Program - Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

single artist. Ian Hobson presented a 10-recital seriesdevoted to the 200th anniversary of the RomanticEra’s two greatest composers for the piano, Chopinand Schumann, at New York City’s Dicapo OperaTheatre. Last season, he presented the completesolo piano works of Robert Schumann, and, in the2012-2013 season, he will present the completepiano and instrumental music with piano of JohannesBrahms.Increasingly, Hobson is in demand as a conductor,particularly for performances in which he doublesas a pianist. He made his debut in this capacity in1996 with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and hassubsequently appeared with the English ChamberOrchestra, Poland’s Sinfonia Varsovia (at CarnegieHall), the Pomeranian Philharmonic, and the KibbutzChamber Orchestra of Israel, among others.Ian Hobson is also active as an opera conductor, witha repertoire that encompasses works by Cimarosaand Pergolesi, Mozart and Beethoven, and Johannand Richard Strauss. In 1997, he conducted JohnPhilip Sousa’s comic opera, El Capitan, in a newlyrestored version with Sinfonia da Camera and astellar cast of young singers. A fervent advocate ofGeorge Enescu’s music, he conducted and recordedthe 2005 North American premiere of the operaticmasterpiece Oedipe in a semistaged versionperformed by Sinfonia da Camera on the 50thanniversary of the composer’s death.An artist of prodigious energy and resource,Hobson has amassed a discography of more than60 releases. In the dual role of pianist/conductor,he and the Sinfonia Varsovia recorded for ZephyrRachmaninoff’s four piano concerti and Rhapsodyon a Theme of Paganini—a tour de force no otherperformer has matched.In addition, Ian Hobson is a much sought-afterjudge for national and international competitionsand has been a member of numerous juries,among them the Van Cliburn International PianoCompetition (at the specific request of Cliburn),Chopin Competition in Florida, Leeds InternationalPianoforte Competition (United Kingdom), SchumannInternational Competition (Germany), and ArthurRubinstein Competition (Poland). In 2005, heserved as chairman of the jury for the ClevelandInternational Piano Competition and New York City’sKosciuzsko Competition; in 2008, he served in thesame capacity for the New York Piano Competition,to which, renamed the New York International PianoCompetition, he returned in 2010.One of the youngest graduates in the history ofLondon’s Royal Academy of Music, Ian Hobsonsubsequently pursued advanced studies at bothCambridge University and Yale University. Hebegan his international career in 1981 when hewon First Prize at the Leeds International PianoCompetition, after having earned silver medals atboth the Arthur Rubinstein and Vienna-Beethovencompetitions. Among his distinguished teachers wereSidney Harrison, Ward Davenny, Claude Frank, andMenahem Pressler, while, as a conductor, he studiedwith Otto Werner Mueller, Dennis Russell Davies,Daniel Lewis, and Gustav Meier and worked withLorin Maazel in Cleveland and Leonard Bernstein atTanglewood. Currently, Hobson is Emeritus Centerfor Advanced Study and Swanlund Professor of Musicat the University of Illinois and was a visiting fellow atMagdalene College, Cambridge, last fall.www.ianhobson.netAndy Warfel (Production Designer) trained as atheatrical set designer at the University of Illinoisand New York University before spending a decadedesigning in New York and across the world fortheatre, television, concerts, and nightclubs. Since2002 and while managing an environmental designfirm serving Fortune 500 clients, among others,Warfel has designed sets and effects for most CUBallet productions, including The Nutcracker atKrannert Center and the company’s much-acclaimednew productions of Cinderella, Swan Lake, and TheSleeping Beauty at the Virginia Theatre. He currentlyresides in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and serves as seniormarketing creative director for Vera Bradley.Kevin Gawley (Lighting Designer) has designedlights for CU Ballet’s productions of Cinderella,Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty. As a freelancelighting/scenic designer in Chicago, Gawley hasproduced work for many Chicago stages, includingthe Lifeline Theatre, where he won Non-EquityJeff Awards for his designs of The Island of DoctorMoreau and Jane Eyre, earned the After Dark Awardfor his design of Strong Poison, and has been anensemble member and resident lighting designersince 2001. Gawley was the theatrical lightingdesigner on the feature film Were the World Mine.His work also appeared in numerous productions atthe Bailiwick Repertory Theater, the Organic Theater,the Porchlight Theatre, OperaModa, the BlindfaithTheatre, Theatre on the Lake, the MetropolisPerforming Arts Centre, the StoreFront Theater,Loyola University Chicago, Revels Chicago, theMidwest Jewish Theatre, Taylor University, and theNorth Carolina Shakespeare Festival. He is currentlya lighting and scenic design assistant professor atthe University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and has taughtlighting design and technology courses previouslyat Loyola University Chicago and the University ofIllinois.16 17