By Bonnie Gordon
Juanita Madland/Courtesy
Hear world class piano music for a good cause when Juanita Madland performs a Valentine Benefit Concert for The Los Alamos Arts Council at 7 p.m. Sunday Feb. 12 at Fuller Lodge. Tickets are $20 and may be purchased at CB Fox or at the door.
Madland is a Los Alamos treasure. Although she performs in venues around the world, she generously shares her talents often in her home town, usually to support a worthy cause.
Her program on Sunday will be chronologically organized and will range from the baroque to the contemporary. Madland calls herself “Winnie the Pedagogical Pianist” and she considers herself an educator as well as a performer.
“I enjoy learning about music. When I understand it I can interpret it correctly. I want people to see the progress of the music over time,” Madland said.
The program includes Italian Concerto, BWV 971 by Johann Sebastian Bach; Waldstein Sonata, Op.53, No.21 by Ludwig van Beethoven; Impromptu No.3, D.899 by Franz Schubert; Barcarolle, Op.60 by Frederic Chopin; Ce qu”a vu le vent d”Ouest by Claude Debussy and Interlude of Indigo by Juanita Lash Madland.
Madland composed Interlude of Indigo when she was 19 and it is her favorite of her compositions. “It begins dark and pensive, then the sun comes out and the piece becomes upbeat,” she said.
Madland holds a Masters of Music from the University of New Mexico, where she studied with the renowned pianist, Evelyne Brancart. Her European venues include the Peter Paul Rubens Museum in Antwerp, the Salzburg Mozart branch in Trieste, Vienna, and recitals in Oslo, Paris and Frankfurt.
She was the New Mexico Concerto winner with Beethoven’s Emperor and played this piece and Chopin’s Concerto in F Minor with Los Alamos Symphony. Upcoming concert venues include Arizona, Wisconsin, Texas and Minnesota.
Madland was the Professional Music Teachers of New Mexico Teacher of the Year in 2002 (Music Teachers National Association-MTNA), and holds a permanent Nationally Certified Teacher of Music, title earned by only 2 percent of MTNA members.
She was a faculty member at the University of New Mexico-Los Alamos for 15 years. She continues to teach, and currently has eight adult and nine young students.
The Los Alamos Arts Council is a cause close to Madland’s heart. She served on the organization’s board for nine years and this is the second benefit concert she has done for the Arts Council.
“The Los Alamos Arts Council is extremely affective in promoting the arts in Los Alamos and they reach many people through their efforts,” Madland said.
The LAAC hosts more than 30 performing arts and cultural programs each year, including such popular events as the Kite Festival, free Brown Bag Concerts, Arts and Crafts Fairs, the Pumpkin Glow, the Missoula Children’s Theatre and many others, she said.
To learn more about LACC and the upcoming concert, visit www.LosAlamosArtsCouncil.org.
