**Due to recommendations from the CA Department of Public Health related to the Coronavirus outbreak, we are canceling this event.**
This solo piano program features music by composers who are also master improvisers and draw from the avant-garde jazz tradition in their work. Cowal will perform pieces by George Lewis, Kris Davis, Anthony Davis, and other composer-performers whose music defies genre categorization. With pieces such as Anthony Davis’ “Middle Passage,” the mixture of composed and improvised elements blurs the boundary between classical and jazz performance practice. In George Lewis’ “Endless Shout,” stylistic boundaries break down: strains of Harlem stride and boogie-woogie are woven throughout a modern concert work. Kris Davis’ “Eight Pieces for the Vernal Equinox” is a more recently composed work; Cowal’s recording of the piece was included in the New York Times’ 25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018. Together, this repertoire represents a stream of contemporary composition that is fiercely original and holds an important place in American music history.