Bowerbird is pleased to present pianist Dynasty Battles at University Lutheran Church.

PROGRAM

Johannes Brahms: Rhapsody, Op. 79, No.2 (Part 1)
J.S. Bach: Italian Concerto, BWV 971: II. Andante with Improvisation (Part 2)
Johannes Brahms: Ballade, Op. 118, No.2 (Part 3)
Franz Schubert: 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899 with Improvised Interludes in-between loosely based on its themes.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Dynasty Battles, the recipient of the 2021 Career Advancement Award by the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, has been featured with soprano Marietta Simpson in The Philadelphia Inquirer, and on music critic David Patrick Stearns’ radio program “Creatively Speaking” on Philadelphia’s WRTI (90.1FM).

A highlight include a composition Battles debuted by multiple Grammy nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist Ted Hearne, composed for Dynasty himself, which was featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Recent engagements comprise of hall debuts at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in a concert curated by John Adams, the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall as a featured artist in the International Music Foundation’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, and the Benjamin Franklin Hall with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Additionally, he made his international debut at the Barbican Centre in London while in residency with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

Career highlights include an invitation to perform George Walker’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in a private engagement at the distinguished composer’s home. In a project profiled by The New York Times, he also performed in Bowerbird Philly’s ongoing series highlighting the works of Julius Eastman.

Battles studies with concert pianist Leon Bates and Eve Wolf, pianist, and Executive Artistic Director of Ensemble for the Romantic Century. He also studied counterpoint and harmony and analysis with Jonathan Coopersmith, Chair of Musical Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music. A native of Philadelphia, Dynasty received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance, cum laude from Temple University, under the instruction of Harvey Wedeen as a recipient of the Esther Boyer College Scholarship.

Photo: Helena Raju