsletter reviewed the recording and wrote that Barnes was “a fine pianist and gives us a performance of resounding conviction.” Clavier Magazine wrote "It is a majestic, reverential performance that elevates listeners to the sacred experience Barnes so eloquently desribes in the lecture."
Barnes is the Marguerite Scribante Professor of Music and Co-Chair of Piano at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music. He teaches during the summer at the Vienna International Piano Academy and the famed Amalfi Coast Festival in Italy, as well as the Piano Plus Festival in Corfu, Greece. He also coaches the students of Menahem Pressler, Barnes' own teacher, at Indiana University where Barnes received his doctorate in Piano Performance. In great demand as a pedagogue and clinician, Barnes has served as convention artist at several state MTNA conventions and was recently named ‘Teacher of the Year” by the Nebraska Music Teachers Association.
With a wide-ranging repertoire, pianist Solungga Fang-Tzu Liu has enjoyed an active career as a soloist and collaborator in venues across four continents. A dedicated performer of new music, Liu has performed music by many composers of our time, including the Lutoslawski Piano Concerto with Ossia, Steve Reich’s The Desert Music and Tehillim with Alarm Will Sound, and Meandering River and Three Braided-River for solo piano by Robert Morris. In addition, Liu premiered Gregory Mertl’s Piano Concerto with the University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble, conducted by Craig Kirchhoff. Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, this concerto was written for Liu and the University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble and she has recorded it for INNOVA Records. This album will be released in 2015.
Liu has concertized throughout the globe, including the USA, Canada, Austria, Romania, Brazil, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong. Her major performances include Ravel’s Concerto in G Major with Taipei Metropolitan Orchestra, a collaborative recital with Paul Merkelo, Principal Trumpet of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, solo recitals at Taiwan’s National Concert Hall, the Goethe Center in Bangkok, the Central Conservatory in Beijing, the Thailand International Mozart Festival, and a chamber concert with new music ensemble Open Gate at Carnegie Hall.
Liu is Associate Professor of Piano at the College of Musical Arts, Bowling Green State University. In addition to her dedication to her students at BGSU, Liu maintains a vigorous schedule as a guest artist teacher and as an adjudicator at major international conservatories and competitions, among them the Central Conservatory in Beijing, China, National Taiwan Normal University, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, the First Thailand International Mozart Competition and the Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition. Within the US, she has also presented master classes and lectures at numerous venues, among them the Eastman School of Music, the Providence Keyboard Festival, the Virginia Tech, and the University of Minnesota.
Liu holds a doctoral degree in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Alan Feinberg, Douglas Humpherys and Elizabeth DiFelice.
Rev. Ivan Moody and Paul Barnes lead a Biola Chapel in exploring traditions of early Christian worship.