Jeffrey Stanek

media release: Token Creek Chamber Music presents Pleiades Dances, for piano  / Jeff Stanek, piano 

Pianist Jeffrey Stanek offers the rare chance to encounter, in live performance, the complete Pleiades Dances by Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu.  This series of nine suites of piano pieces (1986-2001) Inspired both by the seven stars of Pleiades as well as the music of Bach's inventions, the nine suites for piano is  "written on the subject of the seven stars of the Pleiades, the seven colors of the rainbow, the seven tones of various modes, and the seven rhythms from triple time to nonuple time.”  The cycle will be presented in its entirety in this evening long recital (two intermissions). 

Tickets $20 in advance / $25 at the door || students $10 

Jeff Stanek plays and teaches music in Madison, Wisconsin. He has appeared as pianist, composer, or both, on renowned series including Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Present Music, and Tanglewood Music Festival. Equally at home playing repertoire and improvising, Jeff is a favorite and longtime collaborator in dance studios as well as musical ensembles, and has been called on to perform in dozens of premieres of new works. He has degrees in piano performance and pedagogy from UW-Madison and in composition and piano from Indiana University; fellowships from MacDowell, Tanglewood, and Virginia Center for Creative Arts; and awards from ASCAP, BMI, National Federation of Music Clubs, and others. At Token Creek, Jeff has played many roles, including pianist, composer, board member, web designer, and volunteer. He gratefully acknowledges his many musical mentors including Token Creek Chamber Music Artistic Director John Harbison and his piano teachers Teresa Dybvig, Jess Johnson, Christopher Taylor, Jean-Louis Haguenauer, Renato Premezzi, Larry Elliott, and Diana Berryman. For information about his piano studio, please visit: www.pianowithjeff.com  

Takashi Yoshimatsu was born in Tokyo in 1953, and studied at Keio University (Department of Technology). He taught himself composition, joined jazz and rock groups, and studied under Teizo Matsumura for a short while. An ardent traditionalist, he advocates for “new lyricism”. Threnody to Toki (1981) was his compositional debut. Since then, he has written six symphonies, ten concertos, and many other orchestra pieces. His oeuvre also includes many stage works, series of chamber music works elated with birds, piano and guitar works, and other works for Japanese traditional instruments.