‘Moscow on the Bluff’ Series Presents ‘Rachmaninoff Doubled’

The Mary Pappert School of Music’s newest music series returns this weekend with memorable compositions from Russian artists Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky, Aram Khachaturian and Modest Mussorgsky.

Concert II: Rachmaninoff Doubled, the second of the five-concert series Moscow on the Bluff, will be held this Sunday, Sept. 9, at 3 p.m. in PNC Recital Hall in the music school.

David Allen Wehr, the Jack W. Geltz Piano Chair in the music school and the series’ artistic director, will be joined by pianist Cynthia Raim to perform Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 1 and Suite No. 2. Both were written specifically to be performed by two pianos.

Daniel Meyer, director of orchestral activities in the music school, will conduct eight wind and brass members of the Pittsburgh Symphony—all of whom are music faculty—for Stravinsky’s Octet.

Adjunct Piano Professor Natasha Snitkovsky will perform Khachaturian’s virtuosic Piano Sonata—one of her specialties, which she studied with the composer.

Associate Voice Professor Guenko Guechev, an internationally acclaimed bass-baritone, will perform Mussorgsky’s song cycle Songs and Dances of Death.

Snitkovsky will talk with Wehr for the 2:30 p.m. pre-concert discussion about musical life, culture and growing up in the Soviet Union.

Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 800.838.3006. For more information on the Moscow on the Bluff series, visit duq.edu/bluffseries.