Therese Whelan Leads Discussion/Performance on Asian Composers: Past and Current

On Friday, June 2nd
2017, Alan Wasserman, sponsored by the Cecilian Music Club, presented
his Music Hour at Freehold Music Center in Freehold. This session,
entitled “Asian Composers: Past and Present,” was led by
pianist/teacher Therese Whelan.

Ms. Whelan opened the
discussion by noting the general musical characteristics of Asian
music – its deep emotions, links to poetry and song, the use of
five-tone pentatonic and seven-tone heptatonic scales, dotted rhythm,
ornamentation, harmony, form, and tone color. She also explained that
many of these composers are influenced by Western traditions, and
also use Western harmony in some of their works.

She then gave brief
biographies of Yiruma of South Korea, Yoshinao Nakada of Japan, Naoko
Ikeda of Japan, Tan Dun of China, Du Mingxin of China, An-Lun Huang
of China, and Wang Jianzhong of China. Ms. Whelan then performed
several beautiful works for piano by each composer. The performance
was followed by a question and answer session.

Therese Whelan has been
a piano teacher for over thirty-five years. She is a member of both
the Cecilian Music Club and Shore Music Educators Association. She is
also the conductor of the Cecilian Music Club's multiple piano
concert, known as the Monster Concert.

Teacher/performer Alan
Wasserman is a past president of both the Cecilian Music Club and the
Shore Music Educators Association. He has performed in Russia, China,
and the United States – including Weill Recital Hall in New York
City. For more information, visit his website at
alanwassermanpianomusic.com.

The Cecilian Music Club,
founded in 1883, is dedicated to the performance and study of
classical music. You can find more information about the Music Hour,
and other club activities, on our website www.cecilianclub.org.