Music in the Pavilion: Piano-Violin Recital, Music from Around the Globe

Penn doctoral students Sarah Le Van (violin) and Echezonachukwu Nduka (piano) will perform works from across time and space. The program will include dance music by Nigerian composers Christian Onyeji and Joshua Uzoigwe; selections from 24 Studies in African Rhythms by Nigerian-Ghanaian-American composer Fred Onovwerosuoke; Sonatina in A minor by French singer and composer Pauline Viardot; Bach, Partita no. 2 in D minor; and Mozart Sonata No.32, K. 454 in Bb major. 

Registration is required.

Schedule

Pre-concert talk at 6:15 by Sarah Le Van and Echezonachukwu Nduk , followed by the concert at 7:00 pm.

About the Performers

Sarah Le Van is a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania. A summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, she has devoted her research interests to a wide range of interdisciplinary areas: performance studies; the intersection between music, literature, visual arts, and gender; medievalism in the 19th and early 20th centuries; and the interart movement in France. She is currently a graduate coordinator for UPenn concert series Music in the Pavilion and an active classical violinist and jazz singer. A recipient of the Performer Diploma and Master’s in Violin performance from Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music, she also studied violin through competitive admission at the Royal College of Music in London in 2016. Since the age of seven, she has also performed regularly with the Le Van Family ensemble, including her sister, soprano, her brother, jazz pianist, and her father, classical pianist and recording artist. Whether as a violinist or a jazz chanteuse, Sarah has performed widely as a soloist in chamber and jazz ensembles, notably in the 26th International Jazz Festival in Munster (featured on television France 3), the Brunneby Concerts in Sweden, the Aspen Music Festival, the Steamers Jazz Club series, the LA Philharmonic Encore series, and the Curtis Theatre under the patronage of Resonance Records. In 2012, she was invited to perform in the International Vianden Festival in Luxembourg under the patronage of the US embassy. She has played and sung in various jazz clubs and venues with pianist Llew Matthews, drummer Matt Gordy, bassist Putter Smith, and jazz veteran Shep Shepherd, to name a few. In May 2013, she was invited to sing and play the violin with jazz legend Michel Hausser's trio in Munster, France, sharing the stage with Manu Dibango.

Echezonachukwu Nduka is a pianist, poet, recording artist, and the author of Chrysanthemums for Wide-eyed Ghosts (2018) and Waterman (2020). His research focuses on the socio-cultural significations, spatial locations, programming, and performance practices of African pianism. He has been featured in performances as a pianist and poet with support from organizations including the Intercultural Music Initiative (IMI), Somers Point Arts Commission, The African Concert Series London, Casual Concert Series (Buffalo, NY), Ocean City Free Public Library, among others. His recital series, Resounding African Pianism, programs and promotes piano music by composers from Africa and the African Diaspora. A Booth-Ferris Graduate Fellow ’24, his recent album The African Serenades has been described by Afrocritik as “intense, emotive listening experience.” He is a Benjamin Franklin Fellow and PhD Student in Ethnomusicology at the University of Pennsylvania.