Organist Annette Richards to explore music of England in April 9 concert

The Cornell Department of Music presents six free concerts this week. Among the highlights are a concert on three organs in two locations by University Organist Annette Richards and a performance of works for violin and piano by guest Eri Konii and Geoffrey Govier.

Richards presents "From a Land Without Music?" Tuesday, April 9, beginning at 8 p.m. in Anabel Taylor Chapel. Performed on all three of Cornell's organs in two different locations, this program explores some of the great musical works produced in England over the span of four centuries, from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book -- that great collection of Elizabethan keyboard music -- to the music of 20th-century Elizabethan Herbert Howells. Richards will begin the concert on the antique Italian chamber organ (built in 1746 by Augustus Vicedomini) in Anabel Taylor Chapel, with the intimate, complex and virtuosic music of William Byrd. Moving to the larger Baroque-style instrument in the gallery of the chapel, she will continue with Henry Purcell's Voluntary for Double Organ and one of honorary-Englishman G.F. Handel's best-loved concertos for organ and strings. At intermission, the audience will move to Sage Chapel to hear Howells' Master Tallis's Testament and Edward Elgar's Organ Sonata in G Major, op. 28. This recital will show that, despite the opinion of its 19th-century German detractors, England has never been "A Land Without Music."

Born in London, Richards was educated at Oxford, Stanford and the Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam, where she studied with Jacques van Oortmerssen. In 1991 she won the Performer's Diploma (UM) in Organ, and in 1994 she received the Ph.D. in music history. A specialist in music of the Italian and North German Baroque, she also regularly performs music from the virtuosic 19th- and 20th-century repertories.

On Wednesday, April 10, Konii and Govier will present an evening of works for violin and piano at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall. The program opens with Franz Schubert's Sonata in A Minor for violin and piano, D. 385, followed by Brahms' Sonata in G Major, op. 78. The second half of the program is devoted to Edvard Grieg's Sonata in C Minor for violin and piano, op. 45.

Konii studied violin at the Royal College of Music in London with Leonard Hirsch and Maria Lidka. She continued her studies with the late Professor Max Rostal in Berne, Switzerland, and at the same time participated in master classes with Franco Gulli in Sienna and with the Borodin Quartet in Sermonetta, Italy. She has had a busy concert career as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe and the Middle and Far East. Last season's performances included Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Bach's complete concerti for violin at venues such as London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, St. Martin's-in-the-Field and Wells Cathedral.

Govier studied the modern piano at the Royal College of Music in London before concentrating on the early piano. Inspired by the performances of Cornell Professor Malcolm Bilson and Melvyn Tan, he returned to the RCM to earn his master's degree, specializing in the fortepiano and performance practice. He is pursuing a doctoral of musical arts degree in performance practice at Cornell. Govier has played in many parts of the world, including Europe and the Far and Middle East, both as a soloist and a chamber musician.