The Double Staircase:

The Etudes Project

Ieva Jokubaviciute
Russ Lossing

Etudes by
Bartok, Debussy, Ligeti

The worlds of composition, interpretation, and improvisation intersect in The Etudes Project, which explores the relationship between interpretational and improvisational approaches to some of the seminal etudes in the solo piano repertoire. The pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute performs a program of selections from Bartok’s Mikrokosmos, Debussy Etudes, and Ligeti Etudes. Russ Lossing—a stimulating, innovative force in today’s improvised scene—will then use this exact same program of etudes as material for his improvisations. Studies on Studies.

New Century: New Paths  

Diverse musical pathways are forged during the first decade of the 20th Century--a seminal and transitional period in the history of music. The solo piano works on this program--all written within a ten-year period--represent some of the most compelling works of the piano literature, which foreshadow significant directions in the history of 20th century music. Each composer responded to the loosening and dissolution of tonality with radically innovative music that shaped new musical languages at a time of great social, political, and cultural shifts in Europe.

Debussy

Selected Preludes from Book I and II

Schoenberg

Sechs kleine Klavierstucke Op. 19

Scriabin

Sonata No.4, Op.30

Janacek

Selections from On an Overgrown Path Book I

Berg

Sonata Op. 1

Debussy

I'isle joyeuse

The Romantic Imagination

Beethoven

Sonata in E flat major Quasi una fantasia, Op.27, No.1

Berg

Sonata Op. 1

Chopin

Nocturne in C minor, Op.48, No.1

Chopin

Ballade No.3 in A flat major, Op.47

Brahms

Fantasies Op. 116

photo by Janette Beckman