Dr. Eric Fung to Perform Selections from Bach's "Clavierubung" in Lebanon Valley College Concert

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Dr. Eric Fung will perform selections from Bach’s “Clavierubung” at Lebanon Valley College on Feb. 19

ANNVILLE, PA (01/31/2012)(readMedia)-- Dr. Eric Fung, associate professor of music at Lebanon Valley College, will present a free and public piano concert featuring the works of Johann Sebastian Bach on Feb. 19 at 3 p.m. in Lutz Hall of the Blair Music Center. The program will include works from Bach's "Clavierübung" series.

During his tenure at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig (1723–50), Johann Sebastian Bach published four volumes of keyboard music that, according to him, were "prepared for the soul's delight of music lovers," and he named them the "Clavierübung" – the Keyboard Practice. These compositions showcase the most popular musical and stylistic practices of the high Baroque era. The first volume (1726–31) consists of six harpsichord suites called Partitas. The second book (1735) contains two works of contrasting national styles: the "Concerto in the Italian Style" and the "Overture in the French Manner" written for keyboard with two manuals. The third (1739), nicknamed the "German Organ Mass," has 27 works for organ, including a set of prelude and fugue, and catechism chorales. The last book (1741) is a set of variations also written for a two-manual keyboard, widely known as the Goldberg Variations.

Fung's program includes the monumental "Partita No. 4 in D Major" from the first book of "Clavierübung," the energetic "Concerto in the Italian Style" from the second, and the legendary "Goldberg Variations" from the fourth volume. He will also include in the program the "Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue," which has been considered a precursor of 19th-century style because of its unparalleled adventurous character.

A month after his Lebanon Valley College performance, Fung will present the program again in Hong Kong as part of the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He will also conduct two master classes and two lectures, titled "The Keyboard Practice of Johann Sebastian Bach" and "Hidden Repetitions in Bach's Partita No. 4."

Fung was the second-prize ex aequo winner at the Thirteenth International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig, Germany. Prior to this important achievement, he was the recipient of the first prize at the Corpus Christi Young Artists International Competition (1996), second prize at St. Louis Symphony Concerto Competition (1997), and first prize at the Juilliard School Concerto Competition, which led to his performance of Brahms's "Piano Concerto No. 1" at the Lincoln Center in 2000. Subsequent to the performance, the New York Times praised his pianism for being "mature, refined, and elegant."

He was also described by the New York Concert Review as a pianist with a musical persona akin to Rudolph Serkin. His performance of the "Goldberg Variations" at his Carnegie Hall debut was enthusiastically acclaimed for having "vibrant vitality...unflappable logic, flexibilities in nuances and requisite lyricism." The Hong Kong Economic Review called him "unique among the contemporary Chinese pianists, for the aesthetic of his music can be traced back to the study and passion for Bach's works."

Fung is currently associate professor of piano at Lebanon Valley College. As an educator, he has conducted master classes at other higher education institutions and professional organizations, such as East Tennessee State University, Hope College, University of Illinois at Carbondale, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the Tom Lee Music Foundation. Since 2005, he has been invited frequently to adjudicate competitions, such as the Lancaster Symphony Concerto Competition, the Greater Princeton Steinway Society Scholarship Competition, and the New Jersey Music Teachers Association Piano Competition.