Composer Dr. Carter Pann

Composer Dr. Carter Pann, Colorado (USA)

Composer/pianist Carter Pann has written for-and worked alongside­ musicians from around the world, including performances by the London Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony, the Tchaikovsky Symphony in Moscow, radio symphonies around Europe, the Seattle Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, youth orchestras of New York and Chicago, and many wind ensembles. He has worked with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, the Antares Ensemble, the Capitol Saxophone Quartet, the West Coast Wind Quintet, the River Oaks Chamber Ensemble, the Takacs Quartet, the Flute New Music Consortium and many concert pianists. Awards include a Charles Ives Fellowship, a Masterprize seat in London and five ASCAP awards. His numerous albums encompass solo, vocal, chamber, orchestral and wind music and have received two Grammy® nominations to date. Pann was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2016. In his spare time, he challenges his students over the chessboard.

I’m very excited to be a part of this sprawling commission project of Lia’s !   What a creative approach to one of the great masterpieces in our repertoire. 

Dr. Carter Pann

Carter Pann ‘s Variation, written in 2017 for Dr. Lia Jensen- Abbott, is cast in a quasi-sonata form, but which, not unlike Beethoven, quotes Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Beethoven himself. Working toward the distant key of Ab major from the initial C major, Carter’ s thematic relationships are astounding, and also reflect his own pianistic virtuosic abilities. A true tour de force.