Piano, violin duo in concert

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The internationally acclaimed Kobayashi-Gray violin and piano duo will come to town this weekend for a pair of free concerts.

The performances, sponsored by the New Music Guild, will take place at 11 a.m. Friday in Bliss Recital Hall at Youngstown State University, and 4 p.m. Sunday at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, 421 Covington St.

There also will be a Friday morning assembly program at Chaney High School for students.

The New Music Guild will sponsor be a reception after Sunday’s concert.

The duo specializes in music by 19th- to 21st-century women composers, and has released two CDs of this repertoire.

Violinist Laura Kobayashi, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, has appeared as soloist with several symphonies. She leads a varied career as a chamber and orchestral musician, adjudicator and teacher.

Pianist Susan Keith Gray has performed throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. She is a member of the Rawlins Piano Trio at the University of South Dakota, where she teaches piano.

The concerts will include music from the women composers repertoire, including Libby Larsen’s “Blue Piece,” Ellen Taaffe Zwillich’s “Tango” (movement 3 from her Partita), Emma Lou Diemer’s “Suite” and local composer Gwyneth Rollin’s “Impressions.”

They also will play YSU Professor Emeritus Robert Rollin’s “Lyric Counterpoint on a Theme by Warshawsky.” Warshawsky was a Jewish folk music composer.

Rounding out the program for both concerts will be William Bolcom’s “Graceful Ghost Rag Variations,” which appeared in its original piano solo version on Bolcom’s and William Albright’s legendary Nonesuch recording, and Lukas Foss’ “Three American Variations.”