The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
An interesting musical event was held at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point this past Friday, Oct. 27.
The Music Department held a recital of The Transcontinental Piano Duo. This Duo is made up of two acclaimed pianists, Elaine Greenfield and Janice Meyer Thompson.
Greenfield is a recognizable face in the piano world, known as both a performer and a teacher. She has released albums like “Debussy Preludes, Bks. 1&2” and received great praise from The New York Times. Apart from being in The Transcontinental Piano Duo, she is the artistic director of St. Paul’s Cathedral Arts in Burlington, Vermont.
Thompson has performed and taught all around North America, Europe and Asia. She has performed in places such as the U.S. Consulate in Florence, Italy and the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. As well as Greenfield, Thompson is a nationally recognized pianist and teacher. She also performs with The Kent Camerata, a professional chamber music ensemble. On the side of being part of The Transcontinental Piano Duo, she plays the cello and works as an independent travel consultant for Grand Circle Travel and Overseas Adventure Travel.
Greenfield and Thompson met as faculty members of the Vermont’s Adamant Music School in 1990.
Since the formation of The Transcontinental Piano Duo, they have performed all across the countries in concert series, conferences and universities. They also give workshops, masterclasses and record their own music. The most recent recording being “The Elegant Erard” which was recorded on a historic Erard piano.
Molly Roseman, Professor of Piano here at UWSP was incredibly excited to bring The Transcontinental Piano Duo to the school.
“They are touring the upper midwest and coming to UWSP; Duo member, Jan Thompson, is an alumna of UWSP. If you’ve never heard two pianos playing together live, it is really captivating. And, the fact that artists will be answering questions during the concert is really fun and unique,” Roseman said.
“It’s cool to have a concert of just two people playing a piano. This is not what I normally listen to, but they sounded beautiful together,” Junior Communications major Summer Thompson said.
The Transcontinental Piano Duo has moved on from UWSP, but anyone that missed the concert, but is interested in listening to their music can find their recordings on YouTube and Spotify.
Corey Collins
Reporter
ccoll517@uwsp.edu
