Damon Denton’s Faculty Artist Series performance will include music from a variety of international locations.
The UGA Faculty Recital Series will kick off the new year with an evening of music from around the globe performed by pianist Damon Denton, who has been on the Hugh Hodgson School of Music piano faculty as a resident accompanist since 2010. This concert will take place Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. in Ramsey Concert Hall.
The audience should expect a program filled with variety, according to Denton.
“I try to visit several countries in a single hour without overstaying my welcome in any one of those places,” he said.
This program will visit Italy, Germany, Spain, France, South America and Russia with compositions by Scarlatti, Mompou, Beethoven, Ginastera, Poulenc and Prokofiev.
Denton is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and went on to receive a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School studying with Russian virtuoso pianist Oxana Yablonskaya.
“I had a variety of artists work with me in my career, but I am dominantly influenced by the Russian school having worked with Oxana Yablonskaya at Juilliard,” Denton said. “We both had a leaning to program dynamic works that were evocative and compelling.”
Denton was one of the top prize winners at the Fourth International Piano Competition held in Pretoria, South Africa. He has performed solo, concerto and collaborative concerts in England, Ireland, Mexico, South Africa, France, Germany and throughout the U.S.
While his upcoming UGA recital program may be internationally-affiliated, Denton is also locally known as the keyboardist for Athens super group Pylon Reenactment Society, fronted by Pylon’s original singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay. The Pylon Reenactment Society have recently released a six-song EP of a live Los Angeles radio recording session that is receiving international reviews. Denton’s performance has been noted as “dynamic and ethereal” by reviewers including Blurt and Paste Magazine. PRS frequently performs locally and throughout the U.S., headlining festivals such as The Barely Human Festival in Detroit to performing in the upcoming Savannah Stopover Festival.
Tickets for the concert are $12 for adults and $6 for students and can be purchased online at pac.uga.edu or in person at the Performing Arts Center box office at 230 River Road next to the School of Music.
Those unable to make it to the concert can watch the live stream at music.uga.edu/streaming.