Belmont University School of Music
Thursday, February 20, 2025
7:30 p.m.
McAfee Concert Hall
Jazz Piano Concert Series Kenny Werner
Program
solo piano
Selections will be announced from the stage.
About the Performer
Kenny Werner has been a world-class pianist and composer for over forty years. His prolific output of compositions, recordings and publications continue to impact audiences around the world. In 1996 he wrote his landmark book, Effortless Mastery, Liberating The Master Musician Within. Werner has since created videos, lectured world-wide and authored many articles on how musicians, artists or even business people can allow their “master creator” within to lift their performance to it’s highest level, showing us how to be spontaneous, fearless, joyful and disciplined in our work and in our life.
Werner was awarded the 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship Award for his seminal work, No Beginning No End. No Beginning No End is a musical journey exploring tragedy and loss, death and transition, and the path from one lifetime to the next. Utilizing over seventy musicians, Kenny’s third album for Half Note Records is an expansive composition featuring Joe Lovano, Judy Silvano, Wind Ensemble, Choir and String Quartet.
Born in Brooklyn, New York on November 19, 1951 and then growing up in Oceanside, Long Island, Werner began playing and performing at a young age, first recording on television at the age of eleven. Although he studied classical piano as a child, he enjoyed playing anything he heard on the radio. In high school and his first years of college he attended the Manhattan School of Music as a classical piano major.
His natural instinct for improvisation led Kenny to the Berklee School of Music in 1970. There he sought tutelage of the renowned piano teacher Madame Chaloff. Her gracious wisdom and inspiration became a driving force in Werner’s conception: A music conscious of its spiritual intent and essence.
From Boston, Werner traveled to Brazil with the saxophonist Victor Assis Brasil. There he met Victor’s twin brother, Brazilian pianist Joao Assis Brasil. He studied with Joao, who provided another piece of the puzzle for Werner’s conception that would lead to Effortless Mastery, his landmark opus on how to allow the master musician from within to manifest. The book, is now available as an e-book on kindle and in iBooks.
Biography courtesy of https://kennywerner.com
Jazz Piano Concert Series
The Belmont University Jazz Piano Concert Series was inaugurated in January 2012 with guest artist Billy Childs. Underwritten by the Steinway Piano Gallery of Nashville, this series brings top national and international jazz piano performers to Belmont students and the Nashville community. Along with the classical Woods Piano Concert Series that takes place in the fall, these two events together showcase the very best current classical and jazz pianists in solo concerts.
Concert Series Guest Artists
2024 Tamir Hendelman
2023 Ted Rosenthal
2020 Benny Green
2019 Christian Sands
2018 Gerald Clayton
2017 Helen Sung
2016 Sullivan Fortner
2015 Geoffrey Keezer
2014 Bill Charlap
2013 Fred Hersch
2012 Billy Childs
Special thanks to the Steinway Piano Gallery of Nashville for their generous sponsorship of this event.
Belmont University is an All-Steinway school.
Upcoming Concerts and Events
Jazz Piano Masterclass - Kenny Werner Friday, February 21, 10:00 a.m. McAfee Concert Hall
Musical Theatre: Swing! Friday, February 21, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 22, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, February 23, 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Massey Concert Hall
Tickets for this event are required and can be reserved through the Belmont Box Office
Wind Ensemble & Concert Band
Modern Voices: 21st Century Music for Winds featuring Encore Award Winner Ashley Crawford
Saturday, February 22, 7:30 p.m.
Fisher Center for the Performing Arts
Tickets for this event are required and can be reserved through the Belmont Box Office
Faculty Brass
Monday, February 24, 7:30 p.m.
McAfee Concert Hall
Bass Ensemble
Wednesday, February 26, 7:00 p.m.
Massey Concert Hall
Join Belmont University’s College of Music
Arts for Sounds of Belmont: The 35th Annual President’s Concert & Reception on Saturday, April 12th in the Fisher Center at Belmont University. Experience an evening of stories and songs to support our talented students. The concert will begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by a festive dessert reception for all guests and performers. The purchase of a ticket to this concert and reception will benefit endowed music and theatre scholarship funds for students in the college. Premier works from the College of Music and Performing Arts Fall 2024-Spring 2025 performance season will be showcased. This concert and reception is celebrating its thirty-fifth year (formerly the President’s Concert and Reception).
