Umbrian Suite
for two pianos or piano 4-hands (1998)
Certosa Verlag, 8 minutes
Umbrian Suite (1998) is a lively three-movement piece for two pianos or piano four-hands. The music was written in Italy during a residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center, an international artists’ retreat housed in a medieval castle overlooking a small hilltown in Umbria. The movements do not have descriptive titles but are reflections on the contrasts between life in the busy little hilltowns north of Rome and the Italian countryside. The three short movements alternate tempos of fast, slow, and fast.
Premiered by composer Elizabeth Vercoe and pianist Wanda Paik at the Sixth Festival of Women Composers at Indiana University in Pennsylvania, the two musicians also performed the Umbrian Suite at several venues in the Boston area including Regis College where they were colleagues. The piece was also performed at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee when the composer held the Acuff Chair of Excellence in the spring of 2003.
In 2009 Umbrian Suite was selected for the Living Composers Project by Anything Piano, a project initiated by Boston-area pianist Donna Gross Javel (Anything Piano). The duo, Donna Gross Javel & Bonnie Anderson, have since performed the suite at the Boston Public Library and at Lowell University.
In 2010 the husband and wife duo from Baylor University, Terry Lynn and Andrew Hudson, performed the Umbrian Suite at the London School of Music.
Umbrian Suite is published by Certosa Verlag in Germany.
