Honors College to Host Talk, Performance by Pianist Jura Margulis

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Professor Jura Margulis will present an intimate “house concert” at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 3, in the Honors Student Lounge in Ozark Hall. Photograph by Adriano Heitmann/IMMAGINA.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Internationally acclaimed concert pianist, recording artist, master teacher and U of A professor Jura Margulis has performed around the world since age nine, at venues ranging from the Berlin Philharmonic Hall to the Hollywood Bowl to Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Beginning at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 3, Margulis will give an introduction to his repertoire selection, then perform an intimate “house concert” in the Honors Student Lounge in Ozark Hall, with a reception to follow.

This special evening with Jura Margulis, who holds the Emily J. McAllister Endowed Professorship in Piano in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, is the latest event in the Honors College Invites series, in which thinkers and doers share their craft with the campus and community.

“I am delighted to host my friend and colleague, Jura Margulis, and so pleased that the Honors College will share his artistry with the campus and community,” said Bob McMath, dean of the Honors College. “Our beautiful new home in Ozark Hall provides a marvelous venue for cultural events like this one.”

The discussion, concert and reception are free and open to all. Those interested in attending should R.S.V.P. at honorscollege.uark.edu/invites and are encouraged to come early, as seating will be limited.

“I’m really pleased and thrilled and excited to do this concert and presentation in the Honors College,” Margulis said.

The idea for the concert was born last fall at the Honors College Faculty Reception, where Margulis was struck by the acoustic possibilities offered by the new Honors Student Lounge in Ozark Hall. 

“I walked into this room and I looked around and I immediately had the sense that this would be a great setting for a recital,” Margulis recalled. “Bob McMath was right there, and I said, ‘You know what: this would be a great place for a concert.’ And he said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Margulis plans to perform a wide range of music in the program, from Robert Schumann’s romantic reveries from Albumblätter Op.124 to Franz Liszt’s virtuoso masterpiece Mephisto Waltz. All of the works, except for the Schumann miniatures that open the concert, were originally composed as orchestral or ensemble pieces and have been adapted for solo piano by Margulis.

“One piece is, for example, the final choir of the St. Mathew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach, which is a piece for orchestra and two huge choirs; there are over 100 people on stage,” Margulis said. “To play this on a piano, it’s a very interesting thing – a challenge, let’s say.” To learn more about the program visit the Honors College blog.

The Honors College concert comes at an interesting point in Margulis’ career. He has just released his 12th CD, Franz Schubert Pianoworks (Oehms Classics) with selections played on a Steingraeber D-232 grand piano fitted with a “Margulis-Sordino-Pedal” that allows the pianist to “go infinitely quiet” and add a whole different layer of color, Margulis said. He is also recording a new CD to be released later this year that will feature the transcriptions and adaptations that he will perform in Ozark Hall.

Margulis is also the author of a prominent online publication, www.pianisttopianist.com, which is a blog of thoughts, ideas, concepts, observations, suggestions, research, methodology, discoveries, rules, exceptions, aphorisms and secrets from pianist to pianist. He also publishes articles about music and art in the culture section of the Huffington Post.

Margulis will perform the program on a Steinway D Concert Grand piano, which he describes as “the best instrument in town, no question.” In 2010 the university made a commitment to become an All-Steinway School, providing students and faculty with the highest quality pianos for instruction and performance. As one of 145 schools in the world to attain this honor, the university has set out to acquire all Steinway brand pianos, which are the preferred instruments of more than 99 percent of concert artists worldwide. University of Arkansas faculty teach more than 315 music majors and minors in Fulbright College, all of whom must have proficiencies in piano and be supported by trained piano accompanists. Providing student and faculty members with exceptional equipment allows for the best instruction possible.